Commercial vehicles as advertising

Cakes on wheels and rolling coffee pots

March 01, 2023

Today they are rare, but in earlier times they used to enrich the street scene: vehicles that served solely as advertising. The advertising vehicles were on the road, for example, with a body in the form of a baby carriage, a rolling shop window, and moving bottles of various contents. Most of them were based on truck or bus chassis, but there were also smaller variants on passenger car chassis. Their time has long since passed, supplanted by television and the Internet.

A beautiful as well as particularly curious example of successful advertising vehicles is the oversized "baby carriage with power head". It was based on a Tempo Matador from 1952, which was equipped with a VW engine as standard. The baby carriage dealer Maas in Hanover was the customer for the vehicle. Unfortunately, the identity of the coachbuilder who was commissioned with the unique vehicle has not survived.

It was not easy to create a collection of photos of old advertising vehicles, because although there were quite a few such vehicles on the road in earlier years, they were rarely documented. The images in this article come from old postcards, private photos and a few factory photos. Flea market finds and images from magazines are also included. The quality of the photos is not always optimal, but the curiosity still justifies the publication.

The illustrations are accompanied by captions, from which some details can be gleaned, but some photos have to do largely without background information because it simply isn't there. We from the On-the-Road editorial team had our fun in compiling this article and hope that the viewer feels the same way ...

This postcard illustration proves that rolling advertising vehicles existed even before the automobile boom, albeit with relatively little horsepower. The windmill on the horse-drawn wagon advertised the Heinersdorf Bread Factory in Berlin.

The perfumery Mouson & Cie in Frankfurt am Main advertised itself with a stylish special vehicle as early as 1907. It was based on an Opel delivery van chassis.

Suitcases and leather goods from Moritz Mädler have been around since 1850. Initially based in Leipzig, the company is now headquartered in Offenbach am Main in Germany. As early as around 1910, in the early years of commercial vehicle construction, the Mädler company took the opportunity to attract attention with a special truck body.

The Henkell & Co winery from Mainz in Germany had this moving bottle of sparkling wine on the road in 1907. The vehicle is guaranteed to have attracted attention. The base vehicle was an Opel 14/20 PS.

Especially suitable “for sportsmen, singers and smokers“, Wybert pastilles, were also advertised in the 1930s as "thirst-quenching and refreshing". Whether the large tin was full of sweets made of licorice is not known. What is certain is that Wybert pastilles are still effective against coughs, hoarseness and sore throats.

An advertising leaflet from 1937 showed some unique pieces that the company Dittmann-Fahrzeugbau had put on wheels. Fancy advertising vehicles were considered a specialty of the Berlin company.

This superstructure in the shape of a coffee pot, manufactured by Dittmann in Berlin in the mid-1930s, advertised the Kathreiner coffee company (Munich 1829-1997). Their best known product was malt coffee. The vehicle can also be seen above on the advertising leaflet of the Dittmann company.

The advertising car of the Dralle company was based on a Büssing one-and-a-half-ton truck, type Burglöwe 15, built in 1935. The body corresponded in shape to a series of packages of Dralle's birch hair tonic, which had been produced in Hamburg-Altona since 1889. The company, founded in 1852, was sold to L'Oréal in 1991.

This advertising vehicle with huge fountain pens resembles a rocket launcher. Mounted on a 1929 Chevrolet, it advertised the English company Mentmore Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in London.

The illustration comes from a bodywork trade journal of unknown date. We estimate that it was created around 1930. The client was the tire company Fulda, Germany. The body factory F. Leibold, also from Fulda, was responsible for the design and production of the advertising vehicle.

The operator of this advertising truck was the "Reichs-Seefisch-Ausschuss". The premise was "Eat fish and you'll stay healthy and fresh!" The intention was to counteract the widespread lack of protein in Germany at the beginning of the thirties. Bodied by Luchterhand & Freytag and equipped as a sea-fish cookery teaching kitchen, the Krupp L3M42 traveled from place to place. Photo: Landesbildstelle Berlin

Horstmann & Sander is today a store for high-quality leather goods, suitcases, accessories and shoes in Hanover, Germany. Around 1937, the "suitcase vehicle" advertised the suitcase manufacturer, which was already focused on quality products. The base vehicle was an Opel business car with a half-ton payload. The body was manufactured by Stolle in Hanover-Linden, the company specializes today primarily in bodywork for hearses.

