JBL Toon Truck

By Brian Murphy

I first saw this 1950's pick-up back in 1994 at Disney's Epcot Center in one of the Innovations Buildings. I was mesmerized - there were speakers everywhere! It was this truck that inspired me to become a professional installer.

Flash forward to 2008: I met a Harman rep by the name of Joe Walters. During our conversation he mentioned an old 1950's truck he helped build for JBL. Sure enough it was the same inspirational truck from my youth. The truck has been retired for a long time, but it has a great history.

The Toon Truck was built in 1993 for as a display for the Innovations Building at Disney's Epcot center. After It later left Disney and headed to Berlin, Germany for the IFA electronics show (similar to our CES show).

When its tour was complete in Germany, the truck was shipped back to the US but was not properly secured in its shipping crate, and the the "wheel" subwoofer enclosures were damaged....

The truck was then rebuilt and toured the show circuit, hitting CES in Las Vegas and Spring Break Nationals in Daytona in 1997. In it's later days the Toon Truck was on display at the JBL factory outlet in Oxnard California, and later spent three years on tour, even stayed at a car wash in Minnesota. That car wash still has a huge poster of the truck on display.</p>

At first glance you might not realize how much of this car is actually part of sound system, both inside and out. The truck's system was designed to give a stereo image from all sides, even under the hood. The headlights and tail lights are speakers. The engine is actually made of amplifiers and the intake manifolds are indoor/outdoor speakers. Component speakers were blended into the body and door panels. A slew of subwoofers were mounted in the bed, and if you look closely, each of the four wheels are actually subs as well. JBL made special dollies to move the truck around.

This truck is a great demo vehicle even by today's standards, and you can only imagine what kind of attention this truck used to get. No matter where the truck was on display, it always seemed to bring out the same questions:

Did you drive that truck here?

Where do you put the gas?

The windows are a funny color, is it street legal?

Do you take the woofers out of the wheels when you drive it?

How come the carburetors look like speakers?

How many horsepower does it have?

If you get a flat, how do you access the lug nuts behind the speaker?

How's the gas mileage on that?

Ever get a ticket for playing too loud in a neighborhood?

With that radio dial in the front, can you get enough air to cool the radiator?

Even though this classic is retired, it will always be a favorite of mine and many others. Do you have any favorite demo cars from the past? Dig 'em out and share! Maybe we'll blog about your favorite!

Gallery:
These photos were snapped back in 1994 on my 35mm.

Video

 

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Brian "Murph" Murphy is an MECP Master Certified Installer for Best Buy, contributing writer for the MECP Master Installer handbook, and Moderator for the SoundDomain forums.