Big Wes: Muffler Man Mutant
Yuma, Arizona
Type: Cowboy (shorter than normal)
Arm position: Standard
Accessories: Rifle, Stetson Hat
Improvised Head
The fiberglass rifleman has stood his ground at the entrance to Westward Village RV Park since 1982. We classify this particular strain of Muffler Man as a Mutant because of his non-standard aspects, most notably his misshapen head. In the 1990s, he reminded us of the beneficiary of Civil War-era plastic surgery.
History
The statue began life as a standard Muffler Man Cowboy in 1966, hauled by trailer to various Phillips 66 gas stations around Dodge City, Kansas. In 1971 he was moved to Boot Hill, customized with a vest and a rifle, and christened "Big Matt." That lasted until 1975, when Big Matt was decapitated by a Kansas wind storm. The original owner of Yuma's Westward Village, Don Trigg, bought the headless figure at an auction in Dodge City in 1982. Trigg renamed the statue "Big Wes" and built it a puffy, makeshift head, even adding a motor inside so it would swivel (though this mechanism was never actually used in the Yuma display). The swivel engineering was probably responsible for the head's scrawny neck joint, and the hideous head got blotchier in the Arizona sun.
Restoration
Westward Village was purchased from Trigg in 1998, and In 2006 the new owners hired a local artist to restore Big Wes and give him a better head. In the shade of his hat, the rifleman's painted-on eyes and Michael Jackson nose and lips aren't as shocking now.