Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Project: The Largest Ever
- Thread starter Ultimate Badass
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- car ecto ghostbusters
MEOWorksCreative
Active Member
As a fan of the movies and the THE car, this is the best thing I've ever seen! Keep it up, dude! I'll be waiting impatiently for the day you post the finished car...
kruleworld
Well-Known Member
awesome work on this. i'm kinda envious too. I recognised many of the details you've been working on, like the rear bumper, after converting AMT's 1/25 ecto-1a to ecto-1, which i did a similar thing, but much easier and smaller and cheaper.
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
Thank you guys. And to my friend in Australia, yes, the details are many. Many of them have been overlooked by the few before me who have built Ecto replicas. I am gunning for the most exact replica there is in retrospect to how the car existed during filming. It has changed a lot now because the most recent restoration (which wasn't done very well) left a lot of things incorrect on the roof rack.
Granted, my car will not be 100% accurate as my rear passenger doors are suicide doors, but again, I'm quite happy about that (suicide doors are awesome!). I will keep the photos coming and only wish that all of you who appreciate this project could see the car when it's complete in person...but I realize that flying to Pennsylvania just for that doesn't make sense for anyone really.
Granted, my car will not be 100% accurate as my rear passenger doors are suicide doors, but again, I'm quite happy about that (suicide doors are awesome!). I will keep the photos coming and only wish that all of you who appreciate this project could see the car when it's complete in person...but I realize that flying to Pennsylvania just for that doesn't make sense for anyone really.
kruleworld
Well-Known Member
True, although while i was visiting western-australia, i did stop in to visit a guy that had built a Mad Max replica.
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
It's fixed!
Stay tuned!
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
If you look at my first few posts, you'll see that the slots for the windows are indeed still in a hearse that lacks the windows. These slots were cut and I found the windows and trim molding and he just installed them. In his original cutting of the slots there were obviously some slight imperfections...actually, just the one I pointed out in the photo. He welded in material and smoothed it out.
vintageslant
Active Member
Good afternoon Adam. As promised I have stolen bits and pieces of time today and I have read every single word of this thread. You were kind enough to say in the smart gun thread that you were looking forward to seeing what I thought of your work.
Adam I'm blown away yet again by your total and utter unrelenting dedication to have the most accurate Ecto-1 in existance.
I don't know if there is anyone else who even given an unlimited amount of money could achieve the same results. Once more the hours and hours and hours of research you have poured into this project have paid off hugely. I just do not know how you keep on pulling those rabbits out the hat every time. But for this car close is simply not good enough.
You have alluded to the fact that you're an OK guy to justify(needlessly) your funding of projects. Well It is obvious from just how you have folks all over the world pulling rabbits out and making it all work that you're more than an OK guy. An OK guy would have folks just do an OK job for them whereas you fella are clearly top draw as everyone involved is giving you there everything and so many of them clearly for love not money. To cap it all off you're a Doctor too but yet again you pass it off as not being important really. As I understand it your job is critical as it's you who decides exactly what help that patient needs so that is critical. So frankly I'm once more delighted that you find the time to chronicle this wonderful project here. Don't ever apologize for the details, we won't ever get bored reading and looking. Don't worry that it's been a while you have a fully stacked plate there my friend.
Thanks once again for all that you bring here Adam. Very best of luck for team Ecto-1
Adam I'm blown away yet again by your total and utter unrelenting dedication to have the most accurate Ecto-1 in existance.
I don't know if there is anyone else who even given an unlimited amount of money could achieve the same results. Once more the hours and hours and hours of research you have poured into this project have paid off hugely. I just do not know how you keep on pulling those rabbits out the hat every time. But for this car close is simply not good enough.
You have alluded to the fact that you're an OK guy to justify(needlessly) your funding of projects. Well It is obvious from just how you have folks all over the world pulling rabbits out and making it all work that you're more than an OK guy. An OK guy would have folks just do an OK job for them whereas you fella are clearly top draw as everyone involved is giving you there everything and so many of them clearly for love not money. To cap it all off you're a Doctor too but yet again you pass it off as not being important really. As I understand it your job is critical as it's you who decides exactly what help that patient needs so that is critical. So frankly I'm once more delighted that you find the time to chronicle this wonderful project here. Don't ever apologize for the details, we won't ever get bored reading and looking. Don't worry that it's been a while you have a fully stacked plate there my friend.
