By ERIC C. RODENBERG
Antique Week Correspondent

UNGER, W.Va. — When it comes to collecting, George and Pam Farnham are given to thinking big.

How big? Colossally big. Think tons of cement and fiberglass big.
Nearly five years ago, Pam “snuck in” a 50th birthday present onto their seven acres of land: “Muffler Man,” a 21-foot tall fiberglass objet de art from atop a Midas muffler shop in Whittier, Calif. It cost more than three times as much to ship Muffler Man to their home as to buy him. Then it took a crane and nearly a ton of cement to set him into the ground.

Once Muffler Man became part of the family, it readily became apparent that he was lonely … he needed a companion.

Then, along came the 25-foot high Beach Boy, aka “Brian Wilson,” which was purchased from an amusement park in upstate New York. The die was cast. Within months, colossal figures began arriving onto Farmham’s Fantasy Farm from throughout the United States.
“It’s just like potato chips,” according to Pam, “you can’t stop.”
Now, “Big John the Grocery Guy” at 23-foot stands next to the muffler guy and a 19-feet high Santa Claus is lined up in front of the driveway. In another part of the yard, a 6-foot high five-car roller coaster with 160-feet of track holds statues of the five-member Simpson family, with Homer in the front car.

There are also figures of crabs, “Blue Bird” and “Bruce the Shark” from a Finding Nemo promotion, along with two sea horses and a 21-foot high Paul Bunyan statue (like the one in the movie, Fargo) that came from Florida. In the front yard, are 6-foot statues of Cindy Bear and Ranger Smith of Michigan’s Jellystone Park. An eagle with a 12-foot wingspan that came from a North Carolina amusement park is displayed on a pole, next to a pterodactyl with a 15-foot wing span from a New Jersey miniature golf course. He was on a rotating pole on the golf course, but his wing kept hitting the neighbor’s roof, according to George.

“Yeah, it get’s pretty addictive,” George said, not yet admitting things are completely out of hand.

George was a Washington D.C. lawyer who decided to pack it up and move to the hills of West Virginia in the 1980s. Pam came from New York a few years later. They still appreciate the freedom they have found in rural West Virginia.

“Not too many people could pull this off,” he says. “But we don’t have any zoning here … we can get away with it and nobody cares. That’s why we have the largest collection on private property in the United States.”

The Farnhams are particularly proud of their most recent acquisition — Biker Babe.” Standing 17-foot tall this Amazon was originally created as the UniRoyal Gal in 1963. It’s thought that only 100 of them were produced and, today according to George, only 11 are known to exist. When she arrived Biker Babe was clad in a blouse and skirt as her original bikini costume was thought to be too reisque for her Mississippi location. Upon arriving in West Virginia, off came the blouse and skirt, leaving the bikini clad Biker Babe exposed to the elements of the hills. It was repainted by Berkeley Springs artist Lee Barron, including leather gloves with the fingertips cut out, high heel leather boots, tattoos and a bandana. The butterfly on the Biker Babe’s right thigh is identical to one Pam has on her ankle.

George waxes enthusiastically about his new Giantess: “It’s the holy grail to us. The sculptor who did the piece had this fascination with Jackie Kennedy … it has a ‘Barbie-esque’ look to it. It was a little risqué for the time.”

Although the Farnhams are active dealers in antiques and collectibles, the Colossials (or more properly, Colossi) at Farnhams Farm are here to stay. It’s their way of preserving an ever-decreasing part of American heritage.

“They were really popular back in the late 1950s and early 1960s,” George says. “They were mostly located on the smaller highways – the places like Route 66 – before the big interstates came along. Now, there’s just not many of them left.”

He estimates there were 4,000 statues of Muffler Man produced (particularly after Midas Muffler franchise owners noticed business tripling once they put the big engaging guy in front of their store). Now there may be only 40 left.

“That’s about what we figure, close to 90 percent of them are gone,” he says.

Not only do the Farnhams appreciate the idea of rescuing these relics of the now less traveled roads, but there’s also the enjoyment of sharing their collection.

“That’s the best thing,” George Farnham says. “There’s hardly a day goes by that we don’t have someone stop by just to look.”
More visitors started coming after the couple’s collection was featured the website of Roadside America.

“One of my favorite groups was the family from Pennsylvania,” George recalls. “They came down here in three cars, and there were at least 20 people. They just kept getting out and getting out of the cars. They told me it would probably be one of the last times the whole family would get out and sight-see, and that they had planned their whole trip around these statues and other weird sites.”

Now George’s gaze turns to the south, where Dinosaur Land is located in White Post, Va. At the park, more than two dozen Jurassic giants (plus King Kong) have served as a spark for George’s inspiration for more than 30 years.

“Those dinosaurs are hard to find,” he says. “I first saw those probably over 30 years ago and I was just waiting … but they’re still in business … I really wanted one of those dinosaurs …”
So, as George looks to the south, wistfully – perhaps even a little covetingly – and envisions an even grander landscape in West Virginia. Both he and Pam Farnham have learned the magic of dreaming big.