Stripe your ride
It's a colorful road to the playoffs for these Bengals fans
Co-owners Jeff Brendamour (left) and Bill Stoeckel's Jungle Express includes artificial turf, built-in coolers and a hide-a-bed. Theirs is among a wide variety of vehicles sporting all kinds of Bengals gear.
Getting there is half the fun. This football season, that's never been more true for fans riding to games in a Bengal-Mobile, a Who Dey hearse or a Bengalized bus.
If you haven't caught a glimpse of these vehicles on local roads, you might see them or something like them parked in the vicinity of Paul Brown Stadium Saturday, when the Buffalo Bills are here for the last home game of the regular season.
'I found it in a ditch'
What: Jungle Express, a 1980 Mini Bird 19-foot bus.
Owners: "Bengal Bill" Stoeckel, 38, of Sharonville and Jeff "The Brendamour, 30, of Symmes Township.
History: "I found it (six years ago) in a West Virginia ditch," Stoeckel says. "It hadn't been used for two years. Bought it. Drove it back. Broke down three times on the way home."
What it cost: $1,000, plus $4,000-$5,000 in fix-ups.
Bengalizing it: The owners took it to Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting in Fairfield for an orange paint job, then spent three years giving it a makeover.
Features: Bengal-striped exterior; interior seats have been removed to make way for artificial turf, built-in coolers, hide-a-bed, storage boxes. Interior surfaces have been signed by Bengal luminaries such as coach Marvin Lewis, Hall of Famer Anthony Muñoz and the Ben-Gals.
Catch it: At various charity events, including the Marvin Lewis Golf Classic.
Inside the Jungle Express, signatures of coach Marvin Lewis, Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz and the Ben-Gals can be found.