Big Mike Is Back, Empty-Handed; What Should He Hold?

For about 40 years Big Mike stood guard on Mission Boulevard, armed with a muffler. And it was a sad, sad day when the 20-foot-tall blue and white fiberglass icon was hauled down.

"I remember going down Mission when I was little," Diane Curry of the Hayward Historical Society told the San Jose Mercury News in November 2011. "I always knew how close we were to the mall by when we passed the Muffler Man."

But now Big Mike is back, restored to his former glory by Bruce Kennedy, owner of Bell Plastics on 2020 National Ave., in the heart of industrial Hayward.

The fiberglass figure is similar in iconic clout to the Doggie Diner Head.

Big Mike won't be nearly so visible in his new location at the end of a quiet sidestreet as he was when he presided over busy Mission Boulevard.

But Kennedy, who bought the statue in an auction and paid an undisclosed amount to have him re-painted and repaired, has come up with a different way to put Big Mike to work.

Over the next few days Kennedy will begin sponsoring a contest on Bell's soon-to-be-remade website: what should Big Mike hold in "his" hands.

So put on your thinking caps. In the past Big Mike has held mufflers and wrenches.

What would be appropriate now?

Stay tuned and revisit the Bell website in a few days for contest details.

Read more about Big Mike's return here.

What do you remember about Big Mike?