The Story of the "Packer Mobile"
"If everybody else is going 'That Way' then I want to be going 'This Way", is a favorite saying of Mark Madson. Why not? He has been doing things "upside down and backwards" all his life.
Anybody can drive a topless car in the summer time, it takes a person with a totally different outlook on life to be able to figure out how to drive it in the winter time. After all, either they are driving all over the state of Wisconsin freezing their butts off, or just maybe they know something the rest of the world doesn't know... So, just to prove a point, Ron Bigelow and Mark Madson drove the "Totally Topless Packer Mobile" to the Packer Game when it was only about 13 degrees out, with a driving wind chill factor of about 40 below. Madson said, "It was the perfect day, with the snow on the trees, and the sun was shinning.
Just about everybody that passed us took our picture, and everybody, even the Detroit Lions fans smiled and waved at us". Mark said that there is a lot more to driving a topless car in the winter time than just putting on a snowmobile suite and trying to make believe that you are warm. A snowmobile suite is designed to keep you warm by retaining your own body heat that you generate while you are riding the snowmobile. That won't work while you are sitting back relaxing in the front seat of one of the world's best luxury cars for 3 hours. Your body needs an external heat source to stay warm if it is not moving.
So we had to totally redesign the aerodynamics of the car. It has a lot to do with the high and low pressure areas created by the windshield, front seat, rear deck lid, and the dash board. I did get cold when I drove it to U.W. Platville, but I changed a few things and now we are as warm as toast.
Ron Bigelow and Mark Madson may be better known by their nick names of "Mr. Bigg" and "Mr. Little" because of the businesses that they run, Bigelow Landscaping and The Little Limestone Company. They will admit that they both have a rare form of "Attention Deficit" but they just like to make people smile.
Mark bought the car five years ago, and so far he has 'Converted It' into 6 different cars, now that's what I call a 'Real Convertible'!!! As soon as he got the car he permanently cut the top off with a sawsall. The first conversion was the 'Christmas Caddy' with the back set full of brightly colored Christmas presents. The second conversion was the 'U.W. Oshkosh Drinking Team's Tail Gate Car' although Madson doesn't drink, they all had a great time. The third conversion was the 'Beach Party Car' with a 11 and a half foot long flamed surf board that was mounted were the roof use to be, and used it for the photo shoot at the 'Paint On Bikini Contest'. The fourth conversion was the 'Twin Lakes Country Thunder Car' with the band Rebel Flag flying from the 6 foot flag pole Madson installed through the Surf Board, which was mostly used by young women that had too much to drink. The fifth conversion was the 'Jimmy Buffet Mobile' with a huge shark fin on top of the surf board. The sixth conversion is the now famous 'Packer Mobile' with a huge Packer Flag on the six foot flag pole and all kinds of Packer memorabilia through out the car.
They would like to get some businesses or news paper to sponsor them when they go to the Play Off game this week. It would make a great photo shoot and story for the news paper, or a great promotion for a local business in Green Bay, because everyone will be taking pictures of it and stopping to see it, when it is parked at their place of business. Madson says "if the Packers make it to Dallas or the Supper Bowl this would be huge, because we are going"!!!! |