"La Lechera" is a well-known name for sweetened condensed milk in Spain to this day. The advertising car pictured was a Krupp L5N from about 1929 with a Luchterhand & Freytag body from Berlin. It is not known whether it reached its Spanish destination on its own wheels. Photo: Landesbildstelle Berlin

Trebor was founded in 1907 in London's East End. The first name of one of the founders, read backwards, served as the brand name. Trebor quickly became one of the largest confectionery manufacturers in the UK. "Extra Strong Peppermints" were introduced in 1937. In 1989, Cadbury Schweppes acquired the company. The advertising truck pictured, a Dennis Stork with a special body, served as a promotional vehicle from 1954. Unfortunately, the interior is not documented.

This team may have been built around 1934. It was traveling across the United States for the General Electric Company of Detroit. The trailer had the appearance of a house. Inside, prospective customers could see demonstrations of household electrical appliances.

Here, to the cheers of the public, a huge tin cupcake was carted through the streets. The towing vehicle was a truck of the German NAG brand with a special body as an advertising vehicle. In the 1930s, it was supposed to "show the old friends of the tried and tested Dr.-Oetker products some new things," according to the text accompanying the photo. The cupcake trailer contained a generator that provided electricity for the truck. It powered the oven, a hot water unit, a refrigerated display case, the loudspeaker system and an overhead film projector.

A liquor factory called Horec has been in the Czech Republic since 1903. It was not possible to find out whether the vehicle shown here is related to this company. Only the Berlin body manufacturer Luchterhand & Freytag, the Nationale Automobil-Gesellschaft NAG as manufacturer of the chassis and the year of the photograph 1927 are known. Photo: Landesbildstelle Berlin

Encouraging potential customers to save for building was the purpose of this little house on wheels. The porch was reserved for the driver, and further back was a small office. Home loan and savings contracts could be concluded on a mobile basis. A German Opel Blitz from 1936 served as the base vehicle.

A squad of employees of the Landrock laundry from Berlin-Köpenick was on the road with this 1930 Mercedes type N 56 truck. Dirty laundry was picked up at the door of customers' apartments to be returned in a cleaned state after three days. The business model made Landrock famous in Berlin.

Using promotional vehicles to publicize large electrical appliances can't have been a bad idea. Siemens used this Opel delivery van, bodied as a showcase by Luchterhand & Freytag, to offer its novel refrigerators. These were a rarity in the mid-1930s. At that time, in Germany refrigeration was still done with blocks of ice in the so-called icebox. Photo: Landesbildstelle Berlin

Typical of the period, this advertising rig was perfectly streamlined and was on the road for German Kienzle watches, a company from Schwenningen am Neckar that was founded in 1822. Two of these rigs were built in 1937. They were 16 meters long and weighed eleven tons. The chassis came from Mercedes, the superstructures from the Berlin coachbuilder Gaubschat. Inside was a watch display for trade customers, and outside were display windows for the public. The vehicles had radio reception systems, plus gramophone and microphone transmission to outside loudspeakers. A generator with its own motor and 500-kilo batteries provided the necessary electrical power. There was also a living area with two beds, armchairs, tables, washing and dishwashing facilities and an icebox. A tank with 350 liters of water was also on board.

Sanella was once Germany's best-selling margarine. At least, that's what the advertising slogan on the side of the promotional truck pictured reads. The vehicle was a Krupp L3M42 from about 1932, bodywork by Luchterhand & Freytag, Berlin. Photo: Landesbildstelle Berlin

The Berlin bodybuilder Gaubschat was known for exclusive bodywork, especially when it came to the streamlined shape that was fashionable in the thirties. An elaborately designed advertising semitrailer was presented at the Berlin Motor Show in 1938. The Landrock laundry, based in Berlin-Köpenick since 1869, had commissioned the vehicle.

