Jay Leno has a statue of himself made out of car parts ready to be picked up in Windsor, Ont.

An auto shop owner in Windsor, Ont., uses old mufflers, wheel nuts and rear-end bearings as his art supplies.

His works of art? Life-sized statues of both real people, like Taylor Swift, and fictional characters, like SpongeBob SquarePants.

Peter Solly estimates he's made between 400 to 500since he started making the unique figures about 20 years ago.

"You have to save the parts, you have to scavenge the parts, you have to organize them, you have to clean em', prep em'," said Solly, who owns MacDonald's Auto Repair and Maintenance shop in Windsor.

"There's a lot of thought that goes into it, but the more you do it, the better your imagination gets and it's actually endless what you can come up with."

When Solly first dabbled in this unique art form, he said the figures were very "primitive."

"My first one was the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz, it was huge," he said, adding he was inspired based on a course a family member was talking about creating art based on what's in your surroundings.

"Everyone got a kick out of them and then the more practice I got, the more I made, the better I got at it."

Solly builds the bodies and local artist Glen Hawkes will paint them to look like the desired person or character.

As Solly improved his talent, he started getting noticed. And most times, he auctions off the figures at fundraisers for local charities.

Earlier this year, one Solly made of former Queen singer Freddie Mercury sold for $23,000. The money raised went to the local charity, Fight Like Mason.

"It was like, $1,000, $3,000, $5,000, $10,000 ... I thought I was dreaming, I couldn't believe it," he said.

"It makes me feel really special, like I'm doing something great and people that are less fortunate, I get to help them out."

Latest figure landed on display in local art gallery

The latest one that's creating a buzz? Former Canadian hockey player Gordie Howe holding the new international bridge that bears the same name.

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is currently getting built and is expected to connect Windsor, Ont., with Detroitlate next year.

The new figure is currently on display at Art Windsor-Essex.

"I think that there's a place for all kinds of work in this gallery, from professional artists across Canada that provide a lot of inspiration to really incredible talents in our local community, people with a lot of enthusiasm and grit," said Jennifer Matotek, executive director of Art Windsor-Essex.

Matoteksays pieces like Solly's are a way to celebrate the talent in the local community.

"Being able to see your community reflected back at you is also really inspiring," she said.

What's also inspiring about Solly's piece, she added, is that it's made out of materials that he encounters every day.

"Whether we think of ourselves as creative people or not, it is interesting to think about, well, how would we use all of the things around us as materials in different ways for creativity," she said.

So what's Jay Leno got to do with this?

Well, sitting amongthe figures planted outside of Solly's shop is one of car enthusiast Jay Leno.

Solly says he's met the American television host and comedian twice before.

"I met him 30 years ago and I met him three months ago," said Solly.

"We're trying to get [the figure] shipped out to him.It's a really good one."