Ecto-1 Magnum - Ectoberfest Charity Total: $24,000!
- Thread starter Boomerjinks
- Start date
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Added an array of shiny blinkies, just in time for the DragonCon parade...
YouTube - Phil check this out
Added an array of shiny blinkies, just in time for the DragonCon parade...
YouTube - Phil check this out
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
So our journey actually began several weeks before EAA 3 officially kicked off. In the weeks before we were to leave, I began putting the finishing touches on the Magnum. We rolled the car out in July of 2009, but only now does it resemble the original vision we conceptualized.
The first addition was a set of blacked-out wheels.
Followed shortly by a Setina PB400 pushbar, things really started to cook!
We pulled the hood and handed it over to Stever (one of our Knight Rider guys) who proceeded to pull all the hail dents from the previous spring.
Positively beautiful!
As the side stripes never really jived with me, and because my vinyl guy actually put a lighter shade of red on, he offered to re-do all the pin striping and rear hatch work. It came out look immaculate.
Then it was off to Charles' place to re-run all the wiring for the lightbars using a wildly more efficient relay setup. We drilled some holes to hide the wires in the rear hatch channel, positively SEAMLESS!
And I managed to get the new "Tumbler" lights hooked up to a flasher and three-way switch.
YouTube - Ecto Magnum flasher lights
Good stuff.
We then pulled apart the roofrack down it's bare components and started refinishing them. Polishing lenses and tanks, giving fresh paint to the frame, building a new sonobouy, and de-yellowing the ABS plastic box.
We wanted to put our efforts toward having the sharpest, most-pristine Ecto at DragonCon, and we wanted the car to look its best while meeting its destiny in New York City.
Another major goal to accomplish before EAA launch was motorizing the binocs on the roof of the car. This was achieved through a motor sourced by Charles, connected through a mechanism built by Kris. The result was a setup that allowed the binocs to stay rigidly in one position at speed, as well as operate smoothly at up to 80 miles per hour. Technically, we haven't tested it to failure, but I'd be surprised if it didn't work perfectly beyond 100. We also installed a set of neon lights inside the roofrack for accent lighting.
After being mired in setbacks, we finally had the car back together around 4am on Thursday morning. Richie and I decided to push back our departure by an hour and to take regular shifts to compensate for the lack of sleep. Kris and I only managed to test the motorized binocs for a mile or two on the freeway, so the entire mechanism and new construction would meet it's trial by fire on a 5,000 mile road trip.
Richie and I launched EAA3 at 7am on Thursday, and we made our way East. It wasn't long before we hit Kansas and stopped for a few pictures. Already we encountered our first obstacle, vicious cross-wind, evidenced here.
We then proceeded East, we'd been through here before and any sight-seeing would be done on the return trip. For now we just had to get to St. Louis.
Firefly, anyone? AUGH, I MISSED THE GORHAM EXIT!
In the middle of Kansas we suddenly found where all that wind was coming from....
[youtube]ZQg8JKo_3ZQ[/youtube]
Richie and I kept ourselves amused by counting the conservative religious billboards that practically outnumbered every other kind of advertising along the highway. Billboards are kind of funny to us, in Colorado I believe there is a state beautification law that has kept the amount of roadside advertising to a minimum, so going through places like Wyoming and Kansas and Nevada are absolutely HILARIOUS to us, what with the sheer amount of advertising that appears as soon as you cross the border.
BATTLE OF THE BILLBOARDS!
FIGHT!
Richie, expressing what turned out to be misdirected enthusiasm.
Kansas City, whose skyline was being particularly sinister what with the weather and all.
Also, it was pretty stormy throughout all of Kansas and Missouri, and every time we stopped we were asked about the weather as everyone seemed to think we were storm chasers. At one rest stop, I spied a "Tornado Chaser" shirt for sale, and I bought it to help aid griefing those people even further.
(looks at car) "Are you storm chasers?"
Nope, Ghostbusters.
(looks at shirt) "For real?"
Yup.
(looks at car, looks at shirt, goes cross-eyed)
It was fun.
Back to Kansas City, some dude was cruising around in this badass monstrosity, and we waved, but he just scowled. It's okay dude, you're a ****** but we still think your car is neat!
About two hours outside of St. Louis we were treated to an incredible sunset.
