Route 66 has seen its share of characters over the last century, but not many of them have picked a fight with a bronze car. On June 28, Tulsa police say a man walked up to the “East Meets West” sculpture at Cyrus Avery Centennial Plaza and, for reasons nobody has been able to explain, started kicking and punching the Model T that’s been parked there since 2012. By the time he was done, the statue’s headlight had been ripped clean off.
If you’ve never seen this sculpture, it’s worth picturing before we go further. It’s not some little roadside trinket. The whole scene spans 40 feet and weighs 10 tons, depicting Cyrus Avery’s family cruising down Route 66 in their Model T while a horse-drawn oil wagon spooks at the sight of them. It’s meant to capture that awkward handoff moment between horsepower and actual horses. Somehow, in 2026, it became the target of a one-man demolition derby.
Tulsa police released a photo of the suspect and are asking the public for help identifying him through Tulsa Crime Stoppers. As of now, no motive has been given, and honestly, we’re not sure what kind of motive would make sense here. A guy losing an argument with a 10-ton bronze family seems like it was never a fair fight to begin with.
The kicker is the repair estimate. The city says fixing the missing headlight could run around $25,000, which is a lot of money for one small part on a very large statue. That said, the East Meets West sculpture reportedly cost around $1.2 million to build back in 2012, so in the world of monumental bronze, replacement parts apparently don’t come cheap either.
“The real crime is the repair cost,” said one Facebook user. Another added: “He’s either mentally ill and protecting the horse; or by the comments, exposing repair rip-offs in Tulsa.” Some even joked that they’d do the repair for $12,000 instead.
A Rough Year for Tulsa’s Route 66 Landmarks
This isn’t the only Route 66 monument in Tulsa that’s taken a hit recently. The “Route 66 Rising” sculpture at Admiral and Mingo got dinged up after a car lost control and rolled into it. Between that and the Model T headlight, the city has had to lean on a newly budgeted $100,000 maintenance fund for Route 66 infrastructure, and it sounds like that fund is already working overtime.
Part of the response includes upgrading surveillance cameras at Cyrus Avery Plaza, which should help if this sort of thing happens again. It might also help identify the man in the photo, assuming he hasn’t sworn off Model Ts for life.
What Happens Next
For now, the sculpture is missing a headlight, the city is weighing its repair options, and Tulsa police are hoping someone recognizes the man in the photo. If you know who he is, Crime Stoppers wants to hear from you at 918-596-COPS.
Story details via the Tulsa Police Department’s Facebook page and NewsOn6.