Indianapolis, Indiana - Muffler Man - Mr. Bendo

Mr. Bendo is still in good shape and in the same place not too far from the Indianapolis Speedway. I was unprepared for how tall he stands. The photo should give people an idea. This is no ordinary Muffler Man. [Josh and Pam Shepherd, 04/05/2005]

Because one of our local WISH-TV news guys, Dick Wolfsie, was surfing on roadsideamerica.com and saw all my submissions of "Big Things," he asked me to do a show and display my photos. We did the show live from the location of our local Muffler Man, Mr. Bendo, of Ralph's Muffler on 16th street in Indianapolis. During the interview, I found out an interesting piece of information:

The owner of Ralph's Muffler Shop, home of Mr. Bendo, had molds created of their original Muffler Man, and then created three more new Mr. Bendos for their other locations! Because of local zoning laws, they can't display their new Mr. Bendos, and the new guys are stored in the owner's basement. But the molds still exist. [Steph Mineart, 02/10/2002]

Additional information on our Muffler Man: AKA: Mr Bendo Location: Ralph's Muffler Shop. Mr. Bendo (Name on his shirt) has looked out onto 16th street for at least 4 decades (and more) [Gary F. Paschke Sr., 01/18/2001]

That report of a "Muffler Man" on 16th Street in Indianapolis is a little off. The guy in question is not a true Muffler Man since the arms are all wrong. His right arm sticks out like he's saluting the fuhrer or something. The left arm appears to have been cut off just below the shirt sleeve and re-attached. At any rate he's pretty cool. [Jim Hejl, 12/09/1997]

[RA: We'd definitely classify him as a Muffler Man, though he is a rare variation that combines three types: 1) The legs and torso are standard M-Man; 2) the head is a lumberjack/Bunyan; 3) the arms appear to be modified from the original car-part grip. The right arm may also be a alternate version of the friendly "How"-greeting found on fiberglass Indian braves.]