We always seem to get terrific sunsets while on EAA trips. Last September there were the big fires in California, which provided ridiculously red sun rises and sun sets. We also saw some stunning light shows in December and in July... positively breath-taking!
After dark, we were treated to an astonishing light show as a rainless lightning storm practically strobed all around us!
That night we stayed in Alton, IL with future-dentist and hardcore prop-collector, ProtoKev. Between his four packs, full-size Vigo, complete lightsaber collection, 501st gear, MiB and Jurassic Park collections, the man is a maniac! Talk about toys for big boys!
YouTube - EAA3 - prop nerds
We were treated to Steak and Shake, quite the midwestern late-night treat, a first for us!
So our journey actually began several weeks before EAA 3 officially kicked off. In the weeks before we were to leave, I began putting the finishing touches on the Magnum. We rolled the car out in July of 2009, but only now does it resemble the original vision we conceptualized.
The first addition was a set of blacked-out wheels.
Followed shortly by a Setina PB400 pushbar, things really started to cook!
We pulled the hood and handed it over to Stever (one of our Knight Rider guys) who proceeded to pull all the hail dents from the previous spring.
Positively beautiful!
As the side stripes never really jived with me, and because my vinyl guy actually put a lighter shade of red on, he offered to re-do all the pin striping and rear hatch work. It came out look immaculate.
Then it was off to Charles' place to re-run all the wiring for the lightbars using a wildly more efficient relay setup. We drilled some holes to hide the wires in the rear hatch channel, positively SEAMLESS!
And I managed to get the new "Tumbler" lights hooked up to a flasher and three-way switch.
YouTube - Ecto Magnum flasher lights
Good stuff.
We then pulled apart the roofrack down it's bare components and started refinishing them. Polishing lenses and tanks, giving fresh paint to the frame, building a new sonobouy, and de-yellowing the ABS plastic box.
We wanted to put our efforts toward having the sharpest, most-pristine Ecto at DragonCon, and we wanted the car to look its best while meeting its destiny in New York City.
Another major goal to accomplish before EAA launch was motorizing the binocs on the roof of the car. This was achieved through a motor sourced by Charles, connected through a mechanism built by Kris. The result was a setup that allowed the binocs to stay rigidly in one position at speed, as well as operate smoothly at up to 80 miles per hour. Technically, we haven't tested it to failure, but I'd be surprised if it didn't work perfectly beyond 100. We also installed a set of neon lights inside the roofrack for accent lighting.
After being mired in setbacks, we finally had the car back together around 4am on Thursday morning. Richie and I decided to push back our departure by an hour and to take regular shifts to compensate for the lack of sleep. Kris and I only managed to test the motorized binocs for a mile or two on the freeway, so the entire mechanism and new construction would meet it's trial by fire on a 5,000 mile road trip.
Richie and I launched EAA3 at 7am on Thursday, and we made our way East. It wasn't long before we hit Kansas and stopped for a few pictures. Already we encountered our first obstacle, vicious cross-wind, evidenced here.
We then proceeded East, we'd been through here before and any sight-seeing would be done on the return trip. For now we just had to get to St. Louis.
Firefly, anyone? AUGH, I MISSED THE GORHAM EXIT!
In the middle of Kansas we suddenly found where all that wind was coming from....
[youtube]ZQg8JKo_3ZQ[/youtube]
Richie and I kept ourselves amused by counting the conservative religious billboards that practically outnumbered every other kind of advertising along the highway. Billboards are kind of funny to us, in Colorado I believe there is a state beautification law that has kept the amount of roadside advertising to a minimum, so going through places like Wyoming and Kansas and Nevada are absolutely HILARIOUS to us, what with the sheer amount of advertising that appears as soon as you cross the border.
BATTLE OF THE BILLBOARDS!
FIGHT!
Richie, expressing what turned out to be misdirected enthusiasm.
Kansas City, whose skyline was being particularly sinister what with the weather and all.
Also, it was pretty stormy throughout all of Kansas and Missouri, and every time we stopped we were asked about the weather as everyone seemed to think we were storm chasers. At one rest stop, I spied a "Tornado Chaser" shirt for sale, and I bought it to help aid griefing those people even further.
(looks at car) "Are you storm chasers?"
