Video: Pickup Truck Made Out of Ice

We’ve had a cold, brutal winter and if your truck is feeling the freeze, we’ve got a video for you.

The Ice Truck was built to promote the Canadian Tire’s new MotoMaster Eliminator Ultra battery, which can start a car in temperatures as low as -40 Celsius (which happens to also be -40 Farenheit). Canadian Tire is an institution north of the border. It’s estimated that 90 per cent of Canadians live within 15 minutes of one of the 490 stores across the country, and that 40 per cent shop there once a week.

As noted in the New York Times, Taxi, the ad agency working with Canadian Tire on the MotoMaster project at first wanted to freeze a pickup in ice and start it with a frozen battery. After that idea was deemed impractical, Taxi suggested a pickup made of ice, and the ice truck was born.

Sculpted by a company called Iceculture, the ice truck body was carved to fit a 2005 GMC Sierra 2500 HD. The body weighed 11,000 pounds so the truck chassis had to be reinforced and have extra fans added to the cooling system to prevent the heat of the engine from melting the body.

With a windshield 8 to 12 inches thick, drivers sitting on the ice bucket seat had a difficult time seeing out of the Ice Truck, so it never traveled more than 7-8 mph on its few short drives. However, the commercial showing a battery frozen to -40 starting the Ice Truck was a big hit with viewers who saw it during the telecast of the NHL Winter Classic on January 1. After the commercial was filmed, the Ice Truck was allowed to melt. Allan MacDonald, COO of Canadian Tire’s retail division said the Ice Truck went over so well they are considering another ice vehicle in the future, possibly an Ice Zamboni.