It’s a bit difficult to think of a vehicle priced at $329,999 as any part Rat Rod, but that’s how the seller of this 1946 Chevrolet beer tanker initially describes it, although this one is a whole lot more once you get into the many details. The story goes that this cab-over-engine truck was first found resting in a barn, but a local brewery in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, enlisted the skills of Hauk Designs to turn it into a rolling beer hauler, and it’s capable of holding enough brew to get an entire small town tipsy. If you or someone you know has deep pockets and the need for such a specialty vehicle, this one can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Sarasota, Florida, and our thanks go out to Chuck Foster for sending in such an unusual tip!
The idea here was for the Roy Pitz brewery (later rebranded Liquid Art Brewing Company) to create a beer truck to drive to local events, with the company co-founder, Jesse Rotz, quoted as saying, “We view beer as liquid art. The way our beer is served should be equally impressive.” Unfortunately, this independent brewery is now out of business. In addition to the Chevy truck, an old 3,000-gallon diesel fuel tank was located, with the Hauk crew reportedly spending days cleaning out the inside in preparation to safely fill it with a massive amount of suds. After the area was sanitized, a keg-holding section was fabricated, including 3 insulated hatches and a glycol cooling system, to ensure patrons were served their beer at the proper temperature.
Much of the expense here was due to the suspension and mechanical features, with 5 junkyard-sourced axles narrowed and fitted with gears supplied by Revolution. Other parts include FOX truck shocks, JKS track bars, BDS control arms, and steering components from Rare Parts. An air-ride system from Ride Tech gave the truck and trailer a great stance, and 16 of the 18 tires look ready to tackle any terrain this one may encounter. When the time came for an engine installation, a new 5.9-liter crate Cummins was selected, and it also received a custom turbocharged setup featuring a pair of Turbometrics units.
Inside, a distressed appearance was favored to match the ratty exterior, with the leather seats provided by TM Industries. The seller says the task of wiring the rig was monumental, but an expert in the field, Jamie Onderdonk, handled this task. Once everything was completed, the Hauk team entered their creation into the 2020 Diesel Rat Build Off contest, and it’s no surprise they took home the top prize! This beer tanker is uber cool in so many ways, and hopefully another brewery will have enough cash on hand to put it back on the road serving up cold hop-and-barley beverages to astounded spectators. Any thoughts to share about this rolling oddity?
Well, you’re not likely to see two of these show up at the same show-N-shine, or Cars-N-Coffee. Personally, I’d rather see something a trifle more subdued, and even usable. Once again, I don’t like the idea of butchering a rare truck but I have to admit that the builders did a good job here. It’s too bad that the brewery couldn’t hold up to get some use out of this.
I can’t help but wonder if anyone drank beer from that tank. It sounds like a major project getting that so the contents didn’t poison you. Oh well, as long as Lucas, “Prince of Darkness,” didn’t build the refrigeration system…
You don’t drink out of the tank, they made a refrigerated place in the tank to put 3 kegs to drink out of 👍
Lots of imagination, coming up with a design for a custom truck to promote your product(s). Some years ago I saw this truck at a show when visiting the lower mainland on the west BC coast. It’s essentially a White COE that has really gone through some major design changes. And all to promote suds. When you look at what Budweiser and Miller has done over the years, there’s obviously a lot of money available to build such outrageous machines…
Now that is rolling art. Could only imagine how many skilled hours went into building this just amazing. I spent over 25 years as a welder and fabricator nothing like this though so I can appreciate the builders of this.
Looks like something out of Mad Max.
I do like this truck but, would like to see some before pics. I would rather see a restored project in lieu of fabricated un-earned patina.
Keep the truck, I’ll take the beer!
The description was long and boring, about 2/3rds way through, I figured there was no detailed description and stopped. Who does this appeal too, and at what price point. Beyond whoever consigned the project it will likely be slim pickings. For the asking price, whoever wants it will need to love it as it sits.
Steve R
Agreed. There just isn’t a market for this, at almost any price.
My first thought when I saw it: Boston could have used this when the Scottish World Cup Soccer fans visited a couple of months ago.
That’s an oxymoron – a ratty truck that someone got paid a
ton of money to make it look that way.This is the kind of build that
you do after consuming a 30 pack case of cheap beer,& very little –
money.
As said before – I wouldn’t want to drink out of this.Guess it’s a
good thing that I gave up drinking about 10 years ago.
This thing looks sinister.
At that price it might not sell right away.
Bring Dennis Weaver!
Most are too young to understand that comment!
Not me! Great made-for-TV flick!
Early Spielberg… I believe it was his feature film debut.
Then all we would need is a red Dart to go with it.
It was a Valiant, not a Dart.
I thought the same thing!
I’m not surprised that the brewery went out of business after spending this kind of money on a frivolous marketing piece. This would be a big ticket item even for a large regional brewery.
That was my first thought.
Simple business math…you can change the cost and net margin to suit your taste (buds haha). No matter how you do it, the ROI for vanity marketing tools like this is usually hard to justify.
Assuming that they spent their asking price ($329,999) to get this beast made, and their net margin on beer sales is 10% (very generous), then they’d need to sell an additional $3.3 million more beer just to break even on the cost of the machine. Most small breweries don’t even come close to that annually.
