QOTD: Did The Griswold's Family Truckster Kill the American Station Wagon?

Ronnie Schreiber
by Ronnie Schreiber

At one point few vehicles epitomized the American family car as the station wagon, particularly of the fullsize variety. Today, most car companies are pretty much convinced that American consumers will not buy station wagons. A few of the European luxury brands offer them here, but for the most part wagons are not welcome in the contemporary automotive scene in the U.S. According to Pete Bigelow of AOL Autos, the fault for that lies with the vehicular star of 1983’s “National Lampoon’s Vacation” — the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, a hideous pastiche of just about every bad malaise era styling trend appliqued over a Ford LTD Country Squire.

National Lampoon’s Vacation was released 32 years ago this summer and with its fifth sequel, “Vacation”, in theaters now, Mental Floss posted a listicle of little known facts about the original film. Number one on their list was Bigelow’s 2013 assertion that the movie’s mocking of the traditional American family station wagon fatally tainted the body style in consumers’ eyes:

Clark Griswold killed the station wagon.

You remember the scene. Stony disappointment spreads across his face when he learns his Antarctic blue sports car has not been delivered. His old car, a two-toned puke-brown and pale-mustard wagon, has already been demolished.

He has no choice but to drive the Family Truckster.

In all its heinous glory, the pea soup-green Wagon Queen Family Truckster was a caricature of everything America hated about its station wagons: Its wood paneling, its broad, expansive frame and its boxy headlights, its status as the frumpy domestic hauler.

And Griswold embodied the aloof, American dad. Put the two caricatures together, and National Lampoon’s Vacation made the station wagon, in the eyes of consumers, a toxic product in one three-minute scene. It’s no coincidence that the same year the movie was released, 1983, Chrysler introduced the minivan and found runaway success.

Ever since, the station wagon has endured a sad, slow decline.

Interesting theory, though I’m not sure that I’m going to embrace it just yet.

As Bigelow mentions, the movie came out the same year that Chrysler introduced their first minivan. Do you think it’s just a little bit possible that product planners at Chrysler, which was selling a wagon version of their K cars at the time, might have had an inkling that consumer tastes were changing?

For years I’ve contended that it’s been the buying choices of American women that have moved from wagons to minivans to SUVs to car-based crossovers as they’ve tried to escape the image of driving a mommy mobile while simultaneously choosing practical vehicles that can carry their entire families plus cargo. Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold was a dork, but he’s the one who subjects his family to it, not Beverly D’Angelo’s Ellen Griswold. One of the reasons why the Family Truckster was funny at the movie’s original release was that by 1983 all that fake wood, “metallic pee” paint (we called it “baby shit green”, everyone offered it in the ’70s), and gingerbread was already passe.

Maybe our autometrician Tim Cain can run the numbers, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see that by 1983 sales of American station wagons had already started going down significantly. According to the wagon enthusiasts at stationwagon.com, the decline indeed started in the 1970s, with Chrysler discontinuing their fullsize Chrysler, Plymouth and Dodge wagons in 1978. It should also be pointed out that the obviously Ford-based Family Truckster didn’t keep the Taurus wagon from being one of the best selling station wagons ever. The wagon declined, but it went down slowly.

Both stationwagon.com and Gear Patrol say the minivan was what killed the wagon. In a fairly comprehensive history/eulogy for the station wagon by Charles Moss at The Atlantic he, too, blames Chrysler’s people mover. None of them mention the Griswold’s fictional wagon.

Speaking of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster, if you’re dying to show up at your next costume party as Clark or Ellen Griswold, a modified Ford LTD wagon “believed to be” the car used in the film was up for auction by Mecum in 2013, but appears to have been a no-sale at $35,000. If you want, you can apparently still make Mecum an offer.

In any case, Bigelow’s theory is worth considering. Discuss amongst yourselves.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS

Ronnie Schreiber
Ronnie Schreiber

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, the original 3D car site.

More by Ronnie Schreiber

Comments
Join the conversation
2 of 92 comments
  • Jeff S Jeff S on Aug 05, 2015

    The Chrysler minivan is a historically significant vehicle because it marked a major shift in the family vehicle from station wagons and larger custom vans and it was the major vehicle along with the K cars that brought Chrysler out of bankruptcy.

  • Rpn453 Rpn453 on Aug 06, 2015

    "I think there might be something darker at work here. The more I think about the Truckster, and the impact it had on the Griswold family, the more I think it had some sort of malevolent presence that, while more subtle than that displayed by the killer car in Christine, was no less real. Perhaps the better example would be the Ring of Power that Frodo carries in The Lord of the Rings. Like the Ring, the Truckster was a talisman of doom that brought ill fortune and slowly but inexorably put its bearer under its twisted influence. That may sound odd, but just think about it. At the beginning of the film, Clark W. Griswold was portrayed as a successful businessman. He had a pleasant family, a good career, a nice house, two cars, and was apparently happily living the American dream. Up to that point in his life, he had obviously displayed some combination of high intelligence, good decision-making, or luck. All of that abruptly came to an end when Griswold first came into contact with the Truckster." http://www.carlustblog.com/2009/03/wagon-queen-family-truckster.html

  • Dave Holzman A design award for the Prius?!!! Yes, the Prius is a great looking car, but the visibility is terrible from what I've read, notably Consumer Reports. Bad visibility is a dangerous, and very annoying design flaw.
  • Wjtinfwb I've owned multiple Mustang's, none perfect, all an absolute riot. My '85 GT with a big Holley 4 barrel and factory tube header manifolds was a screaming deal in its day and loved to rev. I replaced it with an '88 5.0 Convertible and added a Supercharger. Speed for days, handling... present. Brakes, ummm. But I couldn't kill it and it embarrassed a lot of much more expensive machinery. A '13 Boss 302 in Gotta Have It Green was a subtle as a sledgehammer, open up the exhaust cut outs and every day was Days of Thunder. I miss them all. They've gotten too expensive and too plush, I think, wish they'd go back to a LX version, ditch all the digital crap, cloth interior and just the Handling package as an add on. Keep it under 40k and give todays kids an alternative to a Civic or WRX.
  • Jpolicke In a communist dictatorship, there isn't much export activity that the government isn't aware of. That being the case, if the PRC wanted to, they could cut the flow of fentanyl down to a trickle. Since that isn't happening, I therefore assume Xi Jinping doesn't want it cut. China needs to feel the consequences for knowingly poisoning other countries' citizens.
  • El scotto Oh, ye nattering nabobs of negativism! Think of countries like restaurants. Our neighbors to the north and south are almost as good and the service is fantastic. They're awfully close to being as good as the US. Oh the Europeans are interesting and quaint but you really only go there a few times a year. Gents, the US is simply the hottest restaurant in town. Have to stand in line to get in? Of course. Can you hand out bribes to get in quicker? Of course. Suppliers and employees? Only the best on a constant basis.Did I mention there is a dress code? We strictly enforce it. Don't like it? Suck it.
  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
Next