For some, the pinnacle of vehicle fashion is a decal. For others, a rear-view mirror accessory will do. A few may go even bolder with a set of stylish truck testicles.
But Cardiff resident Brett Wygle has a look all his own.
He prefers a four-foot-tall, three-foot-long inflatable flamingo, strapped right to the roof.
The 21-year-old has been bedazzling his Ford Mustangs with elaborate decorations for three years, and the flamingo has become a summer tradition.
It started Halloween 2021 with gag between Wygle and his co-workers.
“We were joking around because I dressed up as Griswold,” Wygle said, referring to the father character played by Chevy Chase in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. “They figured I'd play the part in the wintertime and strap a Christmas tree to the roof of one of my Mustangs.”
Lit up and festooned, the tree made Wygle so happy that he kept it on the roof of his car until March 2022.
Summer rolled in, and he wanted a new ornament that better captured the mood of the season. That’s when he spotted the $7 flamingo at Walmart.
It solidified his commitment.
“I get an enjoyment out of it,” he said. “I like dressing the car up. It’s fun. It's cheaper than buying all these crazy aftermarket parts to go faster, whatever have you. And I've been there, done that with the car. So, I figured I'd switch it up and do something that you don't normally see all that often.”
Wygle also does the charity Ride and Drive for a Cause, and the flamingo has become his signature at the event.
He’s bought “well over 20” of the flamingos as they tend to deflate in cold weather. He also had to perfect the strap system on his car so that the fasteners didn’t saw into the flamingos’ wings.
“They’re well-built flamingos,” he said. “They handle up to 100 kilometres an hour or so.”
Fastened snugly to the car roof, the flamingo cruises above St. Albert’s morning traffic as Wygle heads to his job at a North Edmonton car dealership.
It has made a few local fans.
St. Albert resident Tanya Jewell first spotted the flamingo about a year ago on St. Albert Trail.
“My kids and I were like, ‘What the heck is that?’” she said. “And obviously we started laughing.”
“I think it’s fabulous,” she said.
Former St. Albert resident Mike G has also spotted the flamingo numerous times on St. Albert trail. He first noticed Wygle when Wygle had the Christmas tree strapped to his car roof.
“It brings a smile to my face every time I see it, and I get a little chuckle out of it,” G said.
Kennedy Olson, a close friend of Wygle, said that she and the rest of their friend group “teased [Wygle] relentlessly” about the flamingo.
“Who straps an inflatable to the roof of his car?” Olson said.
But she came around after taking a few rides in the car.
“People smile, or they'll talk to Brett at stoplights about how it made their day, and it kind of makes your day too,” she said.
Wygle knows that his car has a reputation in St. Albert. He drives through the city at the same time every day and sees many of the same commuters.
He loves the reaction it gets but asks that flamingo admirers please not climb his car to sit on the inflatable. (This has happened before, he said.)
Don’t expect the flamingo, or the Christmas tree, to disappear any time soon, Wygle said.
“As long as Walmart or London Drugs keep selling these flamingos, I'll keep buying them.”
