FOXNews.com: 'Family Truckster' road tripping to Mecum auction in Houston

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'Family Truckster' road tripping to Mecum auction in Houston Apr 4th 2013, 01:06 Published April 03, 2013 FoxNews.com Next Slide Previous Slide Where was this during spring break? A car billed as one of the Wagon Queen Family Trucksters from the 1983 Chevy Chase film "Vacation" is set to cross the block this weekend at the Mecum Auctions event in Houston. Based on a 1979 Ford LTD Country Squire, the Family Truckster was created for the classic road trip comedy by noted Hollywood car customizer, George Barris. Featuring eight headlights, a body-colored grille, and wood trim on nearly every body panel, including the hood, the fictional vehicle was intentionally designed to be the most hideous car imaginable for comic effect. Several plot points from the movie are preserved by artifacts on the auction car, including a Walley World bumper sticker and dearly departed Dinky's leash still tied to the rear bumper. Overall, it appears to be in excellent condition, right down to the pea green paint and tan interior. But prospective bidders may want to beware and not repeat the kind of mistakes made by Clark Griswold at Lou Glutz Motors. Mecum is cautiously advertising the car as "believed to be used" in Vacation, as the seller has yet to provide documentation to prove its authenticity Perhaps with good reason. Just five Family Trucksters were built for the film's production, and what is widely believed to be the only surviving car has been on display at Historic Auto Attractions of Roscoe, Illinois, in recent years. The museum is closed for the season until Memorial Day, and efforts to contact representatives there to confirm that it still has the car in its collection have been unsuccessful as of this writing. However, photos of the car there show that it features a racial epithet that was spray painted onto its side during one of the scenes in the film that does not appear on the Mecum car, and a spokesperson from the auction house tells FoxNews.com it is "privately owned out West." Regardless of its provenance, a cross-country vacation with the kids this summer would be a lot more interesting in a Family Truckster than just about anything short of that Antarctic Blue Super Sports Wagon with the Rally Fun Pack Clark wanted to buy in the first place.

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