Mudflap Men

It’s the logo Southern Californians can’t escape: cartoon caricatures of three guys named Mark, Dan, and Wayne and the words “Western Truck Exchange,” placed on thousands of truck mudflaps in a city so dry that mudflaps are essentially unnecessary. Who are these people, and who dreamed up the cheesy/terrible/classic/wonderful blue logo?

Since 1982, this has been the insignia of a four-generation family business that has been around, in one form or another, since 1922. Mark, Dan, and Wayne are the Holtzman brothers, and Western Truck Exchange is a well-known name in commercial and government circles for truck purchase and repair.

The company sells new and used trucks, sometimes modified to customer specifications, and takes care of licensing and financing. It services vehicles as varied as fire engines, school buses and armored money trucks. The logo explains none of that, but it’s what draws people in, said Dan Holtzman, 67, president and general manager of the business. Dan jokes that they will bolt mudflaps “on anybody who stops long enough for us to put them on.” Read more >