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Throughout the Memorial Day
weekend, American Giant’s founder Joel Baker was in Atlanta to share
the history of the American Giants Museum, answer questions and talk
about buying and restoring giants.
On Sunday, the Phillips 66 Cowboy was installed. The trailer holding
the pieces of the giant was at the museum Saturday, but the head and
hat were not put on yet.
Because of the light rain, the giant was taken down to the nearby
hotel, which had an awning. There, the Re-Giant crew were able to
attach the cowboy’s head and hat. Perhaps the cowboy also got some
rest by being at a hotel. The crew also touched up some of the paint
on the cowboy since there were minor dings from his travels to
Atlanta.
Around noon, the crew arrived with
the Phillips 66 Cowboy. A large crane then lifted him off the
trailer and put him in place on one of the pads outside the Giant’s
museum.
Once the cowboy was in place, it was unclipped from the crane. The
crew then anchored him to the pad and wiped him down.
The Phillips 66 Cowboy now stands
on its new pad near the Snerd giant. Several posed with the giant.
After the cowboy was installed, Snerd, which was the first giant to
be installed at the museum back in 2023, was moved one pad over.
This move makes a spot for the larger Viking giant.
Originally the Viking was to be installed this weekend but work on
the Viking is still underway. Baker is hoping the Viking is ready
for installation in the next month or two.
Besides the new giant, there are a
few artifacts that have been added inside the museum. One is a
Tomahawk Native American giant chief head. Baker found this giant in
Arizona where the Peak trading post once stood. The trading post was
destroyed by fire in 2002 and all but the giant’s legs and feet
melted. In 2015, Baker was digging around in the rubble at the post
and found the Tomahawk’s charred remains. Baker and his team fully
restored the Tomahawk in 2018.
Another new artifact is a Bunyan
head, representing the first giant made. Many of these giants were
made by International Fiberglass, as Baker would later explain
during a tour of the museum.
Finally, there is an axe that
almost reaches the ceiling of the museum. These were held by the
Bunyan giants. Though the axe looks big to everyone who sees it, it
looked smaller in the hands of the Bunyan giants.
In the American Giants museum up
above everyone’s heads is a Snerd head. The head is a recreation
made by Mark Cline Baker wanted to get these recreations to show the
different kinds of giants.
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On the other side of the museum
is the Bunyan head, which was just put in the museum Thursday.
Baker said the Bunyan giant was the first Muffler man ever made.
International Fiberglass then said they could make a whole bunch
more and have a lot more people there that would buy giants.
International Fiberglass started making the Cowboys and the
Snerds. They also made a Uniroyal gal for Uniroyal tire and
really expanded their market.
The big axe next to Snerd’s head is an axe that the Bunyan
giants held. Baker wanted it in the museum to show the sides of
the axe and how big they were.
Underneath the Bunyan head is the waving giant head. Baker said
it was a very rare model that they made. His theory is that the
Texaco big friend was very popular, but only Texaco owned the
rights to it. International Fiberglass made it for Texaco and
couldn't just sell it to the grocery store that also wanted one.
Therefore, Baker said they made the waving giant, which was very
similar to the Texaco guy.
Some of the items in the museum are original like the A&W root
beer family made by International Fiberglass. Baker said when a
franchise or owner ordered the family, they could buy the Papa,
the Mama, the teen and the baby to represent different size
burgers. Baker said they did not sell the baby or the Mama or
the teen separately, which today translates into an interesting
situation where collectors are struggling to find these three.
The A&W root beer families were unfortunately broken up and
separated all over the country. Baker got the baby from Port
Orchard Washington, where she was part of the family at that
place. The mama was found in a junkyard in Pittsburgh in the
back of an old pickup truck that was rusting away. When Baker
was contacted, he said he had a spot for her. He has been unable
to find a teen or Papa yet. Since they're very collectible now,
it's a bit of a challenge.
Near the front window is the traffic stopper, which was a
cheaper and shorter giant for people who couldn't afford the 20
foot guys like we have outside. Baker said the traffic stopper
originally had a waving arm run by a motor in his back. He is
part of the group called the professionals because they made a
series of statues like doctors and scientists.
Next to the traffic stopper is the Big Boy. Baker said Scott
McCoy and American Giants Museum volunteers told him everyone
asked for a Big Boy, so he started hunting and found him in
South Carolina. The Big Boy was with the Shoney's franchise and
came to the museum last November. He is one of the originals
made by International Fiberglass.
On the back wall is the International Fiberglass logo
representing the company who made all this stuff. Papers on the
wall are the original catalogs with weight sizes and very plain
descriptions. Baker said they have come up with all the colorful
terms like Muffler Men since then back.
The back wall is dedicated to the Texaco Big Friends story. The
Texaco Big friend on the left side of the museum is part of that
story. Baker said the museum was designed to look like a Texaco
station.
There were 300 Big Friends made for Texaco in 1966 and only six
survive today. Only two of those are restored at the moment, and
they are Baker’s favorite. Many of the giants were blowing over
in the wind and people were crashing into other cars because
they were looking at the giant and not the road. Baker said
Texaco decided the Big Friend was a stupid idea, so they just
dumped the program.
The Esso tiger hanging towards the back of the museum used to be
found on gas stations or signs.
The Uniroyal gal head and the Uniroyal gal used at tire
stores are both displayed in museum. Baker said the Lumi Pie
lady just down the road at Country Aire shows what the Uniroyal
giant looked like.
Baker then took everyone outside to
see Snerd and the newly installed Phillips 66 cowboy and share their
stories. The Snerd was Baker’s first giant, so his Muffler Man
collection started with this guy. Baker bought Snerd in December of
2012 from a collector in Detroit and he was missing the bottom of
his waist, the back of his head and pants.
At that point, Baker planned to restore him, but said, “I didn't
know what I was doing at the time.” Re-giant, which helps with the
restorations, hadn't started yet.
When Baker got off the road to stop and see these guys, the others
he travelled with thought he was nuts. Over the years as the museum
became a reality, Snerd got restored back to what he was when he was
in Ohio in a bar called the wagon wheel bar.
Baker pulled he newly installed Phillips 66 Cowboy out of the woods
in Georgia. He had seen a picture on the roadside America [site] of
a Captain Muffler Man with a hat and was intrigued. Every few years
Baker would post about the captain on Facebook and nothing would
come of it.
The last time Baker posted about
the Captain Muffler Man. Dave Distler read the post and started the
journey to find the Muffler Man. Distler’s search took a while, but
Baker said they were told the captain was in Douglas, Georgia. Turns
out it was what actually 200 miles from Douglas in a little town
called Gray, close to Macon, Georgia.
Distler finally found more of the history and Baker said, “I went
out there and pulled him out of the woods and he was a complete
wreck.” The daughter of the man who purchased him for the Phillips
66 station actually contacted Baker and sent a picture of her dad
with the giant and shared some of the history. Distler said the
giant was bought by the man in 1960 and restored to a 1973 look.
The Phillips 66 giants came in two versions. Baker said one had a
hat that matched the color of the pants and the other had a white
hat. He liked the white hat so that's what we painted them. The new
giant is a true representation of a Phillips 66 cowboy. Baker said
it was restored by Mark Kline, who recreates the giants to look like
the originals.
Towards the end of the day, a tire
was placed in the cowboy’s hand since they held tires at the gas
stations. There will be a gun for the cowboy brought in later.
By next year, Baker plans to bring the Bemidji Brave Giant and one
other yet to be decided giant installed at the museum. Then all the
platforms will have giants on them. 2026 also marks the 100th
anniversary of Route 66 and there will likely be another special
event for the installation.
[Angela Reiners]
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