 Vanna Whitewall
RA ID#: 3023
Type: Uniroyal Gal
Town: Peoria
State: Illinois
Uniroyal Gal:Address: 800 SW Washington St, Peoria, IL [ Show Map] Directions: Plaza Tire. SW Washington Street, south of the downtown area near the Cedar Street Bridge.
Arm position: "Come hither!"
Accessories: none, though she held a tire at one time
The 17-ft. tall statue along Washington Avenue, known as Vanna Whitewall, is
that rarest of creatures. Only a few of these 1960s era commercial
"spectaculars" still exist, and almost all have been conservatively
attired. The Peoria girl, here since 1968, went
from bikini to modesty mini-skirt and then back to bikini, with no
troubles
from
many
years. Like the reverse of a roadside forest fire thermometer, a Uniroyal
Gal clad in a bright red bikini apparently meant "no heat" from
the community.
Then one afternoon in July 2005, an elderly woman who disobeyed a traffic signal
was struck by another car and her car careened into the
base of the Uniroyal Gal, breaking her toes
and right
ankle
and
damaging
her
high-heeled left
foot.
The owners, who had the foresight to protect the statue with
a $25,000 insurance policy, promised she'd be repaired and back soon.
Reported
Sightings | Tracking
Chart
|
Uniroyal Gal on Washington Ave.
Bikini girl gives traffic the thumbs up.
In July, 2005, an 89-year old woman driver hit the bikini babe, breaking her
at the ankles. Here she is propped up the next day. |
