Wienermobile Kicked Out of Paradise

"Aloha" means both hello and goodbye and the Oscar Mayer Hotdoggers learned that the hard way on the Wienermobile's most recent trip to Hawaii. Here's the story from KITV, the Honolulu ABC affiliate.
Here is KITV's website:

http://www.kitv.com/index.html

Claws and Effect

I've mentioned Red Lobster's Clawde before and the lack of information I can find about him.

As it turns out Clawde has an older brother. Meet "Art the Lobster," a 35 foot long art car created by A.J. Strasser. Art is a fixture in several art car parades and was the original inspiration for Clawde.

Attaching a giant lobster to a vehicle is quite infectious as brothers Art and Clawde have a...well, let's call him a second cousin, twice removed.

For lack of a better name, the "Boston Lobster Feast Car" promotes (you guessed it) the Boston Lobster Feast Restaurant in Orlando.

http://www.bostonlobsterfeast.com/

All we need now if for the Drawn Butter Mobile to show up and we'd be all set.

Separated at Birth Part 2

You may recall the eerie similarity between the Stroh's Beer Can Car and the V-8 Juice Roadster. Well it looks like we've found another pair of "brothers-in-wheels."

The connection between the Topsy Turvy Bus and the Ben & Jerry's Flipped Out Sample Vehicle is much clearer: Ben Cohen.

In 2007 the ice cream mogul commissioned the creation of the bus to protest military spending. It seems he just couldn't seem to get the idea out of his head because in 2009 the B & J Sample Vehicle showed up on the roads doling out tasty treats to the lactose tolerant.

Currently the Topsy Turvy bus resides at the Teva Learning Center in New York and travels to teach kids about how to be environmentally friendly. So it seems this upside-down idea is getting plenty of mileage.

Now roll the credits!

B & J Sample Vehicle created by Turtle Transit:

http://www.turtletransit.com/

Ben & Jerry's online home:

http://www.benjerry.com/

Teva Learning Center:

http://tevalearningcenter.org/

It's Not Delivery, It's...oh wait...It is Delivery

Well I don't know about you but it certainly looks like a microwave to me.

In 2006 DiGiorno released a brand new "Super-Tasty-Terrific-Solve-All-The-World's-Problems" Microwave Pizza. The primary claim being that even though it is prepared in the nuke box, it tastes like it came from the oven. To prove their point they slapped some wheels on a giant microwave.

In reality, the Microwave Truck is another great design from Turtle Transit and actually contains 16 operational commercial microwaves...all the better to prepare free samples for the pizza-loving masses.

You can get more information from the Turtle Transit site:

http://www.turtletransit.com

or from the website of 361° Experiental (who handled the tour):

http://www.361experiential.com/

Knit Picking

Some days you just have a yen for yarn and the absence of adequate transportation isn't enough to snuff your need for knitting. Well, good news, Prototype Source strikes again:

 
The Yarn Bus is the brainchild of the folks at the Flying Fingers Yarn Shop. You can get the full story from WABC-TV who spins a yarn of their own

 

For more information check out the Flying Fingers website:

http://www.flyingfingers.com

History of the Wienermobile

Here's a great look at the history of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile from the PBS series "Chicago Tonight."

Dial "P" for Product Mobile

Sometimes simplicity is a marketer's best weapon. Howard Davis has a telephone company, Datel Communications, that he would like to promote with a product mobile. What shape do you think the vehicle should be?

In addition to promoting the business, the Phone Car makes several appearances in parades and auto shows. It's a street legal vehicle but is frequently hauled for longer trips.

It was constructed from a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle chassis, has a tinted windshield allowing the driver to see and even a horn that sounds like a ringing telephone.

A chariot this grand is the worthy ride of a champion of justice...or at least a champion of quality telecommunications services. Enter "Teleman!"

A sleek, elegant design with a simple premise underlying a complex engineering feat and a super hero thrown in for good measure: that's definitely a lot of bang for your product mobile buck. Check out more information about the Phone Car here:

http://www.thephonecar.com

Double Cheeseburgers

There was a time when backyard barbeque themed product mobiles were limited to various versions of the Wienermobile. However, these days the hot dog's frequent grill-mate has begun to hit the highways promoting hamburger havens in different parts of the country.

The Westport Flea Market Bar & Grillin Kansas City, MO boasts the "best burgers in Kansas City" and to really drive the point home they created the Burgermobile, designed by Orchid Promotional vehicles with all the trimmings.

You can find them online here:

http://www.westportfleamarket.com/

Little Anthony's Diner in Tucson, AZ is a 50's nostalgia restaurant that hosts frequent car shows. The usual standout is the diner's own Burger Car.

You can check it out at their next sock hop:

http://www.littleanthonysdiner.com/

Rhymes With Orange

One of England's most juiced up product mobiles is the Outspan Orange Car. Brain Waite, designer of the speedy citrus recently sent us some pictures and information.

So here's your daily dose of Vitamin C in Brian's own words:

BW: The idea came during a dinner with the advertising director of Outspan for whom I was building a racing car at the time.

To prove the concept he commissioned a prototype in 1971. This, as you can see, opened up to enter with the interior upholstered in deep-buttoned leather.

It has a space frame chassis to take the loads from the counter balance mechanism, which consists of four car suspension springs. To the frame standard mini sub-frames are bolted with a 1,000cc engine and automatic gearbox. To counteract the top-heavy shell and the short wheelbase a ballast weight is situated under the floor at the rear.

BW: Once proven a further four were ordered and a “production” version was produced with a rear door and lighter vinyl upholstery done, appropriately, in segments. This chassis was more of a monocoque.

Two more followed with one bound for South Africa and is now in a museum there with the last one ending up in the Beaulieu National Motor Museum here in the UK.

BW: At the time I was situated on the opposite side of London to Outspan so I was encouraged to drive them through London during rush hour when delivering them.

For more information about the Outspan Orange Car and Brian's other work, check out his website:

http://brianwaite.co.uk

Zippo Car Article

The Spring 2003 Issue of Zippo Click, The Official Publication of the Zippo Click Collectors Club, featured the Zippo Car in detail. Here are a few pages.

For more of the magazine or for more information about the Zippo Click Collector's Club check out there website:

http://www.zippoclick.com/