Nope, Ghostbusters.
(looks at shirt) "For real?"
Yup.
(looks at car, looks at shirt, goes cross-eyed)
It was fun.
Back to Kansas City, some dude was cruising around in this badass monstrosity, and we waved, but he just scowled. It's okay dude, you're a ****** but we still think your car is neat!
About two hours outside of St. Louis we were treated to an incredible sunset.
We always seem to get terrific sunsets while on EAA trips. Last September there were the big fires in California, which provided ridiculously red sun rises and sun sets. We also saw some stunning light shows in December and in July... positively breath-taking!
After dark, we were treated to an astonishing light show as a rainless lightning storm practically strobed all around us!
That night we stayed in Alton, IL with future-dentist and hardcore prop-collector, ProtoKev. Between his four packs, full-size Vigo, complete lightsaber collection, 501st gear, MiB and Jurassic Park collections, the man is a maniac! Talk about toys for big boys!
YouTube - EAA3 - prop nerds
We were treated to Steak and Shake, quite the midwestern late-night treat, a first for us!
Charles Kline
Sr Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Epicness
Epicness
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
The next morning we set out early for Huntsville and Atlanta.
Richie, where the hell are we?
I will say this, Tennessee was probably the prettiest state we drove through.
I passed out in the passenger seat and we missed an exit, officially failing my shotgun-seat role as Rabbit. We detoured south back into Missouri and across some very rural backroads, but were rewarded by getting to drive over some incredible bridges.
BAAAARGES
Our trip through the backwoods was made even better after we discovered that the region we were traveling through was actually named Blandville, poetic justice is alive and well.
Arriving in Alabama, we discovered a climate entirely alien to us. The humidity we encountered absolutely ridiculous, never before have I seen rain falling up. Alabamans, you need to fix that ****.
Seriously, the entire time we were there I didn't know if my pants were soggy or if I was just continuously ****ting myself. Ugh.
Anyway, we made it to Huntsville and U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
We met up with gbMatt, who promptly began lecturing me about jumping fences to touch exhibits and how I would "get in trouble" or some nonsense. Feh. Judd, another member of GBfans met up in costume for some pictures with the car.
The rocket center was, well, pretty amazing. I've never really seen any sort of full-scale shuttle or manned spacecraft aside from the Titans and Redstones at certain other museums, it really was a sight.
Playing around on one of the umbilical arms.
Richie, succumbing to one of my stupid ideas for a stupid picture. Stupid.
Shut this off, shut these all off.
Yup. We're gay for shuttles.
Probably the best part of the whole place, the Space Monkey Graveyard. Memorials to monkeys who helped us edge closer to manned space flight. People leave bananas on top of the markers, amazing.
Also there was the first Blackbird of the trip. Technically an A-12 Oxcart, this is the plane I had to hop the little fence to get up close to.
We said our good-byes and bugged out for Atlanta and DragonCon, pushing hard to arrive before registration closed at 10pm. If we didn't make it, we'd have to register in the morning and that would interfere with the parade line-up.
The Ecto pulled into the Sheraton loading area at 9:52pm, I bolted out of the car and ran in to register. There was no line by that time, so I was in there maybe four or five minutes. After that we headed out in search of the GBfans members who were currently dining at a downtown chinese place. We found them and started a ruckus on the side of the street, running lights and sound as loudly as possible. Soon we were joined by the Georgia Ecto, built out of a 2007 Dodge Magnum.
Around this time we had our first encounter with police. Several cops on foot had walked past the cars at this point, some even stopping for pictures. Eventually a crown vic rolled up and the officer asked to speak to whoever owned the car. I walked over and he proceeded to tell me that the lights on the car were illegal. I asked if I should cover them, or deactivate them, or what I should do to best comply with the local laws. The cop gave me the annoyingly vague advice of "be careful." The hell? Anyway, after that we picked up Kris at the airport, got situated in our hotel room, and headed back downtown for some cruising. It was late and I managed to somehow get confused at an intersection and made an illegal right turn. I was promptly pulled over by an officer who gave me a dressing-down, but did not run my license or registration. Weird.
The next morning we washed the Ecto and joined up with the other guys for the parade. I didn't take hardly any pictures for the rest of the con, but here are some that were found online!
