Roadside Oddities

Schaefer's Auto Art

3705 Hershey Rd

Schaefer’s Auto Art is Erie’s most delightfully offbeat roadside attraction—a scrapyard dreamworld where rust becomes whimsy and wreckage turns into wonder.

Created by local artist Dick Schaefer beginning in 1988, this open-air gallery on Hershey Road showcases towering sculptures made entirely from salvaged car parts and industrial castoffs. A giant VW Beetle spider, a two-headed dinosaur with spark plug teeth, and a 40-foot rocket built from Oldsmobile engines and truck leaf springs are just a few of the fantastical creatures that greet visitors. Each piece is a testament to Schaefer’s inventive spirit and his ability to transform the discarded into the unforgettable.

What makes Schaefer’s Auto Art truly Weird Erie is its blend of humor, craftsmanship, and roadside Americana. It’s free to visit, tucked into a quiet suburban lawn, and constantly evolving—new sculptures appear, old ones shift, and every visit offers something unexpected. Visitors are encouraged to leave a note in the “Buzz Box,” a mailbox nestled among the metal menagerie, adding their own voice to this living archive of Erie eccentricity.

Whether you’re drawn by curiosity, nostalgia, or the sheer joy of seeing a bumblebee made from a car grill, Schaefer’s Auto Art is a must-see for anyone exploring the stranger corners of Erie County.

An unusual playground structure resembling a spider with a black car in the center, its front end blending into the car's shape, surrounded by trees and green grass.
A sculpture of a bee made from recycled metal parts, situated outdoors on grass, with green trees in the background.
A vintage red and gray rocket statue on a grassy lawn with trees and a vintage car in the background, under a bright blue sky with scattered white clouds.
Rusty, vintage, red, and white farm wheelbarrow frame with blue accents, lying on grass in a wooded area.
A yellow, custom-made helicopter with various unconventional modifications, parked on a grassy area with trees in the background.
A vintage police car with a black and white paint job and a red light on top, and an old rusty tow truck with googly eyes on the windshield, parked on grass with green trees in the background.
A sculpture of a humanoid figure made from blue metal parts, holding a surfboard and wearing a small hat, standing on a grassy area with trees and parked cars in the background.
Rusty, abandoned mechanical sculpture resembling a creature with a skull face, made from old metal parts, situated outdoors on grass.
Old rusty mailbox with a sign saying 'The Buzz Box' and 'Look Inside!', mounted on a metal post on a grassy roadside near a paved road with a forest in the background.