Man adds 1,800 Christmas lights to BMW in Mississauga

You might have seen him coming — a Mississauga man has decked his BMW out with 1,800 Christmas lights.

Michael Zare, a Mississauga resident and Toronto Metropolitan University student, painstakingly attached the lights to his BMW F36 this month. He told INsauga.com he was bored one Saturday and feeling festive, he decided he wanted to “put a smile on people’s faces.”

He went out the Canadian Tire and bought six boxes of 300 Christmas lights. With a friend’s help he started the project but there were a few issues. At one point the lights caught on fire, Zare said. Fortunately, the car wasn’t damaged.

“The power inverter actually caught on fire,” he said. “It was a lot of trial and error.”

Once it was good to go, he realized the duct tape he used likely wouldn’t hold in colder weather so he replaced it all with a 3M automobile tape.

“It took me over four days, eight hours of labour,” he added.

As for any damage the tape might do to his nearly new car, Zare is hopeful.

“Fingers crossed. We’ll see when it comes off,” he said.

After it was complete around Nov. 7, Zare started to post videos on social media. One video on TikTok had over 21,000 views as of Nov. 14.

People can’t help but stare and take photos of the vehicle as he drives around Mississauga and into Toronto.

“There’s not a single person I go past that doesn’t take a video,” he said. “I love it when kids come up —they get so happy that it just makes my day.”

Zare said the car even puts police officers in a good mood even though it’s technically illegal.

Under the Highway Traffic Act, attaching the lights is illegal because only emergency vehicles are permitted to display red and blue lights. The act says “no other motor vehicle shall carry lamps that cast red and blue lights.”

Zare said he has spoken with police officers and was even pulled over but so far they haven’t charged him.

“No one’s going to think this is a police car,” he said.

The fire hall near his Erin Mills home also liked the vehicle.

“They absolutely loved it,” he said. “They took the fire truck out to take pictures with the fire truck.”

@smurfgt 🚨 #christmas #christmaslights #christmaslightsoncar #firetruck ♬ original sound – 🎶🎧

Zare plans to keep the lights on the car until about mid-January.

He is not the first person to attach Christmas lights to a vehicle — there are several examples on YouTube and social media.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the number of lights.