Where are they now - baywatch & silver bullet - v4

Let's see if this will jog your media memory.

Here's some pre-y2k icons,

ya may remember or may not.

I tried to find a Coors Light commercial 

with this 1999 Nissan Frontier.

Nothing quick on YouTube or google.

Supposedly they teamed up,

possibly for a Super Bowl ad.

Probably why I don't remember it!

I do remember this one!

Not sure if it's the same year.

Anyway,

now it's relegated to track duty.

This is the "silver bullet" banding truck,

used to band the tires together as safety bumpers.

I guess one of the first track managers invented the procedure,

and it is used worldwide.

More on that later...

The next is the Baywatch truck.

It's weird to realize marketers use TV shows 

to promote everything from clothes to cars.

By 1999 Baywatch was on for like 10 years,

so there's dozens of "baywatch trucks".

It looks like there was a competition between Toyota and Nissan.

I'm sure a lot of schmoozing goes on behind the scenes.

Interestingly the 98/99 model was a revamp,

so the show promoted a truck that wasn't available yet,

the move from the "Nissan Hardbody"

with the fender bulges,

to the more current styling.

Not cool enough to make a real model though!

This one is used as an emergency vehicle,

mainly during race days.

Since it was a pre-production prototype,

some important stuff is rigged,

probably cause they were only used for the show,

not 17 years later!

This one seemed to have the wrong driveshaft,

the carrier bearing was about 5/16" off.

Instead of resizing driveshafts,

easier to change the tab length.

Think like a welder not a mechanic!

Crude but effective!

I don't quite understand the reasoning for the bearing,

the transmission has the slip yoke,

the rear end moves up and down changing DS length,

and the carrier bearing seems useless.

Whatever, now it's fixed!

The perk was the following day,

test driving it on the track,

which includes the dragstrip!

Lastly,

this dance step to wipe out the check engine light

didnt work!

Yep this is like the "where are they now" graveyard.

Until next time...

TP