You never sau-sage a thing!

It's the Wienermobile: Mecca for those who wish they were an Oscar-Meyer wiener.

The 27-foot long, 11-foot high fiberglass hot dog and bun on wheels can be seen on highways and in parking lots all across America - after all, it's not exactly a camouflaged vehicle. Now, Casper residents are privy to the "franktastic wiener-bago" until it leaves town for Cheyenne on Sunday.

The inside is almost unbelievable. Where the glove box of a normal car would be, a "bun box" fills the space, and rather than a sun roof - a "bun roof." Mustard and ketchup are the vehicle's interior theme colors. Condiments adorn the floor, and the only storage space, in the end of the wiener, is filled with "wienie whistles" - 11,000 of them, to be exact. The roof is even painted to look like a blue sky with fluffy white clouds.

"It's always blue skies in the Wienermobile," explained Jeff Kendell, "Hotdogger" and official driver of the wiener.

The Wienermobile has been making history since the first convertible-style vehicle was created in 1936. The second version of the wiener, created in 1940, took a military-style approach and looked more like an army tank than a rolling sausage - except for the hot orange and yellow of the exterior. Neither of the original vehicles is in existence today; both were used as scrap metal during World War II.

"Nothing was sacred back then, I guess," Kendell said.

More versions of the Wienermobile were released in later years and are still designed today, all roughly modeled after the 1952 wiener. The current mobile is built on a GMC W Series Chasis truck, and boasts an anti-lock break system and a 32-gallon fuel tank. There are six working wieners at any given time.

But how does one become a hotdogger? Only about a dozen people a year are granted the honor of driving what Kendell affectionately refers to as his "Lamborwienie."

"To do this, we gotta be able to cut the mustard," Kendell said.

And while a life on the road can be a lonely one, Kendell said he "relish"es his unique job.

"We're all college grads, so we get paid and we get to travel all over," Kendell said. "We're the face of Oscar-Meyer."

It must be bun-derful.

Reach Megan Lee at (307) 266-0589 or megan.lee@trib.com