The Original Great American Hot Dog Machine (1976)
Before I built this, I had never even changed a spark plug. It's a 750 Honda motor with 36 inch over stock Harley Davidson Wide Glide front end, Police Trike rear end, custom built "C" Cab body, custom built stainless steel hot dog steamer, ice chest, condiment rack, AM/FM/Cassette deck and chrome air horn, etc. It took a little over 5 months from start to finish, including raising the money. The first body broke, the frame was cracked a number of times and it was wrecked when I ran into a rental car in San Francisco, throwing myself up onto the trunk. Photo was shot in Stevens Creek Park while I kept watch for the Park Ranger...
The Great American Hot Dog Machine II with Head Frankette Amy Wheeler
Notice interior signage, napkin holder, stainless steel steamer, 3 ice chests
AKA The Beast: Type III VW trike with Honda 750 front end
Body would have been polished aluminum with stainless steel hot dog steamer, fold out butcher block shelves, ice chests, etc...
Unfortunately, there are no photos or sketches of this version.
We bought a brand new Honda MB5 (50cc) and soon discovered it didn't have enough power to push a cart around the block so we sold it.
Then we bought a Honda 125 and started looking around for a hot dog cart to attach to it but this project was also cancelled...
We bought a brand new CB 650 Honda, made most of the costume and were looking for a sidecar frame when the plug got pulled...
The Hot Dog Hot Rod, Frankfurter Funny Car, Porschefurter, The Wurst Wagon, etc...
When we first got into the weenie business, we sold hot dogs from The Great American Hot Dog Machine (top).
Later on, we had a series of 4 Datsun pick up trucks and then several other mobile designs in the works when we realized that we needed a restaurant and soon retired the mobile vending concept entirely. However, we soon realized that we needed to build a smaller, more affordable weenie mobile, not to sell hot dogs from but to promote The Hot Dog Hall Of Fame.
Additionally, our aim has shifted slightly and evolved into an attempt to seize the official Land Speed Record for productmobiles, established by Al Unser Jr. in 1999, when he piloted the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile to a speed of just over 100 MPH on the famous Indianapolis oval. We aim to beat that record by a substantial margin...
Rendering by John Jaranson
