There's a chain of auto repair shops in the greater Tampa Bay, Florida area that has the good taste to use repurposed muffler men as their roadside ambassadors. Big Mechanic Complete Automotive and Mufflers is a franchise of 20 shops in the area. A Mr. Steve Torregiante operates eight of these locations including the two Auto Air & Brake City, Inc. locations seen here (we've already blogged about another one of Steve's muffler man-laden shops in Tampa here). After acquiring his shops in the 2000s, Steve thought it's be a great idea to use unemployed muffler men to grab the attention of passing motorists. "When I first learned they were initially designed for muffler shops, I thought, Wow I have to have one," Steve said. "But I wouldn't really get out of a car and have my picture taken with them like some people do, but hey, it works for me." His first was acquired in nearby Ocala, just up the road. The next three came from more far-flung locations: East Texas, Missouri and Georgia. Steve is still on the lookout for a few more good men, but they don't pop up for sale very often. According to his website:

Since then (the fourth one), no others have been found for sale. About 20 of them are in California & Steve says if he has to go that far to get one, he will. Because of Florida's possibility for hurricanes, each of them have been heavily reinforced with steel structures lining the inside of the statues & can be easily taken down and/or moved in the event of a coming storm.

Another delight of Steve's Zephyrhills shop is the little character with the big grin made out of muffler and tailpipe parts looking over ever-so-casually at his bigger counterpart. Bravo to the modern-day mechanical Michelangelo who created this wonderful bit of whimsy.

It takes real commitment (some would say in an institution) to haul a muffler man across the country and make him hurricane-proof. Steve, you're our kind of guy. We'll never get "exhausted" of your muffler man mojo, so put that in your pipe and smoke it!