Movie Cars - The Griswold's "Wagon Queen Family Truckster"

During my family's annual viewing of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, I noticed something I'd never paid much attention to before: the Ford Taurus wagon the Griswolds drive to fetch their Christmas tree is a woody Taurus wagon. That's quite the inside joke, considering Ford never actually built a wood-paneled Taurus wagon. The prop is convincing enough that you'd almost think they had.

Christmas Vacation wasn't a road movie like the original Vacation, so there was no need to make the family car a major character. Still, fans of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster undoubtedly appreciated the filmmakers paying homage to the iconic station wagon from the first film.

We first meet the Truckster near the beginning of National Lampoon's Vacation when Clark Griswold attempts to trade in his aging 1970 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser for an "Antarctic Blue Super Sports Wagon" complete with a CB radio and the "Optional Rally Fun Pack." Naturally, things don't go according to plan. Before Clark can tell the salesman he'll be taking his business elsewhere, he's forced to drive home in a brand-new Wagon Queen Family Truckster.

Sharp-eyed viewers may notice a continuity error: the Vista Cruiser seen at the end of the dealership scene is actually a 1972 model rather than the 1970 model shown at the beginning.

The Griswolds' Wagon Queen Family Truckster actually began life as a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire. Although Vacation was filmed in 1982 and released in 1983, Ford had made only minor styling changes to the Country Squire since 1979. Using a slightly older example instead of a brand-new model made perfect sense from a production budget standpoint.

There has long been conflicting information about whether legendary Hollywood car customizer George Barris—best known for creating the Batmobile for the 1960s Batman television series—designed the Truckster. What is certain is that the car was intentionally styled to be as outrageously unattractive as possible.

Ironically, more than 40 years later, the Truckster doesn't seem quite as hideous as it once did. Like the Edsel before it, time has softened public opinion. Its pea-green paint, fake wood paneling that extends onto the hood, eight headlights, and grille almost completely covered by bodywork made it look absurd in 1983 because it exaggerated the era's ubiquitous family station wagon.

It's also worth remembering the automotive landscape of the early 1980s. Chrysler had just introduced its groundbreaking K-car-based minivans, and SUVs were still far from becoming everyday suburban family transportation. If you needed to haul a family, your choices were generally limited to a station wagon or a large four-door sedan. The Truckster was essentially one giant visual joke built around America's quintessential family car.

Of course, the real heart of the Vacation movies wasn't the car—it was Clark Griswold, perfectly portrayed by Chevy Chase. If the Truckster was a parody of the American family car, Clark was a parody of the American family man. Chase managed the difficult task of making Clark hopelessly optimistic, endlessly determined, and hilariously accident-prone without ever making him unlikeable.

In many ways, Clark Griswold represents the idealized suburban father: devoted to his family, loving, approachable, fun, forgiving, and willing to do almost anything to create lasting family memories—even if everything inevitably goes spectacularly wrong. Beneath all the chaos, he's simply a well-meaning goofball trying his best.

And with that, here's wishing you a very merry holiday season.

Here's hoping your shitter's full.