Truck balls

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Truck balls are accessories for pickup trucks and other vehicles. Capitalizing upon the association of trucks with machismo, truck balls, which resemble oversize human testicles inside scrota of various colors, are a visual means of expressing the driver's need to appear masculine; they are also popular with female truck drivers. This trend began in the United States in 1998.

Description

Made of polypropylene copolymer, truck balls are durable and weather resistant. They weigh approximately two pounds and come in various colors, including chrome and brass. They are colored all the way through so that, should they scrape upon an object, such as a curb or a speed bump, they remain the same color. Truck balls can also be painted in glow-in-the-dark colors.

Manufacture

After being "vacuum metalized" in the selected color, truck balls are oven baked, cooled, and sprayed with a thick, transparent coating of epoxy urethane before being air dried and sprayed with a second coat of epoxy urethane and baked again so as to acquire their durable finish.

Truck balls are installed at the rear of the vehicle in such a way that they are suspended in full view of motorists, pedestrians, and others behind them.

Installation

To install these accessories, one manufacturer recommends the use of slightly flexible, 1 1/4-inch-wide by 1/8-inch-thick by 4-foot-long strap-type metal to allow several moumting brackets to be made and to permit a 5/8-inch hole to be drilled into the bracket. This 5/8-inch hole allows the use of any bolt of less than 1/2-inch diameter.

Innovative uses

Sometimes, people use truck balls in imaginative ways. For example, one individual inserted a pair of these artificial testicles into a snow figure, making it clear that the sculpted form was to be regarded as that of a male, or snowman.