Muffler Man Starts Family

Sometime this summer on my way to work down First Avenue in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, I spotted Muffler Man waving an American Flag.

Later, I noticed he was joined by a small dog with a rubber tongue hanging out of his mouth.

Then this green caterpillar wriggled onto the scene.

And now there's this great big bull.

How cool is that, I thought, stopped by to see what was up.

Seems Paul Mahurin of Marion, lead technician at  the Midas muffler shop at 3230 First Ave. NE, had some spare time, what with the slow economy. So he picked up a few spare parts, including mufflers from an old Dodge truck and a Honda car, to make Muffler Man. He painted him chrome and christened him Max Turbo.

Technician Brian Anderson soon got into the act by creating a dog for Muffler Man. The little pooch almost seems to be wagging his tail.

The latest item is the big bull, created from a 55-gallon oil drum which some mighty big exhaust pipe horns and an exhaust tip bell around its next.

But the most fun creation could be the bright green caterpillar. Each section is an empty 30-pound Freon container. As those canisters are emptied (not likely again until spring), the caterpillar can grow and grow. Maybe some day he'll become a centipede or ... a millipede!

What fun to be creative in your spare time, to make animals that attract passersby, whether in a car or jogging by or our walking the dog.

The boss, Daren Jamieson of Iowa City, thinks it's all fine a dandy since this family is attracting attention to the shop. He's even urging the guys to build more, maybe adding a Herky the Hawk for the highly successful Iowa Hawkeyes college football team that has started the season 6-0.

But, while Muffler Man is named Max Turbo and the dog has been called Amp, the bull and the caterpillar as, as yet, unnamed.

So, how about it? You got a suggested name for them? Let me know and I'll pass it on to the muffler men.