Promotional Vehicles Part 4: The Most Extravagant Creations

One of the most incredible aspects of the automotive world is that it knows how to amaze every time. We have discovered together in previous episodes, truly amazing promotional vehicles, but this week we have decided to raise the bar by proposing the most extravagant of all eras.
In 1929, Goodyear developed a new low-pressure tyre called the AirWheel, designed for large aircraft. The news was so important that the company decided to take it around the United States, indirectly publicising tyres for road use. The vehicle in question was a Buick Sedan whose chassis had been stretched and modified with a bus-like body with a full-sized AirWheel tyre added to the rear! Spectacle.

The Buick Sedan modified by Goodyear in 1929 to promote the new AirWheel developed for large aircraft.

Almost thirty years later, at the 1958 Giro d'Italia cycling race, a promotional vehicle made its debut that still remains in the hearts of fans today for its uniqueness. It was a creation of the Grazia coachbuilder of Bologna, one of the most active at the time in the production of advertising vehicles in Italy together with Fissore of Turin. The car, so to speak, was commissioned by the Deisa company to promote the Ebano shoe polish. The vehicle rested on the base of a Fiat 615 van specially stretched by the historic Stanguellini workshop in Modena, famous for its racing cars. A real four-wheeled shoe!

The Deisa company, in order to sponsor the Ebano shoe polish, commissioned a real four-wheeled shoe in 1958 from the Grazie coachworks in Bologna.

At the same time in France, at the beginning of the 1960s to be precise, a vehicle popped up among the Tour de France cycling caravan that to call it extravagant is an understatement. The Hoover company, manufacturer of household appliances, had their hoovers, gigantic to impress, built on the chassis of the Renault Estafette and the Fiat Multipla. One can imagine the amazement of those present!

The giant Hoover hoovers built on the Renault Estafette and Fiat Multipla chassis give an idea of their power. They were used in the Tour de France in the 1960s.

The Tour de France brought other truly incredible promotional vehicles, such as those of Butagaz, the famous gas cylinder brand. It was the Rotrou coachworks that was responsible for the construction of no less than seven examples on Simca 1000 chassis, five of which were in the shape of domestic gas cylinders, while the other two were equipped with a large storage tank. The latter reflected Butagaz's desire to promote gas central heating, then considered a modern technology at a time when more than two thirds of the population still used wood or coal on open fireplaces.

Using the chassis of the Simca 1000 as a basis, Butagaz had advertising vehicles built in the shape of gas cylinders.

Despite the advent of television, promotional vehicles continued to be used in the 1980s. Truly ingenious and of great communicative power was that of Pattex's Thousand Uses Glue: two Renault Super Cinqs were glued one on top of the other to demonstrate the power of the product. The only question that arises is how they got permission to drive on the road...

The Renault Super Cinqs glued on top of each other to demonstrate the power of Pattex glue in the 1980s.

Last, but no less creative, was the 1983 Phone Car. Completed after more than a year and a half of hard work, it used the chassis, engine and transmission of a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle as its basis. It was Howard Davis who commissioned the work to promote his telecommunications company in the USA.

Howard Davis' Phone Car built in 1983 on the basis of a Volkswagen Beetle.