Berwyn in Cook County, Illinois — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)
Berwyn Car Spindle
Artwork Along Route 66
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 3, 2026
1. Berwyn Car Spindle Marker
This 23-foot-tall sculpture pays homage to an original Berwyn landmark. In 1989, artist Dustin Schuler erected a sculpture named Spindle, which showcased eight actual cars impaled on a 50-foot spike. After a cameo in the 1992 movie Wayne's World, it became a popular Route 66 attraction. Pete Gamen, a local artist, created this new sculpture in 2022 as a tribute to the original.
The original Spindle sculpture stood in the nearby Cermak Plaza shopping center. Artist Dustin Schuler's own VW Beetle was skewered on top.
The End of an Era
Over time, weather and bird droppings took their toll. On May 2, 2008, the original Spindle sculpture was dismantled. The top two cars were lifted off the spike and later purchased by a private collector.
Creating the New Spindle
Pete Gamen, a Chicago artist and owner of Kandy Van, was commissioned to create this new sculpture for the Route 66 Centennial. He refers to it as the "Mini Hot Rod" version. The cars were made from fiberglass go-kart bodies and finished with automotive paint colors inspired by the original sculpture. The wheels were creatively crafted from household items
this page online
Erected 2025 by Illinois Route 66 Scenic Byway.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Arts, Letters, Music • Roads & Vehicles. In addition, it is included in the U.S. Route 66 series list. A significant historical year for this entry is 2022.
Location. 41° 49.91′ N, 87° 46.705′ W. Marker is in Berwyn, Illinois, in Cook County. It is at the intersection of Ogden Avenue (Old U.S. 66) and Lombard Avenue, on the right when traveling east on Ogden Avenue. The marker and accompanying sculpture are in the parking lot of Paisans Pizza. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 6226 Ogden Avenue, Cicero IL 60804, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Greater Chicago. It is also in the American Midwest and on the Great Lakes. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Viceroyalty of New France, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Northwest Territory.
Other nearby markers. At least
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 3, 2026
2. Berwyn Car Spindle sculpture and marker
More about this marker. Based on online photos, the marker for this sculpture appears to have been added in 2025. Nearby Lombard Avenue is the border between Berwyn and neighboring Cicero.
This art piece is kitty-corner from the former home of a famed Route 66 landmark, a statue known popularly as the Muffler Man Holding Hot Dog. That 19-foot-tall Paul Bunyan statue holding a giant hot dog was commissioned in 1966 by the owner of the Bunyon's hot dog stand (spelled differently from the folk-hero lumberjack to avoid copyright infringement), located at 6150 W. Ogden in Cicero. The
Photographed by Sean P. Flynn, February 3, 2026
3. Berwyn Car Spindle in the Paisans Pizza parking lot
Regarding Berwyn Car Spindle. Although Cermak Plaza is not really, as this marker asserts, a Route 66 landmarkat Cermak Road (22nd Street) and Harlem Avenue, the shopping center is almost 2 miles north of Ogden Avenuethe site was indeed, for a time, an iconic hub of modern art. In the 1980s, David Bermant, an art enthusiast and the president of the real estate group that owned Cermak Plaza, acquired a number of modern art pieces and displayed them in and around the plaza's parking lot. The first, in 1980, was called "Big Bil-Bored," a 43-foot-tall hump of concrete covered in metal junk like TVs and hubcaps that was, according to a variety of polls, hated by locals as well as art experts; decay led to its removal in 1993.
In 1989, Bermant installed the most famous art piece that would sit at Cermak Plaza, the "Spindle." Designed by Dustin Schuler, an artist known for his use of cars in his sculpture, it featured eight cars impaled kebob-style by a giant spike.
Joe+Jeannette Archie, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0), 2007
4. The original Spindle
Artist Dustin Schuler's VW Beetle was the top car. The Spindle was unveiled in 1989, guest-starred in the movie "Wayne's World" in 1992, and was taken down in 2008.
The deterioration coupled with renovations at the shopping center has also doomed almost all of the other artwork that was once at Cermak Plaza. Today, only one art piece remains: "Ever-Blooming Night and Day Flowers."
Also see . . .
1. The Car Kebab made famous in Waynes World? Its back sort of. From WFLD-32, Chicagos Fox affiliate. (Submitted on February 3, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
2. Roadside America: Spindle: Cars on a Spike (Gone).
Excerpt: Spindle beckoned generations of video-shooting visitors, who yielded to the irresistible urge to drive doughnuts around it. But time and the elements took their toll on the eight skewered junkyard cars, leaving them battered and rusted by Chicagoland weather and caked with pigeon poop.(Submitted on February 3, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
3. What is deal with the art at Cermak Plaza?. (Submitted on February 4, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.)
Credits. This page was last revised on March 18, 2026. It was originally submitted on February 3, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois. This page has been viewed 80 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on February 3, 2026, by Sean P. Flynn of Oak Park, Illinois.
