Promotional vehicles aren't always the fastest out there, because then we'd miss what they're promoting. Instead, they embrace the subtle art of looking good even while standing still. Here are the ten best moving billboards as chosen by Jalopnik readers.
Welcome back to Answers of the Day — our Jalopnik summer feature where we take the best ten responses from the previous day's Question of the Day and shine it up to show off. It's by you and for you, the Jalopnik readers. Enjoy!
Photo Credit: Hotdogger Blog
10.) Pokemon Car
Suggested By: Kiwi_Commander
Why It's Awesome: Well, it's some kind of four-wheeled car that's been given a mouth, ears, and a tail, and painted bright yellow to look like Pikachu. We're thinking either a heavily modified Scion xA or Honda Jazz, but your call is as good as ours here. All we know is that if the car sounds half as annoying as the little electric rat, we don't want it.
Photo credit: Crunchyroll
9.) Goldfish
Suggested By: Furyofdarkness
Why It's Awesome: Like Pikachu before it, we can't really tell what car gave its life so that a giant orange aquatic baked snack cracker could drive around. We're thinking some sort of pickup truck, (maybe an F-250?) but it does look pretty darn cool. Glub, glub.
Photo credit: citizenrob, flickr
8.) Red Bull Volvo Sugga
Suggested By: mkbruin
Why It's Awesome: There's not a ton of information out there on this sow of a Volvo, but what we do know is that it's a 1956 Volvo Sugga, heavily modified by Red Bull. It's got a full DJ booth set up in the back and the cabin, so Red Bull uses it at events around the country and around the world to bring the funk. Online forum knowledge seems to think it's riding either on a GMC chassis, or possibly a Land Rover chassis. All we know is that it looks evil, and is probably very, very loud.
Photo credit: dave_7, flickr
7.) Hot Rod UPS Truck
Suggested By: LyleLanley
Why It's Awesome: What can brown do for you? How about 500 horsepower from a Ford SHO V8 block? That's five times more powerful than the standard truck's V6. Cover it in bright yellow flames,drop the suspension on some nice big, shiny wheels, and you've got one quick delivery. It's all undeniably cool, but wouldn't it be just a tiny bit cooler if the whole thing still looked stock?
Photo credit: stigza
6.) 1947 Chrysler Zippo Car
Suggested By: Tonyola
Why It's Awesome: Born from a 1947 Chrysler Saratoga Coupe, the Zippo car is one of the most well-known promo vehicles out there. The car would tour the country, visiting all 48 states, before going back to Zippo headquarters in the early 1950's for an overhaul. The car was so heavy it had a nasty habit of blowing out tires, so the plan was to redesign the car and add lightness. Unfortunately, the higher-ups at the company were so busy with business at the time, that the car disappeared. Attempts to find it in the 1970's and 80's were unsuccessful, so Zippo commissioned a new car to be made, on an original 1947 Saratoga, in 1996. The replica tours the country again to this day.
Photo credit: iwillfixit
5.) Hurst Hemi Under Glass Barracuda
Suggested By: JackTrade
Why It's Awesome: Each year, Hurst would take the new Plymouth Barracuda and move its Hemi engine to the rear of the car, putting it under the big rear windshield. This transfer of weight would ensure that the car was transformed from a regular drag car to a wheelie machine. It would wheelstand down the entire quarter mile, doing somewhere in the 10's neighborhood at 125 miles per hour. For the fans at the strip in the mid-to-late 1960's this was completely unheard of, and awesome. The Hemis Under Glass stopped racing in 1975, though a recreation was built in the mid-1990's.
Photo credit:
4.) Voxmobile
Suggested By: Kenny Starr
Why It's Awesome: The Voxmobile is an incredible car. It looks like a pair of Vox Phantom guitars, has inputs for 32 more guitars, a Vox Super Continental electric organ in the back, amps all over the place, and just happens to be built on a Cobra chassis, complete with a 289 engine. Supposedly, it tops out at 175 miles per hour, though I can't see anyone taking a pair of guitars anywhere over about 60. It has platforms welded to the side so that guitarists and an organ player can stand on the car and perform in parades, which has to look like just about the coolest thing ever. Why am I absolutely blown away by the Voxmobile? Because George Barris.
Photo credit: NAMM
3.) Hot Wheels Twin Mill
Suggested By: LanEvo
Why It's Awesome: The full-size recreation project started in 1996 at Boyd Coddington's shop, under the guidance of Chip Foose. They got the body and chassis built but not much else before Coddington's shop went bankrupt in 1998. The unfinished project was quickly shipped to Mattel headquarters, where it sat for over a year. It was then rediscovered in time for Hot Wheels' 35th Anniversary, and sent to Barry Lobeck's V8 Shop in Cleveland. He dropped in two 502 GM crate motors, finished the rest of the electric work, and sent the Twin Mill for its debut at the 2001 SEMA show. Everything on the car works, it puts out around 1400 horsepower, and we understand it does very good burnouts.
Photo credit: Carros e Minis
2.) Goodyear Blimp
Suggested By: Jones Foyer
Why It's Awesome: Goodyear launched its first airship, The Pilgrim, in 1925. Now, there are three blimps across the country: Spirit of Goodyear, based in Akron, Ohio, Spirit of America, based in Carson, California, and Spirit of Innovation, based in Pompano Beach, Florida. The blimps are 192 feet long, 59.5 feet tall, and 50 feet wide. They can carry six passengers, but only if they are corporate guests of Goodyear or members of the press. Goodyear announced earlier this year that they would replace the three current blimps with zeppelins in the coming years.
Photo credit: Korked Bats
1.) Oscar Mayer Wienermobile
Suggested By: Spiegel
Why It's Awesome: There's been some kind of vehicle shaped like a hot dog crisscrossing our fine country and sponsored by Oscar Mayer since 1936. The newest addition to the fleet, launched in 2008, is based on a Mini Cooper S. The more famous Wienermobile though is from 2004, and is built on a GMC W-Series chassis. It's got a six liter Vortec V8 up front, and Pontiac Firebird taillights in back, and there are seven versions running around the country at any given time. Oscar Mayer employs recent college graduates to tour the country at the wheel, calling them "Hotdoggers." I smell a potential career change post-Jalopnik.
Photo credit: Hover Motor Co.