Thanks once again for all that you bring here Adam. Very best of luck for team Ecto-1
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
Hey guys...back again. Well, in 1 month I'll be all packed up and excited as hell because I'll be going back to California to see the car. The team is frantically working on various things to have her looking pretty when I get there.
I had to find a set of 1959 Cadillac rims because the ones that were on the car were being borrowed. I was set on finding 1959 commercial rims, but those are hard to come by, and every time I found some, they were in horrible shape. I found a set of regular 1959 rims that were in good shape and I jumped all over them (it's hard to find a full set). The regular rims are the same exact size as the commercial rims. The only major difference that I can discern is that the regular rims have the two pieces that construct the rim welded together, while the commercial rims have these two pieces riveted together. I would have found pictures to explain, but you guys all should know how to use Google to see what I'm talking about if you really care.
The most important thing? These actually fit with the disc brakes and small spacers that were added!
Obviously, these will be cleaned up, and once my 59 Cadillac hubcaps are on, nobody will know they're not true commercial rims. Honestly, given my car is not entirely stock, I would rather the few commercial rims left out there go to people who have fully-original commercial chassis.
This past weekend, it became apparent that my window moldings, though not in bad shape by any means, needed to be re-anodized to truly look new, and not detract from what will be the finished product. I was going to leave them go, but a little bit of polishing and stuff won't harm them in any way. The moldings were removed (if you have no idea what I mean, it's the metallic borders of the windows), and this allowed for my friend to touch up a few rough spots on the roof, as well as around the rear window areas, and then re-primer them.
Not surprisingly, he said he had addressed the roof before, but it was real difficult to get the entire thing just right. In other words, the roof is huge (duh).
Oh, and I don't know if I posted photos of these before...
That is a GE 4001B new old-stock par 46 bulb. These are exceedingly rare. To my knowledge (and believe me, I would know), I've gotten the last 16 of these that have been listed for sale anywhere over the past four years (I already had twelve but just found another set of four). Why do I need 16 you ask? Well, why not 16? These are the "deck lights" that are found on the corners of the roof. They flash on and off while the lightbar lights are rotating.
The result: a 'please turn your goddamnnnn lights off!' effect. God, I wish it were legal for me to run the lights whenever I wanted.
I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO CALIFORNIA!!!!
I had to find a set of 1959 Cadillac rims because the ones that were on the car were being borrowed. I was set on finding 1959 commercial rims, but those are hard to come by, and every time I found some, they were in horrible shape. I found a set of regular 1959 rims that were in good shape and I jumped all over them (it's hard to find a full set). The regular rims are the same exact size as the commercial rims. The only major difference that I can discern is that the regular rims have the two pieces that construct the rim welded together, while the commercial rims have these two pieces riveted together. I would have found pictures to explain, but you guys all should know how to use Google to see what I'm talking about if you really care.
The most important thing? These actually fit with the disc brakes and small spacers that were added!
Obviously, these will be cleaned up, and once my 59 Cadillac hubcaps are on, nobody will know they're not true commercial rims. Honestly, given my car is not entirely stock, I would rather the few commercial rims left out there go to people who have fully-original commercial chassis.
This past weekend, it became apparent that my window moldings, though not in bad shape by any means, needed to be re-anodized to truly look new, and not detract from what will be the finished product. I was going to leave them go, but a little bit of polishing and stuff won't harm them in any way. The moldings were removed (if you have no idea what I mean, it's the metallic borders of the windows), and this allowed for my friend to touch up a few rough spots on the roof, as well as around the rear window areas, and then re-primer them.
Not surprisingly, he said he had addressed the roof before, but it was real difficult to get the entire thing just right. In other words, the roof is huge (duh).
Oh, and I don't know if I posted photos of these before...
That is a GE 4001B new old-stock par 46 bulb. These are exceedingly rare. To my knowledge (and believe me, I would know), I've gotten the last 16 of these that have been listed for sale anywhere over the past four years (I already had twelve but just found another set of four). Why do I need 16 you ask? Well, why not 16? These are the "deck lights" that are found on the corners of the roof. They flash on and off while the lightbar lights are rotating.
