Kenneth Earl Fox; Muffler Repair Shop Owner

Kenneth Earl Fox, who owned several muffler repair shops during the 50 years he lived in Ventura County, died Friday at a Santa Paula nursing home after a long illness. He was 71.

Born in Cabool, Mo., Fox was captain of his high school football and basketball teams and a straight-A student, said his daughter, Lisa Subia of Ventura.

Fox once owned muffler shops in Thousand Oaks and Oxnard. He also owned Fox Muffler in Santa Paula--now run by his son Gary, also of Ventura--for 25 years.

He and two other men invented the “Blue Boy,” a machine that bent automobile tailpipes, perfecting a larger device that was standard in muffler shops.

“It would do exactly the same thing, but it probably weighed about half as much as the big ones,” Subia said.

Fox also worked as an Oxnard firefighter and was a member of the Oxnard Elks Club. He enjoyed water-skiing and restoring old cars and recently gave a 1928 Plymouth with a Corvette engine to a great nephew for his high school graduation. That car included the “Fox Box,” a quieter exhaust system Fox invented.

“I think cars were the great love of his life,” Subia said.

In addition to Subia and son Gary Fox, Kenneth Fox is survived by his former wife, Querida Fox of Ventura; brother Gary Fox of Raymondville, Mo.; son Brian Fox of Ventura, and grandchildren Charles and Angela Fox of Ventura and Marci Fox of Sacramento.

Arrangements are under the direction of James A. Reardon Mortuary in Oxnard.