So unless the owner has deep pockets and doesn’t care, then you’ve choked the business with this one cost. You’ve either spent your working capital and now have little in reserve, or you’ve taken out a loan and are paying interest and principal on a huge debt load for your balance sheet.
When I first saw it I thought it was A.I. generated, it is so spectacular. It is probably even better in person. The video shows there is no part that wasn’t designed with purpose. What a party with all those tappers pouring out free suds! Gorgeous traffic stopper driving down the road. Imagine the time to detail it after a road trip though. I doubt it will fetch anywhere near the asking price, but as been said before, you couldn’t build it for that.
Small breweries are struggling, someone thought this was a good idea at the time, I wonder how their beer was…
Looks like the truck from DUEL……Bring on Spielberg and Weaver!!!!
I think this would sell to a major beer brand that has gobbled up craft breweries to promote their beer varieties at events.
If ya think that a truck like this is going to actually sell more beer, you need to go to Marketing 101.
Apparently, it didn’t work that way here, as the brewery is now closed.
Vanity branding pieces like this are strictly for the business that has already made it and the owner just wants a toy. And they are not likely to want one in steam punk attire.
There is usually very little definable ROI with these kinds of things. Does the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile truck sell more hot dogs? Does the Goodyear blimp sell more tires? Highly unlikely. They are for for brand awareness and public goodwill, which are business expenses that only work when cash flow is abundant and the cost is negligible compared to total revenue.
Attempting to use something pricey like this to generate cash flow for a struggling business is just a good example of why a lot of businesses close from poor decision making.
Fill it with beer, take it to the Burning Man festival. Maybe you’ll find people desperate and crazy enough to drink out of this thing.
Burning man has catered to the wine and cheese crowd for decades. It not exactly corporate, but people in tech have largely taken over and have private compounds with everything catered.
Besides, this thing will get stuck driving through the dry lakebed. What do you do with it the other 355 days of the year?
I have friends that used to go every year, but stopped nearly 30 years ago when they realized Range Rovers were becoming as common as best up old vans and pickups.
Steve R
Looks like a beer drinker designed it. NOW I would like to see what a Hennessey drinker would come up with.
Honestly, I would never own it, or drive it, or have the money to buy it. But just the fact it exists is good enough for me. It’s that uniqueness that I love about it.
Almost like a hybrid of Mad Max and the truck from Jeepers Creepers.
If you saw this bearing down on you on the freeway, it would pull your attention.
Interesting… its got a retro-futuristic steampunk vibe to it…
I will have to say that that is the coolest work of rolling art I can remember ever seeing! They have done an excellent job on this build! If I had loads of money I’d buy it just to be the only one in the world to have this one of a kind excellent looking rig!
Wow, what a beast, I love it! I would have loved to sample the beer, too bad it can’t perform what it is was painstakingly built for.
“Arrogant Bastard Ale” produced by Stone Brewing Company should purchase this rig and rename it. Just look at that raked, mean and nasty stance from the first picture. Fits it perfect!
Oh and the car Dennis Weaver drove in the 1971 Spielberg movie “Dual” was a red 4 door 1970 Plymouth Valiant, being chased by a rusty 1961 Peterbilt 351 towing a tanker built in 1946.
I live between two small towns that have endeavored to grow too big, too fast, and a lot of the “boutique breweries” that dumped a ton of cash into an image have gone belly up. Too much flash cash invested in vehicles, and signage, ended up with the customers losing out because of high prices and sales gimmickry. If your town is only 8 square blocks, how can it support as many trendy bars?
Maybe it’s just me, but tires outside the body and no fenders just turn me off.
Ditch the tank, get it DOT legal, give it a decent paint job, and put it to work as it has a modern drive line underneath it. As it sits now, this thing would scare the 💩 out of anyone that sees it in their rear view mirror! I can see it
now, you’re driving it on the freeway and the traffic ahead of you parts like the red sea just to
get the hell out of your way! Would make a great in state or day hauler. Or, add a sleeper to it
if you’re gonna be running cross
country trips with it. Or, you could refit a 53′ Fruhauf box trailer into a mobile home like the
’74 Ford Camelot was. Or just by
a vintage mobile home like a Spartan, Westcraft, New Moon, or
Rex to pull behind it. I’m surprised that Howard hasn’t been by to see this one yet. And lest I forget, you could also use it
to transport classic cars too. Someone should call AMT and have them make a model kit of this truck. That’s the only way I’d
ever be able to afford it!
Fake patina, genuine dislike.
That was actually a Labatt’s delivery truck. There were less than 10 that survived. It took several to restore this one and the representative told me the rest were destroyed after ensuring they had any parts they may ever need. I hope that was not true.
I got the scoop from the owner at a car show. I ask a lot of questions, lol.
I don’t remember any more details. It was several years ago.
I thought it was a manure truck
😂😂😂😂
A lesson learned, don’t spend all the money , you may go belly up
I wonder why the brewrey went tits up? Could it possibly be, becuse the paid absolutly, stupid money to have this vanity piece built. It looks to be very well done. But would have been at great cost. I have built( petite ) custom cars. So have an pretty good idea of some the cost involved. But this beast, at this size would be very, very costly. Even at $400k has to be 50cents on the dollar