I talk a lot about showing up to a gas station, grocery store, or car show with a Pacer, Pinto, or Yugo and seeing the crowd gather around it. Try showing up in a 1977 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and see what reaction you get. Put a grill on the back of it and turn it into a rolling chuckwagon and you’d really have something. This is, according to the seller who is a person of very, very few words, a 1977 Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. It can be found here on craigslist in Little Rock, Arkansas with an asking price of $8,500. You aren’t getting a more head-turning vehicle for $8,500 skins than this one right here so don’t even question it. Just fly to Little Rock and drive this wiener-topped-vehicle home. Ikey H., you’ve outdone yourself this time, mister. Thanks for the tip!
In case you were wondering what they used to look like, here is the first Wienermobile from 1936 with none other than Oscar’s nephew, Karl Mayer, at the helm, or the wiener wheel or whatever you call it when you’re driving a Wienermobile. And remember, this is a family show so please keep the comments PG-13. Apparently, there have been 10 Wienermobiles throughout the decades. They were off of the road during WWII due to gas rationing and, thankfully, “german wieners” wasn’t written on the side of the updated 1940 Wienermobile during that time, that may not have gone over too well.
We won’t go through all 10 of the Wienermobiles but here’s the 1940 model carrying Santa to Gimbels Department Store during what I’m assuming was the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade but I don’t know for sure. The 1940 vehicle was also $5,000 and it was also made by the General Body Company of Chicago. The seller of the 1977 Wienermobile doesn’t say much in the ad and I think it may be a frank.. I mean, a prank ad. The exact same photo from their listing shows up on other Wienermobile sites and it’s listed as a 2011 model. But, they give a phone number which sort of makes me think that it’s a real listing?
The car in the craigslist ad is far too modern of a Wienermobile for being a 1977 model, which would have looked like the “car” above – quite different from the modern one shown in the seller’s ad. Here is the seller’s entire listing, and it doesn’t have any filler at all, it’s short: “oscar mayer wiener car – No low ball offers – Price is firm.” There are so many things that could be said on this one but, as a reminder, women and children are also Barn Finds readers so please keep your comments on the up and up.. well, you know what I mean. I think we may have uncovered a prank frank, any thoughts as to if this is a real listing or not?
Now I’m going to be singing the songs all day… Thanks Scotty.
Oh I wish I were an Oscar…. And
Oh I’m glad I’m not an Oscar …
Interesting vehicle… kinda like having a Firetruck, great for parades, then what do ya do with it?
Make it an R.V. can’t grill this weiner
Scotty, Surely, you can’t be serious!!!
Hate to say it but I believe you just opened up a can of worms! Wienermobile, just don’t park it next to an Edsel….anyone who knows what I am referring to please keep it to yourself. Bye bye.
…then nine months later..Bam! Merkur XR4Ti! And now you know the rest of the story! I’ll show myself out…
Looks later than ’77 to me.Aero headlights seem late 80s Grand Prix-ish…
Lots of wiener fun, but a fake ad. Does everyone else get an error when clicking on the phone number?
I get (501) 722-7398.
Definitely if a scam I seen the Wienermobile when it was here in Orlando and it’s not a 1970s model.It’s very high-tech inside that’s the same one
Can I be Frank? Wurst posting ever…
I would bite on this one but I don’t think it’s gluten-free.
In the early 60s, My best friends Dad ( he lived two doors down) worked for Oscar Mayer and guess what? A couple times he brought the Wienermobile home! Forgetaboutit! It looked like the third one down I think,, Moline Illinoise
Shazam!
Way cool when you are like 8.
Nice prank. These days, vehicles like this are closely guarded in terms of who can buy them. It is a trademark and this is the most current model. It would either be sold or donated to a museum, be sold directly into a private collection, or scrapped like UPS trucks. It would never show up on CL.
This thing has been listed for months. It’s a prank some guys are playing on there friend. He says hes received hundreds of phone calls about it.
Frankly I think it’s hilarious that this guys friends are doggin’ him this way, and I relish the thought on how he must’ve had to grill them for the truth-wouldn’t that just burn your buns?
Another good one from you, Scotty, and Ikey-great nose for a story!
I saw one of these rolling down the highway a few years ago! It was a modern one, like the weinermobile in the ad photo.
I saw the weinermobile as a boy growing up in the 50s. Lil’ Oscar handed out weenie whistles to all the kids, wish I still had it. It was a supermarket grand opening, and Sheriff John (a local LA kids tv host) showed up too. I was in heaven!
Me too! I believe Little Oscar was also on hand when the ‘mobile showed up, at least in the L.A. area…..
The ’50s-vintage Wienermobile was the one that grabbed me. Making it newer and sleeker had no appeal for this kid. I’m thinking half-size replica, with a SBC!
