Ecto-1 Magnum - Ectoberfest Charity Total: $24,000!

Boomerjinks

Well-Known Member
Ecto-1 Magnum - Bomb Squad Robot vs. Ghost Trap!

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Long story. Bear with me.


Back in 2005 at a midnight showing of Ghostbusters, I started joking to my friend Will about how funny it would be to run out of a supposedly-haunted place like the Stanley Hotel or some large building in ghostbuster uniforms, carrying smoking ghost traps, handing the manager a bill for $5000, and disappearing before anyone could ask any questions. The goal would be to record the whole thing and put it on the internet. He laughed and said he knew how to build proton packs. I owned a white Subaru Outback at the time and I told him that if he built the packs, I'd build us an Ecto-1.

Flash forward nearly a year.

My friends Austin and Will and I are talking about doing something spectacular for Halloween. We lived in a small college town with a young and progressive population that was usually very supportive of creative stunts and the like. After much debate we decided to go with the Ghostbusters prank idea. In June of 2006 I start researching lightbar laws, construction costs, and ways to convert my car temporarily, with nothing permanent.

By September 22 I had completed the first iteration of my Ectomobile. It was a very simple and crude construction, but it had working lights and siren from the movie, as well as the ability to blast the theme song from the rack. In retrospect it was very poorly-built and was on a shoddy car, but for a couple of college guys and a temporary prank, it did it's job very well.


Anyway, we roll out the newly-christened ECTO-1K (for Ecto-1...kinda) and people start going crazy. Within days, it's on the cover of the local newspaper, radio djs were trying to find out who we are, and the general public thought we were real ghostbusters. It was ridiculously popular and enjoyed wherever it went. A few days before Halloween the car is rear-ended by a semi truck, totalling it. BAM. We didn't know what to do until suddenly donations started flowing into our myspace page, and radio shows are encouraging people to call in and help keep the "Fort Collins Ghostbusters" on the roads. Shockingly, they raised enough money to pay for new vinyl and electronics. With the insurance money I bought a 2003 Outback, and we swapped the equipment to the new car. From there the popularity of car took off into the realm of the surreal. In 2007 I took a break from the Ghostbusters thing and branched back out by building a Jurassic Park Jeep, which you can read about here.

Through the winter I got back to doing stuff with the Ecto. Most notably, the car won the Fox News "Colorado's Favorite Car" contest. It spent a week at the Denver Auto Show, which was a pretty awesome experience. The loading line-up was hilarious; Lamborghini, Lamborghini, Porshe, Aston Martin, Aston Martin, ****ty 2003 Subaru, Lamborghini... well I thought it was funny.

This also provided me with an exhibitor pass which kept me from being thrown out for things like this.


After that we scored an article in the national Subaru magazine, and then another full-page spread in the official British Subaru magazine. My mind is still being blown at this point...



Then we got the real kicker. I received a letter from Sony Home Entertainment. I'd been using the Ghostbusters logo without permission, but I had not actually profited from the car in any way other than nerd XP, why the heck would the be messaging me? Turns out they wanted video of the Ecto for the Ghostbusters 25th Anniversary Special Edition Blu-ray! I obliged, but figured it was all too good to be true. A year later the release dropped onto store shelves and now you can see my car on the "Ecto-1 Restored" video in the special features! :confused Not bad for a station wagon with trash cans on the roof.

So, finally, the story of the Ecto Magnum, or as we call it; the Ecto-2K!
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In January of 2009, my buddies and I are debating what to do with the Outback Ecto. The wood roof box has fallen into disrepair, and we now have so many people in our group that piling into the car is becoming uncomfortable. 2009 marked the 25th anniversary of the original movie, and it had occured to us that now might be the time to take the car across the states and hit some conventions. At any rate, the XBox game was coming out and there would be release parties and crap that we could go to. Ever since the Magnum rolled out, movie replica fans have been abuzz about the conversion of one into a "modern-day" Ecto. For a long time, the community regarded the Magnum to be THE choice for a modern conversion. I went with a Subaru because it's what I had and frankly, had I a black corvette or different car during that one Halloween season, I may just as well have ended up driving around a weird Batmobile conversion.

So, with a new job working for Apple, Inc. from home, I went out on a limb and found a 2008 SXT. The car was found in Arizona, and we had it shipped up in March. I took a few weeks to consider what I was undertaking, and construction officially began in May.

