Ali James
Shopper News
It is not uncommon for other motorists to slow down, speed up or pull over to take photos when they spot Mark Swaggerty's decked out VW Beetle on the road. His daily commute through Fountain City to Mascot earns plenty of rubbernecking, thanks to his over the top decorations.
"I was stopped at a red light on Cedar Lane and a guy was taking pictures and ran into me and knocked off my bumper," he said. "I have also noticed that plenty of other cars will wave me through an intersection when I have the Christmas decorations on it, but not when I have the skeletons on it."
This year's festive decorations include a Santa, Frosty the Snowman, a fully-lit Christmas tree topped with a matching blue VW Beetle and twinkling lights all over.
"Some people think I'm seasonal, but I'm not," said Swaggerty. "A lot of my stuff is the skeleton people, because I have got to have something that is not too heavy for my car and that the air can flow through." If the decorations are too heavy, Swaggerty said it can be challenging to get up to 55 miles per hour on the interstate.
The Fountain City resident said his 1965 Volkswagen Beetle was just a truckload of parts when he bought it four years ago. "They had taken it off the chassis and replaced the floor, painted it inside and out," said Swaggerty. "It was basically a shell and a truckload of parts."
After repainting it inside and out, Swaggerty took a year to put it back together. "The engine is in the back and when I got it, it had the original 6-volt battery. Since then, I am on my fourth motor and I changed it up to the 12-volt," he said. "With the 6-volt, people would tell me my lights weren't on, and the windshield wipers barely moved."
Swaggerty also owns a limited edition 1956 oval window and a 1972 standard Beetle.
"Some people think that they only made the Super Beetle in 1971, but they continued to make the standard Beetle," he said.
About three years ago, Swaggerty had a guy build a luggage rack for the top of his car, and soon after decided to switch out decorations on it every month.
"The first year I spent a lot of money on buying stuff and a lot of time building stuff," said Swaggerty. "Since I have a 1972 Beetle now, I have been trying to cut back on the money and the time and reuse stuff. For Christmas I probably have 24 hours of work in it."
Swaggerty estimates that he has collected $3,000 worth of decorations over the years, and most of it is for Christmas. "I bought a lot of it on sale two years ago," he added.
Usually, Swaggerty participates in at least six Christmas parades a year. But last year, after building the Christmas tree on his car, his clutch cable broke just as he was about to line up for the Gatlinburg parade. This year the Townsend, Dandridge, Powell and downtown Knoxville parades have been canceled.
Swaggerty usually leaves the Christmas decorations on his car for a month. "If it is something that I hate, it might come down in three weeks," he said. "But if it is something that I really like, I'll string it out for six weeks."