International Fiberglass

Defunct American fiberglass mold sculpture manufacturer

The Gemini Giant at the Launching Pad, a drive-in restaurant in Illinois Chicken Boy in Highland Park, Los Angeles

International Fiberglass was a fiberglass molding company founded in Venice, California in about 1963, best known for their large molded fiberglass roadside advertising sculptures commonly called "Muffler Men".

The company was formed when Steve Dashew purchased Prewitt Fiberglass Animals[1] and acquired all of the molds created by Bob Prewitt.[2] One of the molds which Dashew acquired in the transaction was a 20-foot human figure,[3] which Prewitt had used in 1962 to create an oversized statue for the Paul Bunyan Cafe in Flagstaff, Arizona. The company had made fiberglass boats, but Dashew decided to use the mold to create some business during slow boat-building periods.

He began advertising his outsize figure-making capability, and began selling his giant figures in 1964.[4][5] The outsize figures eventually included a female, who could be fitted with either a bikini swimsuit or a dress. In 10 years of production, International Fiberglass sold hundreds of oversized figures, including cowboys, Indians, astronauts, giant chickens, dinosaurs, Yogi Bears, and tigers, selling each for $1,800 to $2,800 (or as low as $1,000 when ordered in bulk, as when Texaco ordered a batch of 300).[3]

Dashew ceased production in 1974, and sold the company's assets in 1976. The outsized molds were destroyed after the sale.[3]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Venice Vanguard Newsletter - January 2004". Betsy Sells Venice. Retrieved 31 July 2017. "The Prewitt factory was located at 4054 Glencoe Avenue, Venice CA"
2. ^ "International Fiberglass Statues | RoadsideArchitecture.com". roadarch.com. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
3. ^ a b c "Land of the Fiberglass Giants". Neatorama. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
4. ^ "Rescuing America's roadside giants - BBC News". BBC News. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
5. ^ Although "Muffler Men" was the general term used by journalists who wrote about the figures; the term was NOT used by International Fiberglass. [1]

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