The general reasoning behind sticking with a modern car instead of making an all-out restoration of a 59 Cadillac was that the newer car would be easier to maintain and far more capable of making cross-country roadtrips under it's own power far more reliably. This reasoning would eventually bite me in the ass, and seeing other screen-accurate ambulances being completed does in fact make me die a little inside each time, but it's still a lot of a fun, very comfy, and cheaper than a classic car.

And so it began.
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A good friend of mine who happened to be an art student drew this up for inspiration.
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But I wanted to aim for something closer to this.
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hings started with an ABS box, which would resist the elements far better than the previous wooden boxes.
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Followed by a steel frame.
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Followed by vinyl.
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Then four marine speakers and all the little "equipment" greeblies on top.
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And before you knew it, we were ready for launch on July 4, 2009!
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To really test the car before taking it to New York, we opted to bring it along on our trip to San Diego Comic Con. The Magnum performed admirably, getting better highway MPG than the Outback, withstanding high speeds for long durations, and the plastic of the roof box held through Nevada quite well.
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The Ecto survived 3,000 mile trip perfectly, and we even got The Horns for CHiPs!

The rest of the summer was marked by trips to local conventions and having the car on display at an outdoor screening of the movie at Red Rocks, where we greeted 14,000 people with lights and sound. We also got the opportunity to meet up with the other movie car builders in the area and take some great pictures.
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Some pictures from September.
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More later!
 
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Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

Dude, you should either make a fan film and feature this car or at least rent the car out for fan film makers to do a "Ghostbusters" fan film. It's that awesome!
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

Your car is cool. The shots are awesome. Seeing that car close to a K2000 or a DeLorean is a pure geekasme.

Damn, I hate you. ;p
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

im really glad you didnt put the symbol on the hood man. its my favorite magnum ecto.

Ha. The shape of the 08 hood would actually prevent a decal from EVER looking good on it. While the original Magnums had a much more smooth surface, the 08 has these two large indentations that would make anything placed there look like ass.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

In September we were invited to bring the car to a 25th anniversary event at DragonCon in Atlanta, GA being hosted by GBfans. Since we had already made plans to visit New York with the car we decided to make it one giant road trip. Denver to Indianapolis to Centralia, PA to New York to Philadelphia to Washington D.C. to Raleigh to Atlanta to St. Louis and back to Denver. The event was called Ecto Across America and we blogged the entire trip. We even rigged up our phones to broadcast the current location of the car so it could be followed with up-to-the-minute feeds.

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Then, disaster. While passing through Cambridge, Ohio, we suddenly lost power in the car. We pulled over and found we couldn't start the car. We had it towed and found out the following morning that we'd spun a bearing. Luckily, the car was still under warranty so I did not have to pay for the replacement of the engine. But the trip was aborted. We rented a car and drove home and tried to avoid spending any more money that we had since I would have to fly out and retrieve the damn thing as soon as it was fixed.

Was a fairly interesting trip, though.
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After a few weeks I flew back out and retrieved the car. We stopped in Chicago while I was out there and tooled around on Whacker Drive and seeing the sights on a Friday night.
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After that, a whole lotta nothing. Getting ready for the Halloween season (haunted house appearances, charities, costume parties), and taking a variety of weird pictures.
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We did get to lead off a Coffin Race parade near Colorado Springs. That was a kick.
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We participated in the local Denver Zombie Crawl.
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And then, like many fans did before us, we got to meet Dan Aykroyd.
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Another two shots I really like. 30-second long exposures with a full moon. Very neat.
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This is my buddy's car. It's a hearse that's equipped with FLAME THROWERS.
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Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

great job, man! i've been watching your work for ages on proptopia and gbfans... you guys really seem to have a ball. your photography is KILLER. really good stuff.

if you don't mind me asking, what do you do for apple?
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

Dan signed your car!! That is the most amazing thing ever!!! I am so envious!!
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

You still need more red on the sides, and ditch the door trim to make room for larger logos. Then it would be perfect.

As it is, NOT ROB APPROVED.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

I have a Magnum, and Love it. I showed this to my wife, she looked at me and said 'NO'.

Alas.

I love your car. Looks awesome!
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

If I only would live in a country that allows car modifications like this... :cry

Great pictures, man... :thumbsup
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

So last Fall my roommates and I start watching series Scrubs from beginning to end. I've already seen the whole thing but I'm a huge nerd for that show so I didn't mind. About halfway through I say, in passing, "we should go to the hospital where they filmed this before they tear it down or change it or do something to it." This thought hangs in the back of our minds for several weeks, it is always there, but we do not act upon it. ...yet.

