Family truckster!!!!

http://www.mecum.com/auctions/lot_detail.cfm?LOT_ID=HA0413-150057&entryRow=13&lottype=&startRow=1
how awsome is that

 

Just missing the body on the roof.

 

Being a Mecum auction vehicle the bidding should start out at a conservative $100,000 and slowly work up to what it's really worth.
After all, that is one beautiful station wagon.

 

QUOTE: DESCRIPTION

- Believed to be used in National Lampoon's Family Vacation
- Dash plague states Wagon Queen Family Truckster
- 30 year anniversary this year
- Complete with Wally World bumper sticker and dog leash on the rear bumper

Now thats just wrong

 

Loved the movie, maybe it's just me but...... I think the smashed and crashed version looks wayyyyyy better....and yeah, needs a body on the roof

 

Maybe when you buy it Fat Tedy you can have your wife ride up there on the roof. But please let the dogs ride inside, not on the lease!

 

Welllll,,,,,, the only difference from the movie would be..... If I came home with that...I'd be the dead guy on the roof.....end of, well no vacation to begin with



Still loved the movie....just wish they basterized a GM instead

...............

 

I forgot the co-star's name. But if she goes with the wagon I'm selling the house, the cars, the wife, and all her clothes and we'll live in the Truckster and spend the rest of my life on vacation!

Might be a short vacation!

 

Beverly D'Angelo. Now 61 years young. Yummy!

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000350/?ref_=tt_cl_t2

 

That does look like one of the genuine Wagon Queen Family Trucksters made for the movie, right down to the roll ups - Clark was too cheap to pay for power windows, I guess. Gotta love that metallic pea, though!

I actually saw one of these at the Kruse Labor Day weekend classic car auction in Auburn, Indiana in 1999 or 2000. Might even be the same car.

 

I don't think this is one of the movie cars. Color seems off to me.
Quite a few people have done copies..... including one on this forum some years back.

Here's a pic from the movie:

 

I saw this very one in person at the Kruse museum in Indiana a few years ago. Having built a replica family truckster myself and carefully studying the movie to get mine as close as possible, even though this one is a good replica, it is not one of the wagons used in the movie.

The grill part on this wagon appears to be a separate piece from the header panel, where the movie car had the grill area and header panel one piece. The luggage rack brackets are also not correct, they should have about a 2 inch spacer under them and be completely covered with wood grain. The hubcaps are also wrong and appear to have crown stickers on them, where as the movie car had crown emblems. The crown emblems are also not the same design as used in the movie. This one also appears to have dual exhaust, where as the movie car had single exhaust. Also the movie car had an LTD emblem on the dash where this one has the "wagonqueen family truckster" dash plaque.

Whoever made this one did a good job. The interior seems to be 100% correct right down to the cloth on the seats and the black seat belts.

 

OK, here's the thing, and I am not at all disputing that this may not be an authentic Wagon Queen Family Truckster from the 1983 movie.

But, at this point, 30 years later, how very difficult would it be to construct a customized de-contented replica based on a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire?! No power windows, a tan cloth interior, and only a driver's side outside rearview mirror!?

I do agree that at the very least there was a repaint at some point that did not meet the Wagon Queen metallic pea factory standard.

 

I have always been curious as to how they came up with the design for it. I love the double headlights and tail lights and even though the rear panel window annoyed a bit years ago I have come to really like it. Does any one know the story behind it's creation?

 

VERY difficult. It took me a little over 2 years to build mine. Attached is a picture of my replica. While building mine I ran across a guy whose friend was actually on the set of the movie as the transportation coordinator. He said that all the movie cars were either destroyed or had the modifications removed after filming. He said the wagons used in the movie were all 1980 LTD Country Squires, not 79's like this one is. Also on the 1979 and 1980 Ford LTD country squires, the passenger mirror was optional. It is exceedingly difficult to find a 79 or 80 with a passenger mirror. I'm not trying to call you out or anything, just saying that I am 99.9% sure this is not a screen used car.