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Wienermobile Daily Fun Facts

Daily Fun Facts: When Wienermobiles Go Wild

February 19, 2015

One of Oscar Mayer’s iconic automobiles was recently involved in a pretty bad traffic accident. In today’s Daily Fun Facts, we give you a rundown on what happened, in addition to some other frankly wild incidents involving the company’s fleet of hot dog-shaped vehicles.

  • Wienermobile Daily Fun FactsEarlier this month, a Wienermobile was cruising through East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania. The streets were slick and the driver lost control, sliding across a road and then slamming into a utility pole. The crash heavily damaged the Wienermobile’s windshield and “bun.”
  • This isn’t the first time a Wienermobile has been involved in an accident. In 2009, one of the vehicles crashed into the deck and garage of a home in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin. The driver made the mistake of trying to use the driveway to turn around. Oscar Mayer spokeswoman Sydney Lindner later apologized to the homeowner and told them that the company’s insurance would cover the damages.
  • Another Weinermobile also seems to be cursed when it comes to a certain roadside ditch in upstate New York. It landed in the ditch during bad weather in 2008 and the same thing happened again five years later. Fortunately, it seems that in both cases the Weinermobile was not actually damaged.
  • An Arizona policeman stopped one of the vehicles in 2007 for allegedly having a stolen personalized license plate. What was on the plate? “YUMMY.” According to the officer, the Wienermobile was driving too slowly so he ran the plates before pulling it over. The whole thing wound up being a misunderstanding. Oscar Mayer hadn’t notified Arizona’s DMV that they’d obtained a new plate after the prior one had been stolen by vandals.
  • That same year, a Wienermobile with the license plate “WEENR” was targeted by police officers in Chicago. What happened? The driver left it in a no parking zone along the city’s Magnificent Mile.
  • So how hard is it to drive a Wienermobile? Oscar Mayer employee Reese Brammell revealed back in 2012 that it’s pretty darn difficult. He apparently doesn’t “relish” having to handle stuff like U-turns and parking. As Brammell told a writer for Budget Travel, “We always travel with a partner, so if we ever have to do crazy maneuvering, one of us can get out and direct. We’re very careful not to scratch our buns.”