A fleet of

brandmobile A brandmobile is a motorized vehicle customized to resemble a consumer product as a promotional tool for advertising and marketing. These vehicles range from altered consumer automobiles and vans to larger purpose-built buses and trucks, transform ...

s shaped like a

hot dog A hot dog is a grilled, steamed, or boiled sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term ''hot dog'' can also refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener ( Vienna sausage) or a frankfurter ( Frankfurter Würs ...

on a

bun A bun is a type of bread that is round and small enough that it can generally be eaten hand-held. Whether a bun is considered sweetened or unsweetened differs between countries: it is considered sweetened in the United Kingdom, a savory bread in ...

, called "Wienermobiles", are used to promote and

advertise Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of interest to consumers. It is typically use ...

Oscar Mayer Oscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut producer known for its hot dogs, bologna sausage, bologna, bacon, ham, and Lunchables products. The company is a subsidiary of the Kraft Heinz, Kraft Heinz Company and based in Chicago, Chicago, Illin ...

products in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The first Wienermobile was created by Oscar Mayer's nephew, Carl G. Mayer, in 1936. For a brief period in 2023, it was renamed the "Frankmobile", but due to popular demand, the name was changed back to "Wienermobile."

History

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile has evolved from Carl Mayer's original 1936 vehicle to the vehicles seen on the road today. Although the first Wienermobile was scrapped for metal in the 1940s to aid the US Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Oscar Mayer and the Gerstenslager Company created several new vehicles using a

Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence, Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...

chassis or a

Willys Willys (pronounced , "Willis") was a brand, brand name used by Willys–Overland Motors, an American automobile company, founded by John Willys, John North Willys. It was best known for its design and production of World War II–era Willys MB, ...

Jeep chassis in the 1950s. The 1952 model is on display at the

Henry Ford Museum The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in Dearborn, Michigan, United States, within Metro Detroit. The museum collection contai ...

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County, Michigan, Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring Metro Detroit, suburb of Detroit, Dearborn borders Detroit to the south and west, roughly west of downtown Detroit. In the 2020 United States ...

. These Wienermobiles were piloted by "Little Oscar" (portrayed by

George Molchan George A. Molchan (June 5, 1922 – April 12, 2005) was an American spokesperson, most famous for his work as Little Oscar for the Oscar Mayer meat company. Molchan grew up in the Gary, Indiana area; as a young boy, he received hormone treatmen ...

) who would visit stores, schools, orphanages, and children's hospitals and participate in parades and festivals. Noted industrial designer

Brooks Stevens Clifford Brooks Stevens (June 7, 1911 – January 4, 1995) was an American industrial designer of home furnishings, appliances, automobiles, passenger railroad cars, and motorcycles, as well as a graphic designer and stylist. Stevens founded Br ...

is also credited with a "new look" 1950s design, taking advantages of the possibilities of modern molded fiberglass construction "to put the wiener in the bun" in 1958. In 1969, new Wienermobiles were built on a

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

motor home chassis and featured

Ford Thunderbird The Ford Thunderbird is a personal luxury car manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company for model years 1955 to 2005, with a hiatus from 1998 to 2001. Ultimately gaining a broadly used colloquial nickname, the ''T-Bird'', Ford Introduce ...

taillights. The 1969 vehicle was the first Wienermobile to travel outside the United States. In 1976, Plastic Products, Inc., built a fiberglass and styrofoam model, again on a

motor home chassis. In 1988, Oscar Mayer had a fleet of six Wienermobiles using converted Chevrolet van chassis. In 1995, a new version increased the size of the Wienermobile to a length of and a height of . This version also included the upgraded large parallelogram windows which could now open, as designed by Sheldon Theis. In 2004, the Wienermobile included a voice-activated

GPS navigation device A satellite navigation (satnav) device or GPS device is a device that uses satellites of the Global Positioning System (GPS) or similar global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). A satnav device can determine the user's geographic coordinat ...

, an audio center with a wireless microphone, a horn that plays the Wiener Jingle (in 21 different genres from Cajun to Rap to Bossa Nova), according to American Eats, and sports fourth generation

Pontiac Firebird The Pontiac Firebird is an American automobile built and produced by Pontiac (automobile), Pontiac from the 1967 to 2002 model years. Designed as a pony car to compete with the Ford Mustang, it was introduced on February 23, 1967, five months a ...

taillights. Following mechanical problems with the

Isuzu NPR The is a medium duty truck produced by Isuzu since 1959. Outside Japan it is known as N series and Q Series. The range was originally mainly available in Japan and other Asian countries. Australia was another important market for the Elf and N ...

, Oscar Mayer decided to adopt a larger chassis to accommodate an increase in the size of the signature wiener running through the middle. While the Wienermobile was not as long as the 1995 version, it was considerably wider and taller. Craftsmen Industries went through numerous overhauls of the truck including a flipped axle and a leveling kit. This version held a record for numerous suspension problems, most leading to the chassis not being able to hold the large weight of the Oscar Mayer Wiener. In 2004, Oscar Mayer announced a contest whereby customers could win the right to use the Wienermobile for a day. Within a month, the contest had generated over 15,000 entries. In June 2017, the company introduced several new hot dog-themed vehicles, including the WienerCycle, WienerRover, and WienerDrone. In May 2023, Oscar Mayer announced that it was renaming the Wienermobile to the Frankmobile, to promote a new recipe for its all-beef franks. It was suggested that the name change would not be permanent. The name was changed back in September 2023. For

Carb Day Due to the longevity of the Indianapolis 500, numerous traditions surrounding the race have developed over the years. Traditions include procedures for the running of the race, scheduling, and pre-race and post-race festivities. For many fans, th ...

