I hesitate to use the word “iconic.” It’s overused. But it’s hard not to use that word when you’re talking about the 1983 film National Lampoon’s Vacation. Later films in the franchise were not as well regarded, but Vacation is generally thought of as a comedy masterpiece of its time. It pulled in a very respectable $61 million at the box office, That’s north of $200 million today, which is pretty respectable considering its meager budget. 1983 was a great year for cinema, with Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Tootsie, Flashdance, Risky Business, and other classics arriving one right after another. As a result, Vacation just barely cracked the top 10 of 1983. In other years it would have been the top movie hands down.
The real star?
Who’s the real star of Vacation? Folks will say it’s Chevy Chase, Christie Brinkley, or John Candy. The cast is full of A-listers, or folks who became A-listers later. But I think the standout has to be the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. The truckster joins the film near the beginning, as a young Eugene Levy (of Schitt’s Creek fame) swindles Chevy Chase into taking the clearly subpar vehicle.
The truckster is an only slightly-exaggerated version of a typical Detroit station wagon of the time. Underpowered, ugly, and full of tacky details, its only saving grace is that it survives a lot of punishment.
The Wagon Queen Family Truckster, as shown in metallic pea with available woodgrain appliques, was based on an early 1980s Ford station wagon. The full-size Fords and Chevrolet station wagons were still fairly popular parts of the family landscape at the time. Chrysler had just started offering its first minivan, so by the time the film debuted the truckster seemed even more obsolete than the filmmakers intended.
The truckster story
Here’s more proof that YouTube has all the answers for everything you could ever want. This video, by YouTuber “CarStarz,” gives you the facts about this purpose-built vehicle.
Among the highlights: it’s believed that none of the purpose-built cars survived. No surprise considering that the Fords they were built on weren’t that reliable to begin with. I also didn’t know that the 1980s sitcom Married… with Children used footage from the film in its opening, and you can even see the car if you look.
Peak Lampoon
The National Lampoon was an organization which grew out of a Harvard publication, and its peak in our shared consciousness was between 1977 and 1983. It was bracketed at the beginning by Animal House and at the end by Vacation. This was the heyday of off-color humor, driven by graduates of the first seasons of Saturday Night Live. Back then, this was cutting-edge stuff, and the public ate it up. As the 1980s progressed, though, the public’s tastes turned away from the tasteless and to nostalgia and nationalism. While the Vacation franchise kept soldiering on for years, even reaching to the 2015 remake/sequel of Vacation, it never reached the heights of its first film.
For the actors, Vacation was either a star vehicle or a star maker. The world knew Chevy Chase. Beverly D’Angelo was known to theatergoers. But, Anthony Michael Hall was still a year from his star-making turn in The Breakfast Club. Randy Quaid, Eugene Levy and John Candy were known to fans of SNL alumni movies. This movie raised their profiles considerably. Even young Jane Krakowski, known today from 30 Rock, takes a memorable turn.
There won’t ever be quite another film like National Lampoon’s Vacation. There won’t ever be another car like the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. At least, I hope not.