Saturday night was off the ****ing chain! We started ferrying people back and forth between hotels just for fun. Pulling into the Marriott every 30 minutes we were greeted with some form of the following....
Ghost Buster's dance party. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I also managed to get with two of the other Ectos for an impromptu photoshoot out near the old Olympic stadiums (Turner Field now, yes?) I thought the results were pretty neat.
Wild stuff.
Sunday I actually got to do con stuff, and that was great. Too much to explore for one day -I'll have to come back- but it won't be for several years, unfortunately. While heading out for lunch I came across this group of donkin' hip-hop car enthusiasts (is there really a name for these guys?) cruising super slow through Atlanta with their 24" wheels and stick on vents and spinners and floaters and bumpers and thumpers.
I took it as my solemn duty to keep pace with them for their entire route through the city and play "White and Nerdy" out my roof speakers the entire time.
Also, Lady Stig!
Hop on in!
Sunday night the remaining gbfans members headed to the Vortex, several miles from downtown, to try their famous quadruple bypass burger. I had a lesser form, 1/2 lb burger, 6 strips of bacon, 6 pieces of cheese, with two grilled cheese sandwiches instead of buns. It was glorious, though I didn't finish the whole thing. Very tasty.
The next morning we set out early for Huntsville and Atlanta.
Richie, where the hell are we?
I will say this, Tennessee was probably the prettiest state we drove through.
I passed out in the passenger seat and we missed an exit, officially failing my shotgun-seat role as Rabbit. We detoured south back into Missouri and across some very rural backroads, but were rewarded by getting to drive over some incredible bridges.
BAAAARGES
Our trip through the backwoods was made even better after we discovered that the region we were traveling through was actually named Blandville, poetic justice is alive and well.
Arriving in Alabama, we discovered a climate entirely alien to us. The humidity we encountered absolutely ridiculous, never before have I seen rain falling up. Alabamans, you need to fix that ****.
Seriously, the entire time we were there I didn't know if my pants were soggy or if I was just continuously ****ting myself. Ugh.
Anyway, we made it to Huntsville and U.S. Space and Rocket Center.
We met up with gbMatt, who promptly began lecturing me about jumping fences to touch exhibits and how I would "get in trouble" or some nonsense. Feh. Judd, another member of GBfans met up in costume for some pictures with the car.
The rocket center was, well, pretty amazing. I've never really seen any sort of full-scale shuttle or manned spacecraft aside from the Titans and Redstones at certain other museums, it really was a sight.
Playing around on one of the umbilical arms.
Richie, succumbing to one of my stupid ideas for a stupid picture. Stupid.
Shut this off, shut these all off.
Yup. We're gay for shuttles.
Probably the best part of the whole place, the Space Monkey Graveyard. Memorials to monkeys who helped us edge closer to manned space flight. People leave bananas on top of the markers, amazing.
Also there was the first Blackbird of the trip. Technically an A-12 Oxcart, this is the plane I had to hop the little fence to get up close to.
We said our good-byes and bugged out for Atlanta and DragonCon, pushing hard to arrive before registration closed at 10pm. If we didn't make it, we'd have to register in the morning and that would interfere with the parade line-up.
The Ecto pulled into the Sheraton loading area at 9:52pm, I bolted out of the car and ran in to register. There was no line by that time, so I was in there maybe four or five minutes. After that we headed out in search of the GBfans members who were currently dining at a downtown chinese place. We found them and started a ruckus on the side of the street, running lights and sound as loudly as possible. Soon we were joined by the Georgia Ecto, built out of a 2007 Dodge Magnum.
Around this time we had our first encounter with police. Several cops on foot had walked past the cars at this point, some even stopping for pictures. Eventually a crown vic rolled up and the officer asked to speak to whoever owned the car. I walked over and he proceeded to tell me that the lights on the car were illegal. I asked if I should cover them, or deactivate them, or what I should do to best comply with the local laws. The cop gave me the annoyingly vague advice of "be careful." The hell? Anyway, after that we picked up Kris at the airport, got situated in our hotel room, and headed back downtown for some cruising. It was late and I managed to somehow get confused at an intersection and made an illegal right turn. I was promptly pulled over by an officer who gave me a dressing-down, but did not run my license or registration. Weird.