, prior to the

2025 Indianapolis 500 The 2025 Indianapolis 500 (branded as the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge) was an IndyCar Series race that was held on Sunday, May 25, 2025, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The race was round six of the 202 ...

, all six Wienermobiles took part in the inaugural Wienie 500. Slaw Dog won the 2 lap race around the

Indianapolis Motor Speedway The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a motor racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and and formerly the home of the U ...

. Source: Oscar Mayer

Wienermobile drivers

Six Wienermobiles operate throughout the United States. The driver of a Wienermobile is called The Hotdogger. The Hotdogger job is to "meat" and greet people around the country. The duties of a Hotdogger include:

"...sharing photos and videos on social media, answering questions about the brand and the vehicle (the most frequently asked question is if there's a bathroom in the back, to which they respond: 'No, it's not a Weenie-bago'), and distributing swag."

Only college seniors who are about to graduate are eligible to be Hotdoggers. Applicants should be getting their BA or BS, preferably in public relations, journalism, communications, advertising, or marketing. A Hotdogger's assignment is for only one year. Recruiting for each year's new Hotdogger cadre involves current Hotdoggers and Oscar Mayer recruiters visiting college campuses across the country. In 2018, 7,000 people applied to be Hotdoggers. As each Wienermobile carries two Hotdoggers, only 12 Hotdoggers are selected each year. Notable Hotdoggers include former US House Speaker

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member of the ...

Models

Toys and scale

replica A replica is an exact (usually 1:1 in scale) copy or remake of an object, made out of the same raw materials, whether a molecule, a work of art, or a commercial product. The term is also used for copies that closely resemble the original, without ...

s of the Wienermobile have been made over the years, with

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American media franchise and brand of scale model model car, cars invented by Elliot Handler and introduced by his company Mattel on May 18, 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox (brand), Matchbox until Mattel bought ...

issuing die-cast versions of the vehicle.

Notable incidents

In June 2007, a Wienermobile with the

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

vanity license plate of YUMMY made headlines after being stopped by an

Arizona Department of Public Safety Arizona is a state in the Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the northwest and California to the west, and ...

officer for having an allegedly stolen license plate. Officer K. Lankow had observed the Wienermobile slowing traffic and checked the license plate to determine if the vehicle was street legal. The license plate came back as being stolen out of

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

, so the officer stopped the Wienermobile and detained the driver. Oscar Mayer had not notified police that they had obtained a duplicate replacement plate after the previous one was stolen, and that it should be considered stolen only if not on a Wienermobile. The Wienermobile was released soon after the error was discovered. On July 17, 2009, a Wienermobile on a

cul-de-sac A dead end, also known as a ''cul-de-sac'' (; , ), a no-through road or a no-exit road, is a street with only one combined inlet and outlet. Dead ends are added to roads in urban planning designs to limit traffic in residential areas. Some d ...

Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin :''There is also the Mount Pleasant, Green County, Wisconsin, Town of Mount Pleasant in Green County, Wisconsin, Green County.'' Mount Pleasant is a village in Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located approximately south of Milwauk ...

, was attempting to turn around in a residential driveway. The driver, thinking the vehicle was in reverse, accelerated forward, lodging the Wienermobile under a house and destroying the house's deck. On January 26, 2020, a Wienermobile was pulled over by a

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 71,158 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River adjacent to th ...

, sheriff's deputy for violating the Move Over Law, which requires motorists to switch lanes to pass an emergency vehicle with its warning lights on. The driver was issued a warning. In February 2023, during the

Super Bowl LVII Super Bowl LVII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2022 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Kansas City Chiefs defeated the National Football Confere ...

weekend, an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

had its

catalytic converter A catalytic converter part is an vehicle emissions control, exhaust emission control device which converts toxic gases and pollutants in exhaust gas from an internal combustion engine into less-toxic pollutants by catalysis, catalyzing a redox ...

stolen. In July 2024, a Wienermobile on I-294 near Chicago collided with a passenger sedan and flipped onto its side. No injuries were reported.

References

External links

Wienermobile InstagramWienermobile photo retrospective, ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel''
*{{cite web, url=http://www.ifindkarma.com/attic/BARRY/dorks, title=Wienermobile, author=Barry. Dave, author-link=Dave Barry, archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120227033313/http://www.ifindkarma.com/attic/BARRY/dorks , archive-date = 2012-02-27
Curbside Wienermobile Review
by

Tony Barthel Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony the Tiger, cartoon mascot for Frosted Flakes cereal * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * M ...

You Must Be A Hotdogger To Drive The Wienermobile
Video produced by ''

Wisconsin Public Television PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television or WPT) is a network of non-commercial educational television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It compri ...