Laugh and be happy….
yeah! WEINIE WHISLES!! Holy cow! Thanks for that memory. they were a two tone whistle and very durable. I bet if I go up in the attic and pull down a box of my”stuff”, I’ll peobably find mine.. Pack Rat..Attsa me.
Somewhere in my vast collections of Americana I have a big bag of these Weenie Whistles, years ago I was able to hitch a ride on one, and was eyeing the bag when the lady in charge handed it to me and said “keep ’em, we’ve got millions more!”
In 1968, I worked as a box boy at a grocery store in the “bad” part of town. One day, Little Oscar and the Wienermobile shows up in the parking lot, handing out wiener whistles and other goodies. Unfortunately, he badly misjudged the reaction of poor kids from a gang infested area: they were soon insulting him and threatening to kick his butt. Little Oscar quickly decided that a beatdown was not in his job description and got out of there ASAP. As he was making his retreat, he tossed me a bag full of weiner whistles and told me “here, they’re all yours”. To this day, I still have a box with 100-150 wiener whistles in it!
May I have one please !
Lazypyro2@gmail.com
Send me a message mate !
I am in with Bill!
I wonder if there would be ketchup and mustard on the ground if it sprang a leak…..
Ha! Growing up in Wisconsin, I’m very familiar with Oscar Mayer, home in Madison, Wis. Being one of the older ones, I suppose this could get into private hands. Highly unlikely Oscar Mayer would let their logo out. These, I read, were on a Chevy truck chassis and V6 powered. One correction, if I may, the 3rd picture is not Santa in the back, it’s the worlds tiniest chef. I think they did away with that with the war and all. There was a huge anti-German attitude during the 40’s. They used to hand out hot dog whistles at parades and the trucks emitted a cooking hot dog smell. In all my driving, I don’t ever recall seeing a Wienermobile. I think people bugging you for a hot dog would drive you nuts, plus I’d want royalties from Oscar Mayer. ( good luck with that last one)
Now that you mention it, Rube, that does look like a chef, did Chef Boyardee jump ship?! The sign says Santa but maybe he was in the front seat with the wiener-wielder (driver).
I used to work in the Galleria area of Houston, a large business/shopping district. Several times I saw a Wienermobile in the area. I vaguely remember an article in the Houston Chronicle about it. If I remember correctly, the article talked about how they hired college students to drive it around the country, attending various events and promotions. Also seems there were (are?) more than one Wienermobiles at any given time.
The drivers were called “hotdoggers”. I think there are 11 modern Wienermobiles today.
If the guy posting this fake ad put a price of something like $120k, it would be way more believable than $8,500. Also to make it a more believable Craig’s List ad, it needs to be in a tight, dark storage unit with ton of dust on it and the car cover pulled back just enough to show 1/4 of the car.
It could be the campaign vehicle for Anthony’s next run…
I’m hungry now!!! Don’t drive it slow!! It will make you late and you’ll have to ketchup!!!!
I was very briefly friends with a college coed who was a ‘hot-dogger;’ one of the people who drove around the country in a Wienermobile doing PR for Oscar Meyer and handing out Matchbox Wienernobiles. They were obligated to speak in puns, and I think she’d have appreciated your comment. My niece was a toddler when the hotdogger stayed with me, and she loved the toys and humor of it all. This was back in 2000 or 2001, and I think the vehicle in the photo is the one my former friend was driving at the time.
This thing is always up for sale
I saw inside one of the 80’s-90’s ones in downtown Ottawa once. Raw fibreglass, smelly, nasty old vinyl bucket seat. 3/4 or 1 ton GM van chassis. Malaise era 350 at best pushing that around. Makes those little Red Bull Minis look pretty good for a summer college gig.
“No low ballers”
“Price is firm”
Well at least the ad writer has risen to the occasion.
I saw it in Menomonie WI. a couple years ago. And I saw one on I- 94 a few years ago. Always fun to see.
I can imagine a few politicians behind the wheel in one of these.
Especially one named Marty!
We live in Northen California and go into Monterey 2-3 times per month, hey why not, it’s beauiful.They had a w.mobile there, they give out stickers. No more whistles, choke hazard? really? More than likely..
Its fake, it was also advertised on Craigslist in Abbotsford, BC and Bakersfield, Ca. Both posts flagged for removal.
http://www.dailylister.com/Search_Results.cfm?q=Wienermobile+&as_oq=&as_occt=Title&cx=partner-pub-4317780967737722%3A1twvgl-vw7d&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&sort=date&newwindow=1
There is one of these on display at The Henry Ford Museum.
Some years ago I visited the Henry Ford in Dearborn, where a lot of the Lincoln presidential cars are kept – they also have a weinermobile…..took photos of all of them, my kids weren’t impressed at all by the presidential limos but it was “Dad, YOU saw the weinermobile???????”