The next morning we washed the Ecto and joined up with the other guys for the parade. I didn't take hardly any pictures for the rest of the con, but here are some that were found online!
Saturday night was off the ****ing chain! We started ferrying people back and forth between hotels just for fun. Pulling into the Marriott every 30 minutes we were greeted with some form of the following....
Ghost Buster's dance party. | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I also managed to get with two of the other Ectos for an impromptu photoshoot out near the old Olympic stadiums (Turner Field now, yes?) I thought the results were pretty neat.
Wild stuff.
Sunday I actually got to do con stuff, and that was great. Too much to explore for one day -I'll have to come back- but it won't be for several years, unfortunately. While heading out for lunch I came across this group of donkin' hip-hop car enthusiasts (is there really a name for these guys?) cruising super slow through Atlanta with their 24" wheels and stick on vents and spinners and floaters and bumpers and thumpers.
I took it as my solemn duty to keep pace with them for their entire route through the city and play "White and Nerdy" out my roof speakers the entire time.
Also, Lady Stig!
Hop on in!
Sunday night the remaining gbfans members headed to the Vortex, several miles from downtown, to try their famous quadruple bypass burger. I had a lesser form, 1/2 lb burger, 6 strips of bacon, 6 pieces of cheese, with two grilled cheese sandwiches instead of buns. It was glorious, though I didn't finish the whole thing. Very tasty.
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Monday morning we set out with two new people, AJ (who founded and runs GBfans.com) and Chris, another friend. We drove to Raleigh to drop Chris off, and then Richie, AJ, Kris, and I proceeded to our next stop in Washington D.C.
Thanks to AJs advantageous viewpoint from the Westin, we managed to catch the Mach 5 for a few pictures.
Then we were on our way.
The Carolinas were fairly pretty.
I'm sorry, I think this is worth a picture.
By sunset we'd made it to Richmond, where I hopped another fence and fondled another Blackbird.
Shortly before midnight we'd made it to the outskirts of D.C. where we set up camp on the floor of an old friends apartment. Thanks, Lacey!
Monday morning we set out with two new people, AJ (who founded and runs GBfans.com) and Chris, another friend. We drove to Raleigh to drop Chris off, and then Richie, AJ, Kris, and I proceeded to our next stop in Washington D.C.
Thanks to AJs advantageous viewpoint from the Westin, we managed to catch the Mach 5 for a few pictures.
Then we were on our way.
The Carolinas were fairly pretty.
I'm sorry, I think this is worth a picture.
By sunset we'd made it to Richmond, where I hopped another fence and fondled another Blackbird.
Shortly before midnight we'd made it to the outskirts of D.C. where we set up camp on the floor of an old friends apartment. Thanks, Lacey!
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Tuesday morning we were up and out to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center, the Smithsonian Air and Space annex. But first, breakfast at the local super marchet!
Anyone else thinking "Oh Hai Thar?' K, nevermind.
Here we got to see the Enola Gay, the shuttle Enterprise, and the record-setting Blackbird, among other enormously historic pieces of history
.
Kris was flipping his **** the whole ******* time.
The mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind!
There are some tiny planes!
There's R2!
There's a tiny TIE fighter!
Here's a missile that is fired from a submarine, flies through the air, then goes back underwater to **** up another submarine. ******, I love engineering.
This is kind of lame.
But this is KICKIN RAD!
At the UH center we met up with George, another GBfan member. Wherever we went we offered to meet up with people and he is one of the guys quick enough on the twitter feed to pin us down to the right location at the right time. He perused the museum with us and even gave offered crank knobs as gifts.
This sums up the whole thing quite well.
From the Udvar-Hazy center we booked it over to Langley, where we had the balls to snoop around the CIA headquarters to see if I could spy the A-12 on display there. From an access road around back I managed to see the vertical stabilizers, but nothing beyond that. You win this round, Central Intelligence Agency!
We headed into D.C. and looped around the main sites, settling on the a parking spot smack in the center of the mall. We left the car for about two hours as we explored the main Air and Space Museum.
It was my third time, so.... the usual.
After the A&S I experimented with getting as close to the White House as I could in a car market "radioactive." Turns out the answer is "about a block." Just southeast of the parade grounds we were intercepted by three Secret Service vehicles.
