Our visit to Pahrump seeking a rare Texaco "Big Friend" reminded us how even large statues can be invisible to locals. A young woman at a convenience store only a mile from "The Home Giant" -- and on the same road -- swore up and down that in her whole life in Pahrump see had never seen a large statue of a man.
Two minutes later we were at the base of the big guy at Sun Valley Homes. He's not a standard Muffler Man, but a modified Big Friend (made by International Fiberglass in the 1960s). Owner Jack Stanton paid Young Electric Sign Co. $18,000 for this old Texaco Big Friend in 1981. He had him painted green, orange, and white -- Irish colors -- and completed the transformation with a Robin Hood-type feathered cap.
The statue is mounted on a sign above a couple of model pre-fab homes, and is used prominently in advertisements by the business.
In case you were wondering, Pahrump (puh-rump) means "water rock."
