Road Trip America: Muffler Mania
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ม.ค. 2025
- It's Muffler Mania! We're taking a deep dive into perhaps the most beloved roadside attraction of all, the Muffler Men! These towering giants - spread across North America - have fascinated road trippers since the early 1960's, with most (but not all) of them identifiable by their signature hand posture, which used to hold - you guessed it - mufflers! They used to number in the thousands; now there's around 200 left, and an entire road tripping subculture has developed around them!
In this episode, we springboard into the world of Muffler Men by visiting the four that stand on the outskirts of our hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. In our travels, we meet some wonderful people with some incredible stories to tell! We also Zoom with Muffler Man expert and founder of American Giants, Joel Baker, who guides us through the rich history of the fiberglass behemoths that he's devoted a good portion of his life to seeking out, chronicling, and restoring. We also talk to a Muffler Man enthusiast Shelly Lynn of The Paul Bunyan Muffler Man Project for a cultural perspective, and we even speak with Lisa Smith, daughter of Bill Swan, the man who sculpted the first Muffler Man! Plus we make some exciting discoveries of our own!
It's a LOT! Are you ready to dive in? Sit back, relax, and get ready for Muffler Mania!
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We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped with this episode!
Joel Baker is THE authority on Muffler Men and we couldn't have put this all together without his help and wisdom. Please visit and subscribe to his TH-cam channel, American Giants, here: / americangiants . He's also on Instagram @americangiants and you truly have no idea how deep the Muffler rabbit hole goes until you start digging in with him.
Shelly Lynn! Thank you for sharing your insight with us! You can follow her adventures on Instagram @thepaulbunyanmufflermanproject - we can't wait to see what roadside attractions you come across next!
A big thank you to Lisa Smith for taking the time to speak with us and sharing your stories! We hope that this episode helps illuminate just how integral your father was to so many roadside memories over the last century. Lisa has written an entire book, called "The Man Behind the Muffler Man". You can purchase it here: amzn.to/3LIJUHH
And of course thank you to everyone we met along the way for taking the time to talk to us! We keep asking people to share their stories and they keep agreeing to do it, and we're so grateful for that. It's been a moving experience so far sharing the personal stories behind the roadside attractions we've visited, and it's been so wonderful meeting everyone along the way!
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Photo credits:
@roadsideenthusiast on Instagram
Wikipedia contributor Leonard J. DeFrancisci
Flickr users Mykl Roventine & Orin Zebest
#roadtrip #travel #travelvlog
Thanks for taking the time to make this video! I really enjoyed watching it.
Great video. Who doesn't love a good muffler man?
Thanks! And right? What’s not to love? They’re American icons!
19:27 Wow now I know who created the muffler man he will forever go down in history now
What a nostalgic memory trip! When I was a kid in the 1970s, my family took a tour across the USA. The Muffler Man was one of the iconic American sights that amazed us! Thanks for sharing this lovely video!
12:40 ty Fish Motors
I wish I could LOVE this video, and not just like it! Muffler Men are the best part of a road trip! When I was a kid, we only took road trips from Houston to Dallas to visit family. I knew we made it to Dallas when I saw the Muffler Man there!
I was in Detroit this weekend and saw a place called “Muffler Man”, but they sadly did not have a Muffler Man. I did eat at a Big Boy because of their cool statue, but the place was actually bad.
Oh man what a great memory! Like Joel said in the video, muffler men are a part of so many childhood memories and we’re so glad there’s sort of a renewed effort towards preserving and restoring them!
Sorry to hear the Detroit Big Boy didn’t quite raise the bar.
@@JustaQuickDetour if we ever meet, I’ll tell you all about it! As you know, I’m no longer on Instagram. You can reach me via email!
@@RobbZipp Yes indeed!
Excellent! Who knew Muffler Men would have so many great stories! Some of the heartwarming stories and photos in this video brought tears to my eyes. I loved watching and enjoy your enthusiasm!
Aw we’re so glad you enjoyed it! We met some really wonderful people on this journey and you’re right, it’s amazing how many stories you find when you go out looking for muffler men!
Cool. If only I had the money!!!!!1 B
What a nicely done video! Like lots of other people, I'm a Muffler Man fanatic. I have visited 126 so far, and every road trip I take involves historic highways, classic diners, and Muffler Men. I really enjoyed the way you brought the history of many of these guys to life. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that the headless Muffler Man in Greensburg, PA actually does have a head! When It gets reinstalled I'll be taking a weekend road trip to get another shot of him. Keep up the great work.
Thank you for all the kind words! 126 is an incredible number! That’s like 3/4 of them! You must be on the road quite a lot! What are some of your favorites? Which ones should we seek out next?
@@JustaQuickDetour I guess some of my favorites have to begin with the Gemini Giant in Wilmington, IL. He was the first one I ever saw, and I have taken photos of him many times over the years. The Atlanta, IL Hot Dog Man was another early one. Both are on Route 66 which has had several more added over the years. The Farnham Fantasy Farm in Unger, WV is a great place to find lots of large people - Muffler Men, a Uniroyal Gal, a Swimmer Dude, and Big John (who I consider part of the MM family). There is a newly painted Happy Halfwit in Beaumont, TX, and Howard Huge in Fredericksburg, TX, a newly restored Muffler Man by American Giants. Another one I really like is the Hippie Muffler Man in Bethel, NY. He is right in front of the late Max Yasgur's farm of Woodstock fame. There are quite a few others up in the New England area, not to mention lots of amazing historical diners.
@@mikethe2lanetraveler Wow! So many to look forward to visiting! Gemini Giant and Hotdog Man were already on our to-do list but you’ve added quite a few more! That hippie one is great, never knew he was there!
Also the Big Johns are so interesting, I feel like we need to do a whole episode on those someday. It’s cool that some of them still stand at operating Big John stores!
Great stories with each Muffler Man! You meet so many interesting people!
It’s one of our favorite parts of road tripping - all the people we’ve met! So many wonderful stories.
I recommend checking out the giant Santa Claus and soldiers that are out on display at cold stream dam in Philipsburg, PA (30min outside of state college)!
Hand painted by a local in the 60s and has been restored over the years. It’s up around late November to February(ish).
Oh cool! Never heard about those, will definitely check them out, thanks for the tip!
Santa was also made by Bill Swan at international fiberglass
@@lisasmith9311 cool! The Santa in Philipsburg is a wooden structure, stands something like 40 or 50 feet tall. Maybe even taller. All hand painted.
What a great video!! You did an amazing job. Joel is a wealth of knowledge and a great guy. Shelly is awesome as well. It was a real treat to see that you interviewed Lisa. She is great at commenting on videos and spreading the word about her Dad. I just found your Instagram and now TH-cam channel, but it looks like we have a few connections in common along with a love of muffler men, so I look forward to seeing more👍
Thank you so much for the kind words! We’re so grateful that Joel, Shelly, and Lisa all took the time to share their knowledge and stories with us! As you can probably tell from our release dates this year we work kinda slow haha, but we’ve got a new one coming up for you hopefully in the next few weeks! Nice to meet you and thanks for following along with us!
@@JustaQuickDetour you have the right idea!! Quality takes time. I can learn from you guys with that. If you get a chance I have a few short muffler man videos, but one is an install that Joel did here in California. Keep up the great work. Look forward to seeing more🤙
@@BanyansAdventures Oh sweet! We’ll give ‘em a look!