Oscar Mayer Wienermobile -original post date 4/13/2013
Car Du Jour:
The 1952 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. This one was the 2nd mobile hot dog made for the Oscar Mayer company, and is built on a Dodge chassis. Since then, there have been 8 other models of wienermobiles, for a grand total of 10. We won't go into what type of power these things have, because I don't really know, and who really cares? It's not like you're going to drag race a wienermobile -and how humiliating would it be if you tried and lost, anyway? We won't even go there.
What's cool about these, aside from the fact that they're giant food items on wheels is that there's a program people can apply to that, if selected, will make them the driver of one of the weinermobiles. In 1988, a program called Hotdoggers was initiated by Oscar Mayer that hired recent college grads to pilot a fleet of 6 wieners throughout the country.
I had occasion to meet a couple of Hotdoggers at a night club back in the spring of 2001 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their names were Wendy and Rosa, and the group of people I was with kind of absorbed the two of them for the night, which was spent dancing and partying. They were very nice and were great fun to hang out with. I remember thinking what a sweet gig they had going.
One regret I have in life was that I didn't apply to the Hotdoggers program after I finished school. How much fun would it have been to drive around in that thing? Of course, Wendy and Rosa weren't rolling in the Weinermobile pictured here. They were likely driving either the 7th or 8th generation wiener. The 7th can't be linked to any specific make of automobile, because its chassis was custom built to accommodate the form -bun, wiener, and probably even condiments. That must have gotten a bit spendy, because the 8th generation wiener just used a GMC van platform. -Remember that rusted out Chevy van from a few "jours" ago? If fate had been a bit kinder to that vehicle, it may have ended up as an iconic mobile food item rather than a ratty old van sitting in the gas station parking lot.
Anyway, the wiener fleet still has 6 wienermobiles roaming the country, but has added two more in recent years. There's a food truck version of the wienermobile (I'd rather drive the one that you just drive around -it probably doesn't reek of hot dogs like the food truck one) and a small one based on a Mini. If you ever make it into the ranks of the Hotdoggers, I recommend going for either the Mini, or the regular Wiener. The mini is probably more fun to drive, but likely rather crowded, what with having to accommodate a giant hot dog in and on it, but I bet it's faster.
So, if you know of any young recent college grads who have a decent driving record (now that I think about it, I bet I wouldn't have been allowed to drive the wienermobile due to the speeding tickets I'd racked up during my undergrad years), and who are in need of employment, it couldn't hurt to send them over to Oscar Mayer. Word is, the competition is pretty fierce, but if you get your foot in the door, what an adventure you'll have!
The 1952 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile from the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. This one was the 2nd mobile hot dog made for the Oscar Mayer company, and is built on a Dodge chassis. Since then, there have been 8 other models of wienermobiles, for a grand total of 10. We won't go into what type of power these things have, because I don't really know, and who really cares? It's not like you're going to drag race a wienermobile -and how humiliating would it be if you tried and lost, anyway? We won't even go there.
What's cool about these, aside from the fact that they're giant food items on wheels is that there's a program people can apply to that, if selected, will make them the driver of one of the weinermobiles. In 1988, a program called Hotdoggers was initiated by Oscar Mayer that hired recent college grads to pilot a fleet of 6 wieners throughout the country.
I had occasion to meet a couple of Hotdoggers at a night club back in the spring of 2001 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Their names were Wendy and Rosa, and the group of people I was with kind of absorbed the two of them for the night, which was spent dancing and partying. They were very nice and were great fun to hang out with. I remember thinking what a sweet gig they had going.
One regret I have in life was that I didn't apply to the Hotdoggers program after I finished school. How much fun would it have been to drive around in that thing? Of course, Wendy and Rosa weren't rolling in the Weinermobile pictured here. They were likely driving either the 7th or 8th generation wiener. The 7th can't be linked to any specific make of automobile, because its chassis was custom built to accommodate the form -bun, wiener, and probably even condiments. That must have gotten a bit spendy, because the 8th generation wiener just used a GMC van platform. -Remember that rusted out Chevy van from a few "jours" ago? If fate had been a bit kinder to that vehicle, it may have ended up as an iconic mobile food item rather than a ratty old van sitting in the gas station parking lot.
Anyway, the wiener fleet still has 6 wienermobiles roaming the country, but has added two more in recent years. There's a food truck version of the wienermobile (I'd rather drive the one that you just drive around -it probably doesn't reek of hot dogs like the food truck one) and a small one based on a Mini. If you ever make it into the ranks of the Hotdoggers, I recommend going for either the Mini, or the regular Wiener. The mini is probably more fun to drive, but likely rather crowded, what with having to accommodate a giant hot dog in and on it, but I bet it's faster.
So, if you know of any young recent college grads who have a decent driving record (now that I think about it, I bet I wouldn't have been allowed to drive the wienermobile due to the speeding tickets I'd racked up during my undergrad years), and who are in need of employment, it couldn't hurt to send them over to Oscar Mayer. Word is, the competition is pretty fierce, but if you get your foot in the door, what an adventure you'll have!
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