The result: a 'please turn your goddamnnnn lights off!' effect. God, I wish it were legal for me to run the lights whenever I wanted.
I CAN'T WAIT TO GO TO CALIFORNIA!!!!
nathanial91
Member
This is just crazy, but absolutely beautiful!
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
Hey everyone,
I know it's been a while, but I've got a lot of Ecto updates coming...well, more like Ghostbusters-related updates coming with lots of Ecto. I just returned from California. My friends and I had an absolutely amazing trip. I will post about the trip once I have gone through all of the photos. For now, I'll post a few photos that I had before we left but never got around to posting.
First, I know I showed the 1959 Cadillac rims previously, but they still looked their age. They have since been cleaned up and powder coated...
I have also been fortunate enough to ID the driver-side fender mirror! Take a look at this:
That is a 1960's Ford Rotunda mirror. This is the exact same kind of mirror that was on the Ecto's driver side front door.
I know it's impossible to tell from this shot, but I assure you with 100% certainty that this is the mirror. The car has since been 'restored' as I've mentioned before, and that mirror has been changed (I have one of the same mirrors that is on the car now). Obviously, I'm going for screen accuracy, so I'm thrilled to have ID'd this.
As if things weren't awesome enough, I have managed to find two brand new old stock mirrors!
As you can see, the top mirror is the 1960's Ford Rotunda mirror for the driver door, and the bottom mirror is the Yankee Scout mirror for the passenger front fender. I figured I'd post one photo from the California trip now...
There you can see the Yankee Scout mirror on the actual movie car...this mirror was never changed from the time they filmed it until now.
OK, I know it's not Ecto related, but this is a Ghostbusters thread in spirit, so I'm going to be posting a lot of non-Ecto things. Anyone who truly loves Ghostbusters knows who Michael C. Gross is. I'll be repeating this in upcoming posts, but he was an associate producer of Ghostbusters and an executive producer of Ghostbusters II. He actually designed the Ghostbusters logo that we all love. Sadly, his health is not the best, and he has realized that some of his rare possessions should find their way into loving hands. Some of these rare possessions are Ghostbusters-related of course. Before the California trip, he had posted about a set of film chromes...these are basically film transfers pulled from the actual movie film and enlarged for the purpose of showing special effects and also for high-quality photo production. I was fortunate enough to be the one who acquired these...
They're very difficult to photograph, but the shots are as follows:
These things are so freaking cool, and I am so excited to have them. According to Mr. Gross, only three sets exist. He had a set made while Columbia Pictures had a set produced for their archives, and the special effects house, Boss Film Studios, had the other.
Alright, I'll be back with California updates...so much to post over the next few days!
I know it's been a while, but I've got a lot of Ecto updates coming...well, more like Ghostbusters-related updates coming with lots of Ecto. I just returned from California. My friends and I had an absolutely amazing trip. I will post about the trip once I have gone through all of the photos. For now, I'll post a few photos that I had before we left but never got around to posting.
First, I know I showed the 1959 Cadillac rims previously, but they still looked their age. They have since been cleaned up and powder coated...
I have also been fortunate enough to ID the driver-side fender mirror! Take a look at this:
That is a 1960's Ford Rotunda mirror. This is the exact same kind of mirror that was on the Ecto's driver side front door.
I know it's impossible to tell from this shot, but I assure you with 100% certainty that this is the mirror. The car has since been 'restored' as I've mentioned before, and that mirror has been changed (I have one of the same mirrors that is on the car now). Obviously, I'm going for screen accuracy, so I'm thrilled to have ID'd this.
As if things weren't awesome enough, I have managed to find two brand new old stock mirrors!
As you can see, the top mirror is the 1960's Ford Rotunda mirror for the driver door, and the bottom mirror is the Yankee Scout mirror for the passenger front fender. I figured I'd post one photo from the California trip now...
There you can see the Yankee Scout mirror on the actual movie car...this mirror was never changed from the time they filmed it until now.