A little while later I make really good friends through a replica prop-building website with this dude from the Coachella valley, and we vow to hang out the next time I am in California, explore the desert, hit up In-n-Out, take the Ecto to interesting places, the usual.

A short time later I post my cars on Somethingawful.com and I am contacted by a member named Wes, who apparently works as a tour guide for the Warner Bros. Studio. He tells us about the Batmobiles and other movie cars they have in storage, and proposes that I bring the Ecto out sometime and take a look.

Then we heard about an art auction and movie screening in Pasadena that was part of a fledgling charity. Basically they have screenings of classic 80s movies along with an art show, where you can bid on pieces made specifically for the charity. The money raised then goes to help various programs to help schools around the nation.

When the Ecto broke down in Ohio, a bunch of people raised money to help pay for potential repair and transportation costs. Since I do not see myself a cause worthy of charity, (I have two movie cars, work for Apple from home, oh poor me!) I got their permission to donate the money they raised towards something that could benefit others.

All this pretty much caused the Perfect Storm of epic road trips. With so much to do, and the perfect time to do it, how could resist?

So my roommate Kris, along with the owner of the largest Ghostbusters site, drove to California and had an amazing ******* weekend.

Leaving a horrifying -10 degree Colorado, we drove 16 hours to Los Angeles.
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I'd made the trip down I-70 and I-15 before on our way to San Diego, but that was in July and we managed to make it all the way to Vegas before the sun went down. Not so on this trip. We hit darkness about halfway through Utah, and experienced some truly chilling temperatures.

Welcome to Utah. "It's an ugly planet! A bug planet!"
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We stopped in Las Vegas to cruise the strip for a bit, and then headed on to L.A.
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I wanted to stop and get a really good long-exposure of the Ecto in front of a casino, but time constraints prevented this from being possible. Next time, Vegas. Next time!

We arrived in Burbank around 1AM and crashed at a friends house in. In the morning, we got up and planned to go over to the Scrubs hospital (North Hollywood Medical Center) to see if it was being used and if we could coerce whatever guard is there to let us in. On the way there we stopped at Fry's (which we don't have in Denver), where we started thinking about the rest of our day.

The original Ecto had recently been restored for the video game and Blu-ray release, and there were rumors that the Ecto-1A(from the second movie) was currently being worked on. We googled the company doing the work and found our way over to Cinema Vehicle Services. Basically, they are a company that owns nearly a thousand cars used by the entertainment industry. When you see NYPD cop cars, NYC taxis, news vans, SWAT vans, school buses, or period cars on tv or in a movie, odds are they came from this place. Stuff like this:
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Rows and rows of fake cop cars from Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, every place you could think of.
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Tons and tons of ambulances and news vans, too. These were used recently in Angels and Demons.
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Really, if you've seen it on TV or in a movie, it probably came from this shop!

I figured it would be closed or gated off and we wouldn't even be allowed into the main office, but when we arrived we had no difficulty driving in and parking next to a pair of 300Cs used in The Island. :cool

I asked Bob, the rental coordinator, about the Ecto-1A, and he replied saying that Sony had bailed on the restoration and taken the car back just as they were getting started on the engine. Lame.

And then, without any kind of provocation, Bob stood up and told us he was going to show us around the lot. We must be the luckiest guys in the whole freaking world! We piled into an electric cart and cruised over to the first of several warehouses. Right outside he point to this, the truck from Tango and Cash.
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Good lord! Bob owns the Tango and Cash truck, as well as this monster.

Yeah. Screen-used, Fast and the Furious.
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Upon entering the first warehouse, he drew our attention to this unsuspecting motorcycle.
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That's the motorcycle that Iron Monger throws at Iron Man. Directly behind it, Bob flipped up a car cover to reveal...
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One of the many screen-used General Lees!
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Over in the corner, a pile of Eleanors from Gone in Sixty Seconds.
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Next to that, oh hey it's Tony Stark's Cobra, which was crushed by the Mark II suit!
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At this point, we were having trouble breathing. We were so surprised that it wasn't until later that we realized we could have asked to lay on the car and have our pictures taken. *********.

