Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Mine's alright, it's not a perfect Ghostblasters car but people seem like it :lol
Just got back from Los Angeles, where we hung out with notable 50's culture/automobile/bicycle enthusiast LobsterBoyX from the somethingawful forums.
Since I completely failed to achieve my life-long goal of seeing a space shuttle launch, my next best option to see a shuttle "in flight" was to be present when NASA ferried the spacecraft to their new homes.
The transfer to Los Angeles was our best bet, so we scheduled flights for Wednesday and Thursday, September 19 and 20. Lobsterboy had recently, and graciously, offered to show me around the next time I was in LA, so I took him up on that offer.
Who DOESN'T want to get picked up from the airport in this ******* thing?
Our first stop was Pann's diner, which has incredible 50s charm (something that would become more or less a theme for the trip;
not complaining) and has been open continuously since it was built.
After that it was a short trip to see the ocean (because we're stupid inlanders) near Santa Monica, and then it was off to the Petersen Auto Museum.
Of course, we had to slow down as we passed Sony Studios so I could wave to a buddy I hadn't seen since 2010. No time to spend hour crawling around inside with tools and measuring tape, though...
'Hey we just dumped tens of thousands of dollars into restoring this car, time to leave it out in the sun for another 20 years.'
And of course
****ing awesome Kaiser-Darrin, supposedly there's a big collection of these near Denver, so we need to try to make friends with those guys sometime soon. Also hey, it's that place we ate!
This was the main reason I'd wanted to go to the Pete, the Hannibal Twin-8!
Obligatory 59.
Dem fins. :damn:
Obligatory Lancia, minus hot chick posing.
After the Petersen, we took on LA traffic and fought our way up through Laurel Canyon into the valley. Danny took us to see the effects shop he works at, where we oggled a 1:1 lunar lander, a TON of amazing space suits from every era and -my favorite- the environmental suits from Outbreak. So very cool!
We had a little time to burn, and it occurred to me that we weren't far from APEX surplus, which is regarded as the go-to place for switched and cables and little sciencey-looking prop parts. Apex is pretty much the source for anything Time Machine or proton pack-related. But Danny knew a better place, called Norton Sales.
The specialize in used rocket parts.
We got there maybe 10 minutes before they closed so we didn't get any pictures, but hell if that isn't going to me on my list of things to do the next time we're there.
After Norton, Danny took us to a pretty secretive shop that he referred to as the Cadillac Ranch (not the place in Texas, but arguably cooler) where we got to see a bunch of really fantastic 50s cars in their original colors. Oh, and the #3 Tucker. We didn't snap any pictures, but this is it:
Then we took a break, rested at our hotel in Burbank for a bit. After that we headed over to a friend's home in Pasadena. We caught up for a bit while Danny got to pour over several Rocketeer jetpacks that were recently cast from the original mold, which was an amazing sight to see.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped by the Gamble House to shoot some nighttime pictures.
On Friday we got up early and hauled ass to LAX to find a spot to park. We then hiked about a mile to the roadway that passes immediately adjacent to the end of the south runway. A huge crowd had already started to gather. Cops on bikes were going up and down the street blasting sirens to keep people out of the road and to keep traffic moving. We all agreed they should have just shut down the road for the two hours or so that this took. Meh.
EVERY rooftop was covered in people, it was unreal.
You can even see the people that have stopped on the freaking FREEWAY and have gotten out of their cars to see the shuttle. What a spectacular and meaningful event.
Then, out of the haze...
The SCA flew across the horizon over Hollywood and looped around for a near flyby over the north runway before heading south to Anaheim.
It then flew much, MUCH closer.
Before finally coming in
Utterly breath-taking. I'm very glad I got to experience it. And a huge thanks to Danny, as I would have never had the chance without him being such a kind and generous and enthusiastic badass.
Norton was amazing, would love to go again and load up on braided metal hoses for various projects. Also, we missed out on the Nethercutt Collection, but that is stickied as a "must" the next time I'm there. Hopefully it won't be entirely during the week so I can rustle up a few of the StarCarCentral guys.
Also also also, a few shots from the picture car company I visit whenever I'm out there. The people that run it are so freaking chill about everything, I love them!
Wreck Mercedes from The Hangover
1:2 scale mastadge from the original StarGate, I think?
Not sure if this was from the tv show or one of the sequels, it appeared to be sort of a "stunt" or maybe mockup of the real ED-209.
Original KITT from the 2008 NBC show.
I... what?
So weird to see this in a picture car lot. Have there been any films the featured my home town? Is this a different Granby? The only movie I know of that even
mentions Granby is Atlas Shrugged, what the hell?
No idea what this is from. Definitely not Twister or Dante's Peak, it's something much more recent. A friend in the movie car community identified the top as being on a Hummer in Deja Vu, I need to doublecheck, though.
In the duplicate section of the lot, where there are two of everything!
BANG BANG BANG!
First in friendship, fourth in obesity!
And lastly, maybe the coolest thing we saw there, two of these sitting in the shop. The helicarrier was nowhere to be found, lame.