One Wisconsin Woman Makes Quite the Splash Driving Around in A Car Covered with Ducks
After her car was severely dented in a hail storm, one Wisconsin business owner came up with a quacky to cover the damage.
Ducks and Vehicles Go Hand in Hand?
I do not own a Jeep, but I know that leaving a tiny rubber duck on a nice-looking Jeep, (aka Jeep Ducking) is the norm in Jeep-drivers' society. How did this quacky tradition start?
One Reader's Digest article says Jeep Ducking began back in Ontario, Canada in 2020 after a Jeep owner named Allison Parliament needed a friend's help after getting into an ugly spat with another driver in a gas station parking lot;
To thank her friend, Parliament bought a bag of rubber duckies and hid them around his house as a joke before heading farther north into Canada to reach her family’s home. Before those ducks were scattered around an unsuspecting friend’s home, however, Parliament put a single yellow duck on a stranger’s Jeep in the store’s parking lot, with a simple, sweet note saying “nice Jeep.”
This random rubber ducking was shared on social media, went viral, and officially began a Jeep owner's right of passage.
Now that we know how Jeep Ducking began, let's get back to the purpose of this article; another unique rubber duck/vehicle relationship that lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Turning a Lemon Into Lemonade
Back in 2006, a Wisconsin woman named Jen Mulder had the exterior of her 1989 Toyota Camry severely damaged by a hail storm. The car itself still ran great, but the outside was trashed. The cost of repairing the hail damage would be way more than the car's value, so what do you do? Glue hundreds of rubber ducks on it to cover the damage, apparently.
Say Hello to the Duckmobile!
Jen Mulder has always loved ducks and had collected a massive collection of rubber ducks that were just laying around her house, so she decided to put them to good use by creating an art car named the Duckmobile.
The original Duckmobile looked like this...
And here's the current version of the Duckmobile, (version 3)...
If you're wondering if Jen Mulder drives her unique Duckmobile as her everyday vehicle, the answer is yes, and she does it for one very important reason; to make people smile.
Have you spotted the Duckmobile in action while in the Madison area? We sure would love to see your pictures!