OK, I know it's not Ecto related, but this is a Ghostbusters thread in spirit, so I'm going to be posting a lot of non-Ecto things. Anyone who truly loves Ghostbusters knows who Michael C. Gross is. I'll be repeating this in upcoming posts, but he was an associate producer of Ghostbusters and an executive producer of Ghostbusters II. He actually designed the Ghostbusters logo that we all love. Sadly, his health is not the best, and he has realized that some of his rare possessions should find their way into loving hands. Some of these rare possessions are Ghostbusters-related of course. Before the California trip, he had posted about a set of film chromes...these are basically film transfers pulled from the actual movie film and enlarged for the purpose of showing special effects and also for high-quality photo production. I was fortunate enough to be the one who acquired these...
They're very difficult to photograph, but the shots are as follows:
These things are so freaking cool, and I am so excited to have them. According to Mr. Gross, only three sets exist. He had a set made while Columbia Pictures had a set produced for their archives, and the special effects house, Boss Film Studios, had the other.
Alright, I'll be back with California updates...so much to post over the next few days!
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
So this will be the first post in a series to summarize the EPIC California trip three buddies and I just had. I had been on two Ghostbusters-themed visits to California previously, but this one managed to top those just because of how much we accomplished in a span of 6 days.
The story begins during the very early morning hours of May 8, 2015. I woke up at 2:15am and got ready for my buddy Fernando to arrive. He traveled from Queens, NY down to my place in Bethlehem, PA and arrived at around 3am. If anyone doesn’t know Fernando, he has one of the best modern-day custom Ecto-themed cars.
It was cool to see it sitting in my dad’s driveway. We were off for the Philadelphia airport. The excitement was mounting because we had been talking non-stop about how we could get Chick-fil-a before our flight as there is one in the airport. Well, we got there and found this:
The damn place was closed. Out of every single place to eat in the airport, this was the only one that wasn’t open. Needless to say, we were both sort of sad…Fernando more so:
It wouldn’t be long before Jonny Ruckus and our other friend Ken arrived in the Philly airport – they each flew into Philly from Manchester, NH and Boston, MA respectively. We then all took the same flight to Los Angeles together (EPIC). The flight was long, but hey, sleeping was a good way to pass the time…depending on who you ask…
OK, no, his head is not on the other dude's shoulder...I was just waiting for it to happen though (darn).
Eventually we landed, got our bags, headed to get our rental car, got to the hotel, checked in, and then it was time for the first matter of business. I wanted a sacred meal to signify that our adventure had truly begun: ROSCOE’S CHICKEN & WAFFLES. If anyone reads this, you MUST go to this place if you’re ever in Los Angeles. The food is amazing:
After this, we headed back to the hotel and then for the Griffith Observatory. The drive to this place is so awesome. To get to it, you get to drive through this:
That’s the tunnel from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and ‘Back to the Future Part II’. We spent some time at the observatory and then headed back through the tunnel listening to 'Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!' from Roger Rabbit, but it wasn't as magical as it was in the movie. Anyway, we then headed to House of Pies (which happens to have the best key lime pie in the world…seriously).
By this point, we were freaking exhausted, but opted to head to another location called Eighty Two. This is a pretty cool location with a bar and a bunch of old arcade games/pinball machines. It was a good time, though all I wanted to do was play Street Fighter II but couldn’t because these two guys who obviously go to this place way too much were hogging the machine and there was no way any of us would stand a chance against them.
Eventually we had our share of fun and went back to the hotel to get some sleep. Day #1 was complete.
The story begins during the very early morning hours of May 8, 2015. I woke up at 2:15am and got ready for my buddy Fernando to arrive. He traveled from Queens, NY down to my place in Bethlehem, PA and arrived at around 3am. If anyone doesn’t know Fernando, he has one of the best modern-day custom Ecto-themed cars.
It was cool to see it sitting in my dad’s driveway. We were off for the Philadelphia airport. The excitement was mounting because we had been talking non-stop about how we could get Chick-fil-a before our flight as there is one in the airport. Well, we got there and found this:
The damn place was closed. Out of every single place to eat in the airport, this was the only one that wasn’t open. Needless to say, we were both sort of sad…Fernando more so:
It wouldn’t be long before Jonny Ruckus and our other friend Ken arrived in the Philly airport – they each flew into Philly from Manchester, NH and Boston, MA respectively. We then all took the same flight to Los Angeles together (EPIC). The flight was long, but hey, sleeping was a good way to pass the time…depending on who you ask…
OK, no, his head is not on the other dude's shoulder...I was just waiting for it to happen though (darn).
