When I was 9, I lived in a Milwaukee suburb and my friend Kurt's father (they lived at the end of our street) worked for Oscar Mayer. It was not uncommon for the Weinermobile to be seen driving down Vera Lane toward their house. All us kids just thought it was the coolest thing ever.
One day, I followed it down the street on my metallic purple Schwinn with the banana seat and sissy bar, purple vinyl streamers blowing in the wind off both handlebars.
Though I was shy, I asked Kurt if I could go inside the Weinermobile, and he gave me a tour. I got to go up in the cockpit and everything, and when I left, he gave me a handful of those little plastic weiner whistles as a souvenir or my time in Cooltown. I saw one of those whistles in an antiques store last year for $10. No, I'm not kidding.
It never occurred to me that the WM was a
fiberglass creation! How fun!