A ways over, one of the Goldmember Sparrows from Austin Powers.
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Porsche from Californication... complete with smashed headlamp!
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Fast and the Furious... 4, I think?
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He then took us outside and drove us around the lot, where we saw a ton of 70s cars currently being used in the Green Hornet, the Landcruiser from The Mist and 50 First Dates, and several old Broncos from Suns of Anarchy. We passed more cabs and random police cars with markings from departments both real and fictional. There was an entire row of SUVs with news antennas that were apparently used in Angels and Demons last year.
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If you look closely, you'll see a repainted Bluth Staircar from Arrested Development.
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Their rear lot. Right up next to the fence, those weird blue pod-things, those are the snowmobiles from G.I. Joe.
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Down at the end was this
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Casanova Frankensteins stretch-Stingray from Mystery Men. Currently for sale, apparently! As we walked back to the car, we noticed they had just brought in a pair of old Broncos from the set of Sons of Anarchy. This place was a madhouse!

We thanked Bob profusely for such an incredible opportunity, took one last look around, and left for our next adventure.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

Very cool!
I love that Ackroyd signed his name and wrote "Ray."
Just in case anyone was wondering who he played in the movie.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

Haha, he does that on almost everything GB-related he signs. With proton packs he usually puts "Ray" on the n-filter.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

After that, we headed over to Sacred Heart, the former hospital that served as the set and production facility for "Scrubs".
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We found the gate wide open, with no guards, and no "no trespassing" signs. We drove right in and started taking pictures.
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After wandering around and peering in the windows we left for Warner Brothers.
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I'd talked to Wes a bit on IM about us heading out and he said he'd pass the word on to his boss. I called his boss and tried to set up a time, but never heard back from him. I was fairly pessimistic at this point, preparing myself to be told "no, there wasn't enough time to plan a special tour for you guys, you'll have to take the full studio tour with other guests" and having to pay $45 a person to do so.

We showed up, and I managed to catch Wes while he was in the main lobby. A few moments later, out comes his boss who shakes my hand and tells me how excited he is to have us there. He then brought out his assistant and told her to take the three of us on a free private tour of the transportation museum and whatever else we anted to see. What the hell? Who the **** is this lucky?

The assistants name was Amanda and she loaded us up in a cart and took us to the vehicle department. My. God. We got a first-rate tour of the facilities at our own pace. We visited Hazzard County, the city street facades, saw the Tumbler and a Keaton car, Clint Eastwoods Gran Tourino, cars from A.I., the Batpod, all kinds of crazy stuff. Truly an amazing turn of events. Amazing stuff, positively blew my expectations out of the water.
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The next day we started off by downtown to see the police station, USBank tower (Independence Day explosion, woo!), and the SR-71B at the Memorial Coliseum. After that we headed over to the Biltmore Hotel, where the first "bust" from Ghostbusters was filmed. We pulled up lights and siren flashing, the whole deal. The ballroom is now the main lobby, but other than that the interior is identical.
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Around the corner, a commercial for McDonalds was being filmed with a... McDonaldsmobile.
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Counts as a theme car so I'm putting it in this thread.
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After the Biltmore we headed over to Ladder 23, which served as the interior for the firehouse. It's been used in tons of other stuff like The Mask, as well. The immediate area around the firehouse was, pretty much, a demilitarized zone and our friend from Minnesota refused to get out of the car to see the firehouse. So a driveby had to suffice.
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I plan on returning this summer and putting my car in there, if the ghostheads arranging the open house manage to pull it off!

Then we headed up to the Griffith Observatory, got some pretty cool pictures up there, too. I knew this tunnel in Griffith Park was used in the chase scenes for Back to the Future, as well as the tunnel to "Toon Town" in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but I had no idea it was even dressed-up and used as the entrance to NORAD in War Games!
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lol
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The charity event took place that night, and we headed over to a friend's house. A terrific propper and artist, he was one of the artists contributing to the art auction.
Anyway, we pull into his driveway right behind his recently-completed DeLorean Time Machine.
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But in the back yard, in front of his shop...
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1959 Miller-Meteor Duplex. Spot-on model and year, and in better shape than the original car, even after it's restoration!
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His workshop was a nerds wet dream!

The charity screening was a lot of fun.
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The next morning we shot the **** in his garage for a half hour or so before driving home.

Side-by-side, at last!
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We said good-bye drove AJ, the fellow from Minnesota, to LAX. We dropped him, got interrogated by a biker cop for bringing a car marked "Radioactive" into an airport, and were on our way. Since we were so close, we stopped by the ocean to spend a few moments taking California in before heading home.

The drive home was far more difficult. We encountered two blizzards which took our 16-hour drive and turned it into 22 and a half hours. Thank goodness I put snow tires on the Ecto before the trip!
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We arrived home at 6am, and crashed hard.

Hell of an epic trip.
 
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum

This is just Awesome on all counts :eek. Loved reading about the trips you had with it.
Excellent excellent work (y)thumbsup
 
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