Back in the day, I remember one of these being driven by the neighborhood perv, Tony, who now prefers to be called Anthony. He later married some foreign gal from Louisiana…I think her name was Houma, Hummer, or something like that. Tony thought he was hot stuff driving that vehicle around, but we all knew it was a dog as it had the speed of a dachshund.
Most of the commentary running through my brain is non PC when it comes to this Weiner mobile .
But I must say I want it !!
If my wife throws me out for buying it at least it looks big enough to live in
People kill to get a job driving these around the country. Hiring process is very selective. Saw one in Phoenix, and it was plush inside! They always run out of whistles.
Growing up in Chicago whenever the weinermobile went down the street the kids would throw anything they could get their hands on at it trying to get the guy to stop and give away something free.
Looks to be a typical scam ad
as part of the whole Weinermobile experience they would often include the character “Little Chef” who was little person dressed up as a chef – you can see him poking out of the top of the Gimbel’s mobile.
There is one in the Ford Museum ?
How appropriate.😁😂🤣
m
Lamenting the lack of interior photos, but then again, do you every really want to know what’s inside …
In 1988, Oscar Mayer launched its Hotdogger program, where recent college graduates were hired to drive the Wienermobile through various parts of the nation and abroad. Using a converted Chevrolet van chassis, Stevens Automotive Corporation and noted industrial designer Brooks Stevens built a fleet of six Wienermobiles for the new team of Hotdoggers.
http://www.trainman.com/wienermobile.html
As Brooks Stevens said, “There is nothing more aerodynamic than a wiener”.
Little Oscar and the Weinermobile visited my grade school in Chicago Hts. Illinois in 1959. We all got wiener wistles. But my recollection was that they had 2 finger holes so that you could actually make a 3 tone 4 note “solo” OS-CAR-MY-AR sound like the commercial. Which all us kids quickly figured out. Which really made the school bus driver a really happy guy!
I have seen Weinermobiles on the interstate at least two separate times and possibly a third.
I was a kid in the mid sixties and one came to Hilltop Market in Riverside Cali. When my older brother and sister and I got to go inside, we got to watch some kind of sci-fi space movie. It was like a small theater inside. I think all the weiner jokes have been already covered, so I got nothin’.
Several times we had one on display at our company’s Trade Show. I believe the company just dropped it off and the brokers representing Oscar Meyer pushed their products.
I saw one in a parking lot in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania several years ago. I have the whistle to prove it. I also saw the Hershey Kissmobile driving on the westbound 401 a few years before that. I don’t know what I would have to see to make it a trifecta, lol.
@Catie H
the “car” here https://www.autocycles.org/275.html could’ve complimented the Wienermobile, but IMHO for the Kissmobile there’s only one way to go..https://www.winetrain.com/
I saw one of the Weiner mobile’s other late 70’s. It was in Edgewood, Maryland at a 7-11 convience store. They I do believe gave out free hot dogs. The people thought it was qreat.
In the early 80’s, I worked in the city of Vernon, the meat packing capital of the Los Angeles area. On my way to work, I would pass by a nondescript building that had one of these parked in the back lot. It seemed a little bigger than this one but that was a long time ago. If this is a farce, it’s a pretty decent one.
Well sent e-mail reply to on Craig’s list yesterday. No response yet. Either He has sold, doesn’t care too, or a scam.
Recall he slid off the snow/ice here on I-84 in Boise Idaho a cpl yrs ago with it lol
Can’t imagine getting rear ended by this vehicle….
…Straight to the proctologist…
i can imagine what Maxwell smart would say if he saw this… that’s the 2nd largest weiner I have ever saw!
I caught this on the news today. A couple of good photos. https://www.fastcompany.com/90377768/hot-dog-you-can-rent-the-oscar-mayer-wienermobile-on-airbnb?partner=rss
I have a vivid recollection about the 4th Wienermobile down…when I was about 7, that particular model and the “Lil Oscar” standing next to it came to a supermarket near me. It was hyped all week; “KIds! c’mon down this Saturday, and meet Lil Oscar, and see the famous Wienermobile! Lil Oscar will be giving away FREE WIENERWHISTLES!!” I was so exited! I couldn’t wait for Saturday to arrive. When it did, I made sure I was there when the Wienermobile pulled into the parking lot. When it came to a stop, it seemed like an eternity before Lil Oscar appeared. When he did, he looked pretty haggard. Then he announced that he had a bad hangover, tossed some whistles to the crowd (I got mine!) and disappeared back into the vehicle, driving off a short time later. I was pretty disappointed, but it sure is a good story now.
That was a very interesting Oscar Mayer story ! Speaking of free whistle s,
I would like to thank Alan S.
of Pasadena California for sending me a few from his prized collection! My older office staff told of their childhood Weiner mobile stories too !
Thanks again Alan.
Regards Bill in Florida