Norwich, Connecticut: Muffler Man Cowboy: Big Bob

A cowboy of strip-mall commerce, Big Bob carries an American flag. He's 22 feet tall, and the cowboy's pedestal makes him seem even taller.

This Muffler Man cowboy stands proudly on a tall pedestal between an athletic clothing store and a general store that looks like it has been there for ages. He holds an oddly rolled up American flag (wind?) as he welcomes visitors to the strip mall parking lot. He is in great shape beyond the eroding paint on his arms and shirt. We were spooked by his rusty-colored eyes that make him look like he's up to something.

I'm the owner of the Surplus Unlimited Muffler Man, which was purchased from Al Cohen, a personal friend of our family, for a family business that started 28 yrs. ago. We needed something outside to attract people to the ONE store in the shopping center then, and it was decided that we would put Muffler Man there because I had admired him since I was a child at Al Cohen's business.

From day one he has always held the American flag -- well before 9/11. Muffler Man is securely tied down with cables to our building, since we have had many people try to attempt to knock him over by accessing the roof, so we have found good ways to keep him safe.

The Muffler Man outside of Surplus Unlimited is still up and going strong.

The statue used to be on the other side of town, on the corner of Central Avenue, in the Greenville section of Norwich, and was owned by a fellow named Alex Cohen. He had the statue in front of a building that was originally a trolley or bus terminal, and during the early 1960s (I think) he used to have a place that was all set up for teenagers, with amusements etc. But the city closed him down, and later he used it as a junk shop. We believe that the statue was sold at during the mid-1980s after Alex Cohen's death.