We were greeted with a less-than-friendly "Do you have any idea where the hell you are?" My credentials were taken, as were the IDs of everyone in the car. Several of the cops really pushed at the "bad cop" thing, but we could hear them chuckling over how "****ing badass" the car was. Eventually we were asked to step outside and sit on the curb and dogs were called out. The dogs never came, but several plain-clothes specialists did come out to inspect the Ecto. I gave one officer a walkaround, detailing what each of the roof parts were made from and how they were put together. The specialists laughed at the cops, saying "Oh yeah man, that's some WMD!" then proceeded to take pictures for their kids. One officer began harping on a lower-ranking cop for saying the words "radioactive materials" over the radio. "They're freaking out up there," he growled while thrusting a finger directly at the White House.
After about a half hour, we'd all checked out and wished a safe trip, the majority of the agents were fairly amused, but I wouldn't be surprised if our names are all on some list somewhere.
Our first sign indicating a direction to New York!
Of course we had to stop in Philly to run the Rocky steps!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m1gcCuHlT4[/video]
No time for cheesesteak, unfortunately
We entered New Jersey and were completely stumped by the gas station laws there. Apparently you guys aren't allowed to fuel your own cars? We had a guido assistant there to fist-pump ours for us, pretty funny.
We crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn and unloaded at our hotel off of 3rd and Union. Not a bad place, tiny, but better than I've had in New York before! Four guys to one two-bed room? WE CAN DO IT!
From there we set out to do quick drive-bys of the areas we wanted to visit over the next two days. Times Square, the NY public library, Ladder 8, and...... 55 Central Park West.
More tomorrow!
Tuesday morning we were up and out to visit the Udvar-Hazy Center, the Smithsonian Air and Space annex. But first, breakfast at the local super marchet!
Anyone else thinking "Oh Hai Thar?' K, nevermind.
Here we got to see the Enola Gay, the shuttle Enterprise, and the record-setting Blackbird, among other enormously historic pieces of history
.
Kris was flipping his **** the whole ******* time.
The mothership from Close Encounters of the Third Kind!
There are some tiny planes!
There's R2!
There's a tiny TIE fighter!
Here's a missile that is fired from a submarine, flies through the air, then goes back underwater to **** up another submarine. ******, I love engineering.
This is kind of lame.
But this is KICKIN RAD!
At the UH center we met up with George, another GBfan member. Wherever we went we offered to meet up with people and he is one of the guys quick enough on the twitter feed to pin us down to the right location at the right time. He perused the museum with us and even gave offered crank knobs as gifts.
This sums up the whole thing quite well.
From the Udvar-Hazy center we booked it over to Langley, where we had the balls to snoop around the CIA headquarters to see if I could spy the A-12 on display there. From an access road around back I managed to see the vertical stabilizers, but nothing beyond that. You win this round, Central Intelligence Agency!
We headed into D.C. and looped around the main sites, settling on the a parking spot smack in the center of the mall. We left the car for about two hours as we explored the main Air and Space Museum.
It was my third time, so.... the usual.
After the A&S I experimented with getting as close to the White House as I could in a car market "radioactive." Turns out the answer is "about a block." Just southeast of the parade grounds we were intercepted by three Secret Service vehicles.
We were greeted with a less-than-friendly "Do you have any idea where the hell you are?" My credentials were taken, as were the IDs of everyone in the car. Several of the cops really pushed at the "bad cop" thing, but we could hear them chuckling over how "****ing badass" the car was. Eventually we were asked to step outside and sit on the curb and dogs were called out. The dogs never came, but several plain-clothes specialists did come out to inspect the Ecto. I gave one officer a walkaround, detailing what each of the roof parts were made from and how they were put together. The specialists laughed at the cops, saying "Oh yeah man, that's some WMD!" then proceeded to take pictures for their kids. One officer began harping on a lower-ranking cop for saying the words "radioactive materials" over the radio. "They're freaking out up there," he growled while thrusting a finger directly at the White House.
After about a half hour, we'd all checked out and wished a safe trip, the majority of the agents were fairly amused, but I wouldn't be surprised if our names are all on some list somewhere.
Our first sign indicating a direction to New York!
Of course we had to stop in Philly to run the Rocky steps!
