With 7,500 tinkling lights and a hoard of iconic movie cars from the classic holiday film, this epic home-built display helps Toys For Tots.
This time last year, an epic holiday display built by Stephen Harbaugh in the front yard of his Mickleton, New Jersey home quickly went viral on social media. Harbaugh illuminated his home in 7,500 tinkling lights to recreate a scene from a holiday classic - National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. On top of that, lifelike dummies show Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) dangling from the second floor gutter and cousin Eddie (Randy Quaid) draining the RV septic tank.
Harbaugh wanted to make this year's display even more epic so he decided to search around to purchase replicas of three iconic classic cars. First on the list was a 1973 Ford Condor to play the role of cousin Eddie's RV. In fact, he put out an ad for the vehicle for two years. He finally found one in California for a small price of $1,000. Jeff Norton is also a big fan of the movie and had recreated the movie RV and even had the same cousin Eddie mannequin.
Norton was the one who pointed Harbaugh to the right place for a 1984 Ford LTD police car, and it even has working emergency lights. Soon after that, he acquired the Griswold family's 1989 Ford Taurus Wagon in all its wood-paneled glory for just $900 on Facebook marketplace. To top it off, literally, an 18-foot Christmas tree has been anchored to the roof.
As of two weeks back, Harbaugh's video on Facebook showing off his new display has over 135,000 views. He even drives around the '84 police car to promote his display while running errands and dropping kids off.
This New Jersey residence has become a huge hit during the holiday season even drawing in cousin Eddie lookalikes. With so many people stopping through, Harbaugh decided he would start helping out Toys for Tots and encourages his new visitors to donate to the worthy cause. Harbaugh even drives the RV to drop off the Toys for Tots collected at his home display.
If anyone is in the area of Mickleton, New Jersey this holiday season be sure to stop by 503 Legends Court, hopefully with a toy donation, and check out the spectacle in person!
Source: New York Post
