Tony Whitney
Contributing Writer

I had an e-mail from a
reader recently who
asked me to name the
weirdest vehicle I’d ever
driven.

It got me thinking about
some of the more offbeat cars,
vans and trucks I'd tested over
the years and there have been
lots of them.

My work involves evaluat-
ing at least one vehicle a week
and often more. Over my
carcer of 15 years or so in this
business, that amounts to at
least 900 vehicles, but natural-
ly, some of them stand out
more than others when it
comes to the “weirdness quo-
cient.”

Certainly the strangest

vehicle | ever drove was the
Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Ifyou've never seen this
unique promotional vehicle, it
looks dike a giant hot dog en
wheels.

Oscar Mayer has operated
Wienermubiles since 1936 and
they've been touring North
America almost ever since.

My Wienermobile was a
1995 model, based on a GM
van platiorm. It didn't drive
too badly at all, as it hap-
pened, and boasted quite a
roomy cockpit — complete
with a hot dog shaped dash-
board. | even managed to pick
my youngster up from school
in it, which was a big mistake.
Besieged by swarms of kids, it
took me an hour to get out of
there and I only managed that
by handing out dozens of
miniature plastic
Wienermobiles.

The Oscar Mayer people
even had the rig tested in a
wind tunnel in California, but
whatever the results were,
automakers didn’t rush to
switch over to sausage-shaped
cars.

I’ve driven cars made from
all kinds of materials from glass
fibre to aluminum, but all

“were topped in the strangeness

stakes by a Nissan made
almost entirely from wood.
Morgan fans will be quick
to point out that there’s noth-
ing new in that, but the folks

who created the Nissan made
no attempt to hide their
choice of material, even giving
it a coat of clear varnish. It was
part of some kind of environ-
mental statement and no pro-
duction wooden Nissans have
ever appeared.

Sometimes it's the fuel that
makes one car stand out from
another, rather than its looks
or method of construction.

A few years back, I drove a
Volvo station wagon in
Sweden that used canola oil as

photo Corbin Motors

THE Corbin Sparrow electric commuter was designed almost as a three-wheel
motorcycle with full weather protection. Great fun to drive says colurnnist Whitney.

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a fuel. It ran pretty well, but
leit a powerful “fish and chip”
smell hanging round every
intersection E stopped at.

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Friday, March 17, 2000 ~ North Shore News - 41

openrods

draws a crowd

photo Oscar Mayer

Volvo has experimented
with all kinds of alternate fuels,

See Hydrogen following page

LAST year, world-
renowned California
automotive designer,
Harry Bradley, created
the concept
Wienermobiie for the
year 2000. This 27-ft.-
long, 11-ft.-high General
Motors unit has a futur-
istic appeal with state-
of-the-art video equip-
ment, a big-screen TV
monitor and a hot dog-
shaped dashboard and
glovebox. The mode!
underwent tests in the
wind tunnel at the
California institute of
Technology in Pasadena
and could reaily, theoret-
teaily speaking, haul
buns as It reached
speeds in excess of 90
miles per hour. Six
“meaner, keener, leaner”
wieners are on the road
with license plates nam-
ing them YUMMMY,
WEENR, BIG BUN, HOT
DOG, OURDOG and
OSCAR.

 aieaieaisaieeiael Suuienierterierieeaieetaieaieniaatentesie |

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