Last updated on September 15, 2023
Today’s vehicle is an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile that is finished in Orange and Yellow with a Mustard and Ketchup interior. There are 6 identical Wienermobiles roaming the country, but only one is carrying California license plates. In the same fashion as an Oscar Mayer Hot Dog is made, the Wienermobile is made from a variety of ingredients/parts. They started life as partially built Isuzu truck chassis and uses a Chevrolet L96 6.0-liter gasoline V-8 engine. The L96 is mated to a GM 6-Speed 6L90 Hydra-Matic automatic transmission with 5.375:1 rear axle gear ratio. Slowing this wiener down are vacuum assisted hydraulic brakes with disc in the front and drums in the rear. There is a regular horn in the vehicle, but there’s also one that toots the Oscar Mayer Wiener jingle.
The Wienermobile is 27-foot-long and is over 12 feet high. It is a six-passenger wienie-van (not a mini-van) and is rear-wheel drive. The price for the rolling chassis as delivered is around $8,000.00. The completed Weinermobile is estimated to cost around $60,000. The published top speed is 110 mph with a 0-60 mph time of 24.81 sec. The smiles per gallon has yet to be calculated, but have been estimated to be very high. This is a great marketing tool to go traveling around the USA to show off their product. It shows up occasionally at car shows and Cars and Coffee events and gets plenty of attention. One Hotdogger has been quoted as saying “We go to car shows and some of the owners get jealous ‘cause we get more attention than their cars.”
Here are some additional Wienermobile facts just to name a few. The drivers of the Wienermobile are known as Hotdoggers, it is a one year assignment, they have to like hot dogs and hand out Wiener whistles. In 1936 Carl Mayer, the nephew of the company’s founder Oscar, came up with the idea to build the first of the Wienermobiles to transport the company spokesperson, Oscar himself. During World War II, the Wienermobile was retired from the road due to gas rationing. Oscar Mayer’s then focused their efforts on canning meats for our soldiers overseas. In 1952 the Wienermobile made a return as five new vehicles hit the streets of America. Designed by Gerstenslager of Wooster, Ohio, and built on a Dodge chassis, the 22-foot long hot dogs were the first to have a sound system and sunroof. One of the 1952 Wienermobiles is currently on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Wienermobiles were briefly available on Lyft. The offer was only available in Atlanta, New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles, from August 25–27, 2021. Not only were the rides possible, they were the coolest Lyft rides ever and they were free. Since 2004 the Wienermobile can play the Oscar Mayer Weiner jingle in 21 different genres from Cajan to Rap to Bossa Nova! All the following photos in this article were taken by Sandy Bettelman at the Killer Shrimp’s Holiday Toy Drive that is located in Marina del Rey, CA. I got a few updated photos with the Hotdoggers Allie Dog and Angus Ann at the South Bay Classics Car Show held at The Zimmerman Automobile Driving Museum located in El Segundo, CA. Thank you for riding along. Frank