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m1gcCuHlT4[/video]
No time for cheesesteak, unfortunately
We entered New Jersey and were completely stumped by the gas station laws there. Apparently you guys aren't allowed to fuel your own cars? We had a guido assistant there to fist-pump ours for us, pretty funny.
We crossed the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge into Brooklyn and unloaded at our hotel off of 3rd and Union. Not a bad place, tiny, but better than I've had in New York before! Four guys to one two-bed room? WE CAN DO IT!
From there we set out to do quick drive-bys of the areas we wanted to visit over the next two days. Times Square, the NY public library, Ladder 8, and...... 55 Central Park West.
More tomorrow!
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Wednesday morning we were up and ready to hit Manhattan. Since there aren't any self-service manual carwashes - apparently, ****ing anywhere- in the five boroughs, we washed the Ecto off by hand, shining the wheels and scrubbing bugs off the lights. A quick re-attachment of the satellite dish and we were good to go.
Surprisingly, the construction traffic we encountered coming to Brooklyn the night before had completely disappeared, and we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge in a matter of minutes. Yep, playing "Judgement Day" out of the roof. Come on.
Since it was completely covered in scaffolding (curse you, fall in NY), we skipped the NY public library and starting visiting the usual sights.
Here we stopped for the breakfast of champions, cart food!
I'm probably just retarded, but I seem to be incapable of ordering mediterranean or greek food. I always seem to get some form of gyro, no matter what I order. I'm not complaining, at all. Anything the guy behind the counter produces is a little slice of heaven wrapped in tin foil, but it just feels like there is no point in me actually looking at a menu and ordering something. It always comes out in the shape of a gyro, even if I'm ordering shwarma or kafta kebab or shish kebab. It's getting to the point where I am not going to even bother with the pictures of the food at one of these carts or here at Ya Halla in Denver, I'm just going to say to the cook, "You pick what I am about to eat, I have no say and I'm going to ****ing love it anyway."
After breakfast we made our way to Ladder 8 in Tribeca.
If you recall, this firehouse was used as the exterior location for the headquarters in both Ghostbusters films, though the interior was actually a separate location in another firehouse in Los Angeles.
The engine was gone so we waited around, exploring the nearby shops and streets, enjoying the wonderful weather. Fun fact: the blue fenced-in area under construction at the bottom of the picture was the location of the gas station used in Zoolander. Freak gasoline fight accident.
Also, there was this lady, who was walking her dog down the street as he peed on the tires of every single emergency vehicle parked there.
God I love New York.
About a half hour later the engine returned and backed into the station. We asked the firefighters for a moment of their time, knowing full-well how sick of Ghostbusters these guys must be. We introduced ourselves, stated we were from Colorado, and he chief replied with a dismissive "don't dent the rig."
Green light, GO GO GO GO!
We backed in, left the engine running, and started snapping pictures. In an ironic twist, just as we parked, a film location tour bus pulled up and offloaded about 60 people. What was supposed to be a quick little thing immediately turned into a fiasco of hilarity. The firefighters had to be thinking, "ya give 'em an inch...."
We did our thing for ten minutes or so, trying our best to avoid confirming or denying rumors of Ghostbusters 3 to the tourists. We loaded up, switched everything on, and blew out of there moments later, not providing any answers. Also, let's run some red lights!
YouTube - Lets run some red lights!
YouTube - Ecto-1 Departs Firehouse
Kind of an epic thing.
Wednesday morning we were up and ready to hit Manhattan. Since there aren't any self-service manual carwashes - apparently, ****ing anywhere- in the five boroughs, we washed the Ecto off by hand, shining the wheels and scrubbing bugs off the lights. A quick re-attachment of the satellite dish and we were good to go.
Surprisingly, the construction traffic we encountered coming to Brooklyn the night before had completely disappeared, and we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge in a matter of minutes. Yep, playing "Judgement Day" out of the roof. Come on.
Since it was completely covered in scaffolding (curse you, fall in NY), we skipped the NY public library and starting visiting the usual sights.
Here we stopped for the breakfast of champions, cart food!
I'm probably just retarded, but I seem to be incapable of ordering mediterranean or greek food. I always seem to get some form of gyro, no matter what I order. I'm not complaining, at all. Anything the guy behind the counter produces is a little slice of heaven wrapped in tin foil, but it just feels like there is no point in