Schaefer's Auto Art

Erie, Pennsylvania, United States

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Roadside giants

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Current

Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Schaefer's Auto Art is a front yard on Hershey Road in McKean Township, Erie, where welded sculptures made from car parts have been displayed since 1988, among them Automan, a two-headed dinosaur, a bumblebee built from a cement-mixer drum and a black Volkswagen spider, according to Erie News Now.

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Schaefer's Auto Art

This pin marks the Big Thing itself. If stopping, choose a safe and legal place nearby.

Site-level location · 42.0436° N, 80.1342° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

When Erie News Now visited in 2023, a two-headed dinosaur with spark plugs for teeth stood in a front yard on Hershey Road in McKean Township, Erie, beside a figure called Automan. Both are the work of the yard's creator, who told the station he has been showing sculptures made from auto parts there since 1988.

He said a brother ran a junkyard, Denny's Auto Wrecking, where he used to hang around and bring car parts home to work out how to weld them together. His first project joined the front halves of two Lincoln Continentals. He said Pennsylvania “did not have a sense of humor” about inspecting it for the road, so it just sat around.

Automan's body was an engine, a transmission and a drive shaft, with shoes made of brake shoes. Over the years he has been dressed as a pirate and as a Halloween scarecrow; in 2023 he was a golfer. The dinosaur had an oil pan for a head and little wrenches for paws. A bumblebee was a cement-mixer drum joined to the front end of a Saab, with drive shafts for legs, and a spider was a black Volkswagen Beetle on long metal legs. The family website also lists a rocket ship.

He says he does not build everything alone: friends come over, have a few beers and start welding. He told Erie News Now the aim was simple, “for people to drive by and just see and smile.” A mailbox by the road invites comments, and the station reports visitors from across the country and around the world. SPACES Archives, which documents artist-built environments, includes the site in its collection.

The display is on private property, so look from the roadside. In 2023 Erie News Now described parking on the side of the highway in front of the display.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Sculptures made from car parts stand in a yard beside the road. Erie News Now (2023, updated 2025) reported no admission fee in 2023 and parking on the side of the highway in front. Figures such as Automan are re-dressed over time.

ACCESS

Beside Hershey Road in McKean Township, Erie, in a private yard viewed from the roadside. Erie News Now reports parking on the highway side in front of the display. Please respect the property.

COMMUNITY

Visitor Log

WHAT'S NEXT

Find another Big Thing nearby

Dolly Dimples is a giant waitress statue that greeted customers outside Valvo's Candies on Route 5 in Silver Creek for about 50 years. After the shop closed in September 2022 she was moved in July 2023 to Weird but True Antiques on Brigham Road in Dunkirk, whose owner said he would keep her local.

Characters and mascots

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80 km away

TRANSPARENCY

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