1. The World's Biggest - Vulcan is cast from iron, and remains to this day the largest cast-iron statue in the world.
2. The sculptor made Vulcan's head oversized so that, viewed from the ground, the figure wouldn't look like today's Zippy the Pinhead.
3. Because there wasn't a building large enough in Birmingham to serve as his workshop, Moretti made the figure out of clay in a deserted cathedral in Passaic, New Jersey, shipping 21 pieces by train to Alabama. The parts were cast, then railroaded to St. Louis, where they were assembled just in time for the fair. Vulcan captured a grand prize, but on the way home, disaster struck: Someone misplaced Vulcan's spear, which was never found. "Who knows?" someone involved in the transportation said. "It might have ended up in some bar in Memphis."
4. Later, when his arms were reattached, the right one was put on backward, so it looked like Vulcan was flipping Birmingham a rude gesture. A smaller spear was forged, but it made Vulcan look more comical than masculine.
5. In 1946, somebody envisioned another use for the city's alter ego: They replaced the spear with alternating neon torches for an auto safety program. Every day for 50 years, if no one died in a vehicle crash, Vulcan would hold aloft a green torch, viewable for miles. On the days when someone died, the torch turned red.
6. Over the years Vulcan held a number of objects including a giant ice cream cone, a pickle sign, and a Coke bottle. He once even wore a giant pair of Liberty overalls.
7. Vulcan Park and Museum sells Vulcan bobble-heads. But that's not all that used to shake. "We called it the Vulcan bobble-head and bobble-buns."
8. Vulcan's head is the heaviest single part of the statue, which is created from 29 cast sections. The head itself weighs some 11,000 lbs and is bolted together internally. This feature was added by the local craftsmen as the statue was originally designed to be self-supporting.
9. After the World's Fair, both St. Louis and San Francisco made offers to purchase Vulcan. San Francisco wanted to put him in the Bay to be a bookend for the Statue of Liberty.
10. A radio host once wrote a song about Vulcan's sturdy derriere called "Moon over Homewood" and it remains a local classic.