"Light to every home" was the message that this fleet of Opel-Blitz half-tons was supposed to spread starting in 1949. Light bulbs were actually Philips' core business. But it wasn't until after World War II that the Dutch manufacturer began offering light bulbs in Germany in addition to selling radios.

The basis of this advertising vehicle was a Tempo Matador 1400 from about 1953, manufactured by Vidal & Sohn in Hamburg-Harburg. The motorhome body used for advertising purposes was made by Mikafa from Minden in Westphalia. The Bentz-Papier company was also located there. Melitta and Hugo Bentz had originally founded the company in Dresden in 1909 after Melitta invented a practical coffee filter. Her first name later became the product name.

The traveling shoe house of the Köchling company from Salzgitter-Bad in Germany had its body built by the Kannenberg in Salzgitter. The basis was a German Ford G 199 B from about 1952.

Mercedes L 322 from 1963 with body as a kitchen studio. Manufacturer was Ackermann in Wuppertal, Germany.

This illustration is from a brochure of the French body manufacturer Démas from Cerizay in the Deux-Sèvres department southwest of Nantes. The vehicle advertised Chocolat Poulain, one of the oldest chocolate brands in France with production starting in 1848. The body was based on a Peugeot, built around 1966.

The Bremen-based company Biomaris has been in existence since 1937. Initially, the product range consisted of the "Helgoland seawater spa drink", but today the portfolio mainly includes cosmetic products in addition to seawater. The promotional rig from around 1965 consisted of a German Hanomag Courier as the towing vehicle and a special trailer. It served as a tasting room for seawater beverages such as Biomaris-Cola or the "Orange-Deepsea-Drink".

From a French 1953 Renault catalog under the heading "LES VÉHICULES PUBLICITAIRES".

Bizerba scales have been around since 1868, when Andreas Bizer, a locksmith, was commissioned by his hometown of Balingen in Germany to build a weighbridge and subsequently founded his company. The 1951 Hanomag one-and-a-half-ton truck drove around the country as a rolling showcase, advertising scales of all kinds.

The manufacturer of this special trailer was Westfalia in Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany. Contents of the huge car battery were neither sulfuric acid nor positive and negative plates, but probably advertising material and flashlight batteries for potential customers. The photo dates from 1951.

Coca-Cola advertising vehicle in a Renault brochure from the fifties. The bodywork came from Marchand & Letourneur of Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris.

The German private brewery W. Rummel from Darmstadt operated this vehicle based on a Volkswagen Transporter type T2b of the series from August 1972 with top-mounted turn signals. One can imagine the sensation caused by a "locomotive" driving around in the pedestrian zone. Photo: Armand Bastin

This motor ship on wheels was christened "Bim". The originator of the idea was the Stockmann chocolate factory in Hamburg-Wandsbek. The spectacular one-off was built in Salzgitter by Fahrzeugwerke Kannenberg (Faka) on the basis of a 1954 Mercedes L 6600.

If locomotives and ships could cavort on the roads, an airplane had to be allowed to do the same. Or something like that, only without wings, because they would have hindered the rest of the traffic. The Associated Aviation Club of America from New York was the creator of the strange monster. It was traveling in 46 states to promote advancement of aviation, as the caption indicates. While the photo is not dated, we estimate it was taken around 1950.

Advertising vehicles could take on gigantic proportions. Based on the Kässbohrer SG 180 articulated bus with a 240 hp Büssing underfloor engine U 12 D, the two-storey "Thyssen information bus" was built in the early 1970s. The upper deck with retractable roof contained a fully equipped kitchen and a conference room with audio-visual equipment for thirty people. The operator was the Thyssen Group and the body was manufactured by Kässbohrer in Ulm, Germany.

The Thyssen information bus in driving position with lowered roof superstructure. The vehicle was apparently repainted once during its time in service.

Raising the profile of German "Dortmunder Aktien-Bier" probably succeeded with the "DAB train". The photo of this unusual advertising vehicle was taken around 1986 in Duisburg, the tractor is a MAN with F8 cab from around 1982. Photo: Dethlef Gerth

Text: Steve St.Schmidt

Photos: Archive of the Edition Diesel Queen

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