There was one somewhere in Atlanta (where my sister lived for a while, I'm from the UK and was visiting) which is exactly the same; I made her drive back so I could take a picture of it as I thought no-one would believe me (this was in 1998, IIRC). At least after reading the comments in this thread it makes some sense now.
Funny, that’s the one and only place I’ve seen one as well (it was 35 years ago, on the Gold Coast just north of downtown...). I was just gearing up to post about this when I saw your post.
Based on various images it appears the same location. I wonder after many decades whether location has changed. Either way, I would say it was a big birthday surprise.
There's also one in Atlanta, and I think maybe Orlando as well. Always fun to see the tourists getting surprised by the one bitter drink in the whole collection (Beverly, from Italy). Wikipedia claims it was discontinued 12 years ago, except for the Coke museums.
I recall that. At the time I knew someone who claimed to be in contact with the perpetrators, and I had heard that the city made an arrangement for a permanent installation of that piece.
I think I can infer from the wiki page that this either fell through, or my friend was making stuff up, because it appears to be at a metalworking shop.
It may have been more of a small town thing? I’m not sure, but that was where the one I went to was. It was there until the early 2000s but the writing was on the wall in the late 90s.
I live half a mile from this, it is nothing short of creepy.
They displayed it in the Grand Arcade when it was first introduced and people would actively walk the long way round to avoid it.
I looked up that location based on the street signage there, some business that has apparently gone under, and got to see a street view of where they were. It looked like some interesting CGI but there it was, in the real world.
We lived right around the corner from this one! I have fond memories. And I second your point: there are even scarier ones (though not scary for kids).
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