Today it will be about two male passions: cars and food. It seems that it is impossible to connect these two concepts, but if you try very hard, then a good story can emerge from this combination.
And the beginning of the story is again similar to the plot of the fairy tale about Cinderella. In 1883, the German emigre Oscar Mayer with his brother opened a butcher's shop in one of Chicago's markets. The brothers saw their former compatriots as potential customers, so they focused on selling various types of German sausages, sausages and liver sausage. Offering high-quality goods and working hard, they quickly gained a good reputation, expanded the store and began to deliver goods throughout the city. In 1904, Oscar Mayer began to stigmatize his product, thereby guaranteeing the quality of each product sold. In 1919, Oscar Mayer bought its first meat processing plant. Throughout the 20th century, the company has developed steadily, and the range has expanded, winning new consumers.
In states, this brand is no less famous than Coca-Cola, Heinz and Marlboro. As you know, each of the brands listed has its own symbol: Santa Claus is consistently associated with Coca-Cola, a juicy and ripe tomato - with Heinz, a cowboy with a piercing gaze and a strong-willed chin - the Marlboro symbol. 80 years ago, Oscar Mayer became a sausage on wheels, and even if you have never heard of Oscar Mayer sausages, you certainly saw this car.
In 1936, Oscar Mayer's nephew, Karl, offered his relative an interesting marketing move - to build a four-meter hot dog on wheels, to travel around Chicago and distribute hot dogs to passers-by. The head of the company supported this idea, and Carl Mayer successfully embodied it in one of the Chicago-based car repair shops and then went for a ride on a hot dog in the city. The townspeople were ecstatic. The machine is called Wienermobile - wiener is translated as "Viennese sausage". The car was built on the chassis of a light truck and propelled by a four-cylinder International engine. He rode the Chicago roads before the Second World War.
The next generation of Wienermobile was released in 1952. It was a much nicer car, no longer resembling a handicraft cart. The customer received five cars built on Dodge or Willys units. The Wienermobile driver was called a hotdogger. In addition, the crew appeared another character character - "Little Oscar". Usually it was a dwarf in a chef's hat, greeting the children running in, and giving them whistles that echoed the shape of the Wienermobile. This character was not a funny clown, his children were very fond of him and waited like a tooth fairy.
The 1958 Wienermobile chassis was almost the same as in the previous generation, but Oscar Mayer's customers approached this issue very seriously this time and hired the renowned industrial designer Brooks Stevens, known for working with Harley Davidson, Studebaker, who created Jeep Wagoneer And the most famous neoclassical brand, which later became the household name - Excalibur. The main task he saw was "Put, finally, a sausage in a loaf." He took up work with great zeal and said that he was very inspired by such a non-standard task "there is nothing as aerodynamically perfect as a sausage"! The length of the promo-mobile exceeded 8 meters.
In 1969, Oscar Mayer employees built two Wienermobile cars with their own hands, taking as a basis the Chevrolet. A characteristic, recognizable feature of this generation were the tail lights from Ford Thunderbird. A fresh model of Wienermobile first left the US to continue its mission of popularizing sausages abroad. The same machines were rebuilt in 1976, and for some time they were winding miles on an odometer. Then the promo-mobile program was canceled until 1988.
In 1981, the founders of the company sold it, and it several times changed owners. The new owner, having conducted the study, found out that a huge number of Americans are nostalgic for Wienermobile, and Oscar Mayer again turned to Brooks Stevens for making six new hot dogs on wheels. In parallel, the sot factory announces the opening of the vacancy of the Wienermobile crew and receives about 2000 responses to 12 positions. Hotdogger always travels with his partner, whose duties include waving his arms and fully welcome pedestrians and other motorists. And, as they themselves say, for a while the navigators, out of habit, continue to greet everyone after the end of the working day. This generation of Wienermobile was built on the basis of Chevrolet Van. Racer NASCAR dispersed this model on the Indianapolis ring to 180 km / h!
Very nice model came out in 1995 with front lights and tail lights from Pontiac. Its length also exceeded 8 meters, and the height of 3.6 meters. Appearance turned out so successful that in 2000, 2001 and in 2004 were produced Wienermobiles with the same appearance, but already with V8 engines. In 2009, one of these hot dogs crashed into the house. Hotdogger mixed the drive and the rear gear.
The smallest Wienermobile was released in 2008. It is built on the basis of the MINI Cooper S with a turbocharged 1.6-liter engine.
Wienermobiles do not cease to travel all over the country, you can meet it in any remote place, and people of all ages, of any creed and color of skin spread out in a smile at the sight of this bright and funny machine.