Eventually we landed, got our bags, headed to get our rental car, got to the hotel, checked in, and then it was time for the first matter of business. I wanted a sacred meal to signify that our adventure had truly begun: ROSCOE’S CHICKEN & WAFFLES. If anyone reads this, you MUST go to this place if you’re ever in Los Angeles. The food is amazing:
After this, we headed back to the hotel and then for the Griffith Observatory. The drive to this place is so awesome. To get to it, you get to drive through this:
That’s the tunnel from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ and ‘Back to the Future Part II’. We spent some time at the observatory and then headed back through the tunnel listening to 'Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!' from Roger Rabbit, but it wasn't as magical as it was in the movie. Anyway, we then headed to House of Pies (which happens to have the best key lime pie in the world…seriously).
By this point, we were freaking exhausted, but opted to head to another location called Eighty Two. This is a pretty cool location with a bar and a bunch of old arcade games/pinball machines. It was a good time, though all I wanted to do was play Street Fighter II but couldn’t because these two guys who obviously go to this place way too much were hogging the machine and there was no way any of us would stand a chance against them.
Eventually we had our share of fun and went back to the hotel to get some sleep. Day #1 was complete.
Ultimate Badass
Well-Known Member
I am back with California Trip Update #2...
Day #2 was a special day. This was the day we were going to see my Ecto! The guy working on my car had arranged a hearse club meeting for that day and invited a bunch of people to his place in Lake Elsinore. There were some really cool cars there, however, one car stole the show...
The back window rubber has been sourced and the windows are going in! YES!!!!!!
MY BABY…God, I love her so much, and I’m pretty sure my friends did too. She is close to being ready to ship to me in Pennsylvania. The best part of all about this visit wasn’t just the visual appeal…SHE WAS READY FOR ME TO DRIVE HER FOR THE FIRST TIME.
It felt good to sit behind the wheel for the first time...something I'll never forget.
The video of the first drive was recorded by my buddy Fernando. I had nothing to do with the soundtrack (I actually don't like the song, but plenty of people do)...
<font size="2"><span style="font-family: tahoma">
I don’t remember much from this short drive, but I do remember how ridiculously excited I was about it…something I’ve been waiting over 4 years to do. I didn’t get to give her any real gas because I didn’t take her out onto the actual road, but she should haul a$5 when I want her to.
After spending some time hanging out and meet some good people, we had to head back to Los Angeles. On the way back, we managed to get Chick-Fil-A to make up for missing out on it at the Philadelphia airport. We got back to the hotel and day #2 was complete.
Day #2 was a special day. This was the day we were going to see my Ecto! The guy working on my car had arranged a hearse club meeting for that day and invited a bunch of people to his place in Lake Elsinore. There were some really cool cars there, however, one car stole the show...
The back window rubber has been sourced and the windows are going in! YES!!!!!!
MY BABY…God, I love her so much, and I’m pretty sure my friends did too. She is close to being ready to ship to me in Pennsylvania. The best part of all about this visit wasn’t just the visual appeal…SHE WAS READY FOR ME TO DRIVE HER FOR THE FIRST TIME.
It felt good to sit behind the wheel for the first time...something I'll never forget.
The video of the first drive was recorded by my buddy Fernando. I had nothing to do with the soundtrack (I actually don't like the song, but plenty of people do)...
<font size="2"><span style="font-family: tahoma">
I don’t remember much from this short drive, but I do remember how ridiculously excited I was about it…something I’ve been waiting over 4 years to do. I didn’t get to give her any real gas because I didn’t take her out onto the actual road, but she should haul a$5 when I want her to.
After spending some time hanging out and meet some good people, we had to head back to Los Angeles. On the way back, we managed to get Chick-Fil-A to make up for missing out on it at the Philadelphia airport. We got back to the hotel and day #2 was complete.
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Dude that is both awesome and beautiful to see finally moving around.
brandomack
Sr Member
She's gonna be a real head-turner!
skillsthebarber
New Member
i totally missed your last post. For some reason I thought you were going to CA in June. thanks for posting the update. It looks amazing.
