In an uncommon display of cross-corporate synergy, the L.L. Bean Bootmobile, Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, Peeps Peepster and Lindt Chocolate Gold Bunny convened on Friday in Freeport, Me., the corporate headquarters of L.L. Bean.
The vehicles were summoned for what the apparel and outdoor-equipment retailer, celebrating its 100th year and the birthday of its founder, Leon Leonwood Bean, billed as an art-car campout. All four vehicles will be displayed outside the company's flagship store from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday.
Wheels sampled the Bootmobile, modeled on L.L. Bean's Maine Hunting Shoe, in January, when the Ford F-250-based rig visited Times Square. A Mini-based Wienermobile visited Times S quare in 2008, but the vehicle in Freeport hews to the classic Wienermobile form, the one prone to crashing into houses in its native Wisconsin.
The Peeps Peepster, meanwhile, is based on a 2012 Volkswagen Beetle, and bears a fiberglass likeness of the Easter-time marshmallow confection on its roof. Bringing up the runty rear of this parade, the Lindt Chocolate Gold Bunny is a Smart Fortwo with earlike appendages mounted to its liftgate.
In a blog post, L.L. Bean graciously noted the Wienermobile represented the “classic hot dog we know and love.†That kind of talk may chafe Mainers of a certain age who grew up on Jordan's hot dogs, which were encased in a beguiling red skin that snapped when bitten. The Mainer who purports to know and love an Oscar Mayer wiener is the Mainer who likely is, as the locals say, “from away.â€
However inclusive this group may appear, the art-car campout is short at least one emblematic corporate ambassador, the Planters Nutmobile. A spokeswoman for the event said Mr. Peanut and his coterie were unable to attend.
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