Muffler Men Home Page

Gallery #3
...in far-flung posts, serving mysterious tours of duty...

Back to Gallery #2: Half-Wits

Bullet-riddled Muffler Man, left behind on foreign soil?

Brent Thale reports: "My mom, Colleen Thale, snapped the photo right after the Just Cause Invasion of Panama in December 1989. All I know about it is that it was the mascot of the Abou Saad Shriners' temple in Balboa, Panama for quite a few years before someone (I guess American soldiers) took some potshots at it during the chaos surrounding Just Cause. You can see the hole in his leg and in the wall behind him caused by a large-caliber bullet. I'm not sure how his head got knocked over." [4/12/98]

Update on the Panamanian giant known as Mr. Shriner: "Originally they were advertising dummies for Phillips 66 gas stations. The one in Panama was bought by the local Shriners and repainted and fitted as a Shriner. During the liberation of Panama from the military dictatorship started by Omar Torrijos and ending with Manuel Noriega, Mr. Shriner got caught in a crossfire when a group of irregular military started an attack on civilians. They died on the grounds of the Shrine Temple, but Mr. Shriner survived. He is presently in storage, as the Abou Saad Shrine Temple is moving from the locale shown (which has been purchased by the Panamanian Government as part of a much needed overpass) to what was the Officer's Club on Albrook AFB. He will rise again to announce to the world that the Shriner's are still here and still taking care of crippled children. " [John Mercier, 5/26/2002]

More on this attraction

Canadian Sentry Offers American Way of Life

Philipsburg (or Iberville), Quebec

This variant muffler man stands in the totalitarian Canadian province of Quebec, in Phillipsville on 133 just north of the border above Vermont. While Quebec is forced by their government to Frenchify all commercial signage, the Canuck Coke Man survives.

Note that the Canuck Coke Man's hands are both turned up, and his head is not the classic lantern-jawed noggin seen on American M-Men. Yet he offers two of America's greatest treasures to Canadians who would defy their evil rulers.

Report from Puerto Rico

Unconfirmed: I saw one in Caguas, Puerto Rico and believe it still there. I don't have a picture. It's on the Gautier Benitez Avenue in front of a Junior High School. Used to be in front of a gasoline station nearby. Now its on a backyard of a Autobody shop also near the area and not in use, don't know why. Its the one without hat, no beard, blus jeans and red shirt. One hand up and the other down. [G. Ruiz, 11/12/99]

Muffler Man in Venezia, Italy?

A 25 foot guy holding a huge (plastic) bakalava square. A retired Air Force Captain bought him from his grandfather's auto parts store in Indiana in the 1970s. He had the military reimburse his shipping costs to Italy. He declared his man as household goods! He is in the right stance but the hands seemed a little off. The left a little lower than the right. But we can't remember if he had been damaged or not. The owner told us about it during lunch while we were on leave from Germany. Directions: Venice, Italy. From Rialto's Bridge take the Canal Grande past St. Mark's Sqaure. Turn into the third canal past the Square. Go down two more canals to the house of Casanova. Turn left and go straight. The Guy is standing on the gondola deck of the bakery. The only way to the shop is by gondola or freight carrier. [Rachel, 6/26/2001]

Update - May 2004 - According to a tip from several years ago, there was a Muffler Man stationed in Venice, Italy, holding a Baklava. We tried to verify its existence, but were unable to do so. The directions in the tip are confusing, once you try to use them (Venice is confusing enough). For example, there are two "Casanova's Houses." We located the spot that seemed to fit the data best, but the building there had been completely demolished, and the site was being prepared for new construction. [Roadsideamerica.com Team]