Road Trip America: Muffler Mania

It's Muffler Mania! We're taking a deep dive into perhaps the most beloved roadside attraction of all, the Muffler Men! These towering giants - spread across North America - have fascinated road trippers since the early 1960's, with most (but not all) of them identifiable by their signature hand posture, which used to hold - you guessed it - mufflers! They used to number in the thousands; now there's around 200 left, and an entire road tripping subculture has developed around them! In this episode, we springboard into the world of Muffler Men by visiting the four that stand on the outskirts of our hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. In our travels, we meet some wonderful people with some incredible stories to tell! We also Zoom with Muffler Man expert and founder of American Giants, Joel Baker, who guides us through the rich history of the fiberglass behemoths that he's devoted a good portion of his life to seeking out, chronicling, and restoring. We also talk to a Muffler Man enthusiast Shelly Lynn of The Paul Bunyan Muffler Man Project for a cultural perspective, and we even speak with Lisa Smith, daughter of Bill Swan, the man who sculpted the first Muffler Man! Plus we make some exciting discoveries of our own! It's a LOT! Are you ready to dive in? Sit back, relax, and get ready for Muffler Mania! ============================= We want to extend a huge thank you to everyone who helped with this episode! Joel Baker is THE authority on Muffler Men and we couldn't have put this all together without his help and wisdom. Please visit and subscribe to his YouTube channel, American Giants, here:    / americangiants  . He's also on Instagram @americangiants and you truly have no idea how deep the Muffler rabbit hole goes until you start digging in with him. Shelly Lynn! Thank you for sharing your insight with us! You can follow her adventures on Instagram @thepaulbunyanmufflermanproject - we can't wait to see what roadside attractions you come across next! A big thank you to Lisa Smith for taking the time to speak with us and sharing your stories! We hope that this episode helps illuminate just how integral your father was to so many roadside memories over the last century. Lisa has written an entire book, called "The Man Behind the Muffler Man". You can purchase it here: https://amzn.to/3LIJUHH And of course thank you to everyone we met along the way for taking the time to talk to us! We keep asking people to share their stories and they keep agreeing to do it, and we're so grateful for that. It's been a moving experience so far sharing the personal stories behind the roadside attractions we've visited, and it's been so wonderful meeting everyone along the way! ============================= Tunes: Busy Day by Derek Krystek –––––––––––––––––––––– Freedom by Roa   / roa_music1031   Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/-_freedom Music promoted by Audio Library    • Freedom – Roa (No Copyright Music)   –––––––––––––––––––––– Silent Partner - Fortunate Note    • Fortunate Note - Silent Partner   –––––––––––––––––––––– Silent Partner - All Aboard    • All Aboard - Silent Partner   –––––––––––––––––––––– Funk Down - MK2    • Funk Down – MK2 (No Copyright Music)   –––––––––––––––––––––– Funk Cool Groove by MusicToday80 Composed & Produced by: Anwar Amr Video Link: https:    • Funk Cool Groove (Royalty Free Music) By A...   Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg –––––––––––––––––––––– Silent Partner - Dog Park    • Dog Park – Silent Partner (No Copyright Mu...   –––––––––––––––––––––– LINDY CINDY & HOPPEL POPPEL royalty free Music by Giorgio Di Campo for @FreeSound Music http://freesoundmusic.eu   / freemusicfor.  .    / freesoundmusic   original video:    • Lindy Cindy & Hoppel Poppel - medium slow ...   –––––––––––––––––––––– Kevin MacLeod - Investigations    • Kevin MacLeod: Investigations   –––––––––––––––––––––– Acoustic/Folk Instrumental by Hyde - Free Instrumentals   / davidhydemusic   Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/acoustic-folk-instrume... Music promoted by Audio Library    • Acoustic Folk Instrumental – Hyde - Free I...   –––––––––––––––––––––– ZitronSound - Lonely Cowboy    • ZitronSound - Lonely Cowboy (Copyright Fre...   –––––––––––––––––––––– Chris Haugen - Campfire Song    • Campfire Song   –––––––––––––––––––––– Chris Haugen - Firefly    • Firefly   –––––––––––––––––––––– MokkaMusic / Old Tapes - Funky Retro Funk    • (No Copyright Music) Funky Retro Funk [Fun...   Music provided by "MokkaMusic" channel and https://inaudio.org –––––––––––––––––––––– The U.S. Army Band - Washington Post –––––––––––––––––––––– John Deley - Saturday Groove    • Saturday Groove – John Deley (No Copyright...   ============================= Photo credits: @roadsideenthusiast on Instagram Wikipedia contributor Leonard J. DeFrancisci Flickr users Mykl Roventine & Orin Zebest #roadtrip #travel #travelvlog