'Vacation's' Family Truckster returns to Wheaton

After 7,000 miles, countless photographs and a steady stream of Cousin Eddie quotes, Gary Schneider's Wagon Queen Family Truckster has come home.

The replica Schneider built of the iconic station wagon from the 1983 movie "National Lampoon's Vacation" pulled into his Wheaton driveway Friday for the first time since he sold it to be used in a Super Bowl commercial. The buyers, HomeAway Inc., a vacation rental website, will be showing off the eye-catching green behemoth today at Navy Pier.

"They are doing everything I wanted to do with it," said Schneider, who was making some minor repairs to his handiwork.

In that Super Bowl commercial, Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo drove the car when they reprised their roles as Clark and Ellen Griswold for a short film that HomeAway made about the Griswolds' latest misadventures in traveling.

This summer, Stephanie Eilers and fellow "Truckie" John Woodbridge have been driving the Truckster cross-country as part of HomeAway's "Great American Road Trip." So far, they have visited cities along the East Coast. They're going to drive west after spending this weekend in Illinois.

Eilers said the Truckster attracts a lot of attention everywhere they go.

"Some people take one look at it and they're like, 'The Griswolds!'" Eilers said. "You get other people who look at it and say, 'That's a really funky old wagon.'"

That funky old wagon started as a 1986 Ford Country Squire that Schneider bought for $500.

Schneider and his dad, Jerry, spent more than a year and hundreds of hours adding all the car's over-the-top features, including eight headlights, extra long luggage racks and an excessive amount of fake wood paneling.

The result is a car that is instantly recognizable to anyone who has seen the "Vacation" movie.

"It's a really good way to meet people in different places because everyone wants to talk to you," Woodbridge said. "It's definitely a great conversation opener."

Woodbridge said some people try to nitpick the details. He said he assures them it's an exact replica, right down to Aunt Edna's "body" on the roof and the dog leash on the back bumper.

While it makes the car look authentic, driving around with a blanket-covered mannequin can cause some problems. Woodbridge and Eilers learned that lesson during a traffic stop in New Jersey.

"The police officer was really concerned about Aunt Edna being a real person," Woodbridge said. "It was really difficult to explain to him what she was."

Fortunately, everything worked out fine after exchanging movie quotes with the officer.

"He warmed up to us," Eilers said. "He asked us if we had a leash."

Since setting out from Texas on Memorial Day, the Truckster has logged 7,000 miles with few mechanical problems. That's not bad for a car that had 130,614 miles on it when the road trip started.

"I am not surprised at all," Schneider said. "If you search around for a 1980s Ford LTD or the station wagons, you will find them for sale with 150,000 miles on them. And they're still going."

Meanwhile, the 1987 Ford Country Squire wagon sitting in Schneider's garage has some wondering if he's planning to build another Truckster.

"We'll see," he said. "This could be number two."