Fabulous promotional vehicles

The first promotional vehicles appeared almost as soon as the automobile became popular in the early 20th century. According to James Hale, author of "The Wonderful Wacky World of Marketing Mobiles," the first "product-mobiles" appeared in America before World War I, with custom coachwork designed to evoke the actual shape of the product, and often were used to distribute samples or make product demonstrations. The vehicles drew a crowd when they were parked, and were rolling advertisements on the road. The giant roll of Pep-O-Mint Life Savers, built on a 1918 Dodge truck chassis, required its driver to lean out of the center window to see forward.

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An icon of American advertising, the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile may be the best-known promotional vehicle in the world. The original Wienermobile debuted in 1936 and was the idea of Karl G. Mayer, the nephew of the hot-dog company's founder. Built by General Body Co. of Chicago, the 13-foot metal sausage had cockpits in the center and rear, and reportedly cost $5,000. It cruised Chicago promoting the company's "yellow band" German Style Wiener. Between 1952 and 2004, six new versions of the Wienermobile were commissioned. An example of the 1952 model is on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich. The 1958 model, created by noted industrial designer Brooks Stevens, rode on a Jeep chassis.

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Today's fleet of eight Wienermobiles has been on the road since 2004. Built by Prototype Source in Santa Barbara, Calif., on a modified Chevrolet truck chassis powered by a 6.0-liter V8 engine, each 27-foot-long vehicle is 11 feet tall and weighs 14,050 pounds. It features a gull-wing door with an automatic retractable step, voice-activated GPS navigation system, and a hot-dog-shaped dashboard. The horn, of course, plays the "Oscar Mayer Wiener Jingle." In 2008 a Mini Wienermobile joined the fleet. Built on a MINI Cooper S chassis, the Mini is 15 feet long, 8 feet high and weighs 3,400 pounds. Wienermobile pilots, all recent college grads, are called Hotdoggers, and you can follow their exploits on the Hotdogger blog.

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Prototype Source is the company behind many of the promotional vehicles on the road today, including the Wienermobile, the Hershey's Kissmobile, and the Planters NutMobile. According to Bruce Brackman of Prototype Source, most of these vehicles start life as a Chevrolet W4500, a cab-over medium-duty truck that has been licensed by the company that has commissioned the promo-vehicle. Prototype Source then designs and creates a molded fiberglass shape that mounts over the frame of the truck, and often leaves most of the cab and controls intact. The vehicles may incorporate sound systems, video monitors or interactive displays. The vehicle shown here became the 23-foot-long Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Mobile.

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Trailed by the scent of milk chocolate, two Hershey's Kissmobile Cruisers cover more than 30,000 miles each year. Commissioned in 1997 and 1999, each features a fiberglass body that resembles a trio of 8-foot-tall Hershey's Kisses and has a refrigerated compartment that can store 230,000 of the chocolates. Staffed by a crew of two Chocolate Ambassadors, each Kissmobile is equipped with a 42-inch plasma flat-screen television and a DVD and sound system complete with karaoke and Sony PlayStation. The Kissmobiles participate in parades and festivals and make retail store visits. The Kissmobiles also visit the 170 children's hospitals affiliated with the Children's Miracle Network and are part of Hershey's ongoing partnership with the charity.

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Originally intended to support the company's marketing efforts at NASCAR racing events, the Planters NutMobile is designed as a hot rod with a supercharger scoop looming over a cockpit holding Mr. Peanut, who should probably be wearing a helmet, not his 32-inch top hat. Built in 1998, the fiberglass shell resembles a Planters promo-car from the 1930s. The vehicle is 25 feet long and 12.5 feet tall. The NutMobile appeared in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2008, and will be at the Plains Peanut Festival in Plains, Ga., Sept. 25-26, 2009.

Bing: Photos from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Marshalls wanted to put its best foot forward when the retail chain began to roll out its new Shoe Megashop stores in 2007. One tool of the promotion is the Marshalls Stiletto, a giant fiberglass high-heel shoe staffed by a crew of Shoe Divas who hand out promotional items. The Stiletto was built by Prototype Source over a Honda Rebel 250 motorcycle. The moto-shoe retains the Honda's single-cylinder engine. A single Bilstein spring and shock is hidden within the spike heel to suspend the rear wheel. The front suspension assembly is from a Suzuki QuadRunner ATV, mounting a pair of Honda Rebel front wheels. A bucket seat holds the driver. There's no space for a passenger.

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Don't needle Elise Goldschlag about her Yarn Bus. Inspired by the shuttles used to transport Manhattan shoppers to an IKEA store in New Jersey, the owner of the Flying Fingers Yarn Shop in Tarrytown, N.Y., commissioned her Yarn Bus in 2004 to bring customers from the city to her business. Today the Yarn Bus has a regular weekend pick-up schedule in Manhattan and makes special trips for groups. The 14-passenger Yarn Bus is a Ford E-350 van topped with three balls of yarn crafted in fiberglass. Goldschlag reports that children are often disappointed to learn that they cannot climb up into the yarn balls, which are simply attached to the van's roof.

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The Wienermobile should probably avoid the Johnsonville Big Taste Grill. This big-rig BBQ is 65 feet long, weighs 27 tons and packs 444,000 BTU of grilling power. Big Taste Grill rigs have appeared at the Super Bowl, the Kentucky Derby and the Daytona 500, but they are used primarily to support charitable fund-raising events, and have helped raise more than $2 million since 1995, according to Johnsonville. An aluminum walkway is erected next to the trailer to give cooks access to the grill area, which features a clean-up sink and a freezer that can hold 1,000 pounds of Wisconsin sausage. The grill can accommodate up to 750 brats at one time, and can crank out 2,500 cooked links an hour.

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Designed to resemble a giant tin of meat, the first SPAMmobile hit the road in 2001. Based on a trolley chassis, the 28-foot-long SPAMmobile has a blue-steel body with rounded corners, just like the famous can. Inside is seating for the driver and one SPAMbassador, who is in charge of preparing product samples, including the signature SPAMburger, in a self-contained, full-service kitchen. In visits to retailers and at special events, SPAMbassadors have handed out more than 6.5 million SPAM samples from the SPAMmobiles. Three SPAMmobiles were in action until early 2009, when Hormel Foods discontinued the SPAMmobile program and parked these grinning SPAM cans on wheels.

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The flames are fake, but the Zippo Car is capable of igniting a crowd when it leaves its home at the Zippo/Case Visitors Center in Bradford, Pa. The original Zippo Car, based on a 1947 Chrysler Saratoga, incorporated a giant steel replica of the famous Zippo lighter, topped with 5-foot flames. Beginning in 1948, it appeared in parades and special events, but the 5,000-pound car was too heavy for its tires and suffered frequent blowouts. In the early 1950s it was sent to a shop for updates, forgotten and then lost when the repair business closed. The current Zippo Car, a replica also based on a 1947 Chrysler, was completed in 1998 at a cost of $250,000.

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Perhaps the most ambitious promotional vehicle undertaking was the General Motors Parade of Progress. Intended to showcase the GM science and technology exhibits from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair, the original Parade hit the road in 1936 with a caravan of eight streamlined display vans, making stops in small towns across the country. In 1940 the parade was revamped to include 12 new display trucks called Futurliners. Each was 33 feet long, 11 feet 7 inches tall, and weighed more than 35,000 pounds. A pair of 16-by-5-foot side doors opened to reveal displays of new technology, such as an early microwave oven. The Parade included 44 vehicles, 53 men and a tent that could seat 1,500 people.

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Following World War II, the General Motors Parade of Progress was revived in 1953, but the advent of television as evening entertainment dimmed its public appeal and the program was discontinued in 1956. The Futurliners were sold — evangelist Oral Roberts turned one into a "Cathedral Cruiser" — and over time most fell into disrepair. Nine survive today, but two are beyond restoration. In 2006 a team of volunteers completed the restoration of Futurliner No. 10, owned by the National Automotive and Truck Museum of Auburn, Ind., and it makes appearances at car shows and events. Another restored Futurliner was sold in 2006 at auction to an Arizona collector for $4.3 million, making it the most valuable promo vehicle in the world.

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This rolling DJ booth, the Red Bull MXT was put into service by the energy drink company early in 2009. It's based on an International MXT chassis customized by Agile Vehicle Modification in Elkhart, Ind. The roof of the Red Bull MXT rises on hydraulic rams to reveal a DJ station and 1,800-watt sound system with four Mackie SR1521z speakers capable of 123 decibels. Four LCD flat-panel monitors play video highlights of Red Bull-sponsored athletes in action, or video games through an Elite Xbox. An onboard Cummins Onan generator makes it possible to power up this extreme party machine just about anywhere.

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Veteran moto-journalist and Wisconsin-native Charles Plueddeman has been driving, riding and testing automobiles, motorcycles, boats, ATVs and snowmobiles for more than 20 years. He is a regular contributor to Boating Magazine and Outdoor Life, and his product evaluation articles have appeared in Popular Mechanics, Men's Journal, AutoWorld, Playboy, Boats.com and many other national publications and Web sites.

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