Did You Know: All About The PCH Prize Patrol Van!

Hey PCH trivia hounds! I know you all love a good tidbit of behind-the-scenes PCH history, and there’s no greater PCH icon to discuss than the PCH Prize Patrol Van!  While the van has taken a few different shapes and colors over the years, there’s a lot more to its history than just having four wheels and a cool logo! Let’s take a quick look at some of its most memorable factoids, including the time it had a run-in with the police!

First thing’s first: how did the PCH Prize Patrol van come to be? 

When I asked Todd Sloane, his answer was simple!

“It was created out of necessity, really. Once we realized we would need something to fit all of the video cameras, Big Check and everything else, the van was a natural conclusion! Eventually we decided to add the logo on the side, and the rest was history!”

Now, you may wonder in today’s age of pocket-sized video cameras why we keep using a van … or why we don’t deliver big checks using drones? It’s very simple: we love tradition, and a van is the only vehicle big enough to fit the entire Prize Patrol Van sign!

Another question we’ve been asked a lot is whether there’s 1 van that we drive around wherever we go…or we rent a van in each state?

Well, the correct answer is that we rent a van in each state we go to, and we add our classic Prize Patrol van sign to it right before the winning moment.

If you’ve ever wondered how the team gets the sign on the van, here’s a video of Dave and Todd hard at work!

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryqtyhz-crg[/tube]

Here’s another interesting fact – the Prize Patrol Van sign is very fragile! You see, in order to get the right look on camera, the sign is made with a special reflective plastic. Unfortunately, that plastic becomes very brittle over time. I can’t tell you how many funny stories I’ve heard of the Prize Patrol breaking signs on the road, or the sign coming off while driving! It’s become sort of a running joke!

In fact, here’s a fun video of Danielle recovering the van sign on the highway!

[tube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-51jlab2jGk[/tube]

And while this didn’t happen in the video above, the Prize Patrol HAS been pulled over before! They do so much driving though, it was only a matter of time before it happened, right?

“One Prize Patrol member [name withheld!] was pulled over for speeding,” says Prize Patrol member Todd Sloane with a chuckle.

He says it wasn’t him, and I think we’ll leave it at that for now 🙂

As for the look of the sign itself, you may all remember that it got a fresh update not too long ago.

Well, there you have it folks – everything you wanted to know about our unofficial Prize Patrol member, the Prize Patrol van! Remember to keep entering every chance you get, and that van could be pulling up to YOUR house before you know it!

Matt K.
PCH Creative

P.S. – If you saw the Prize Patrol Van in your town, what would you do? Would you call the local newspaper? Drop what you’re doing and see where it goes? Or try and take a quick selfie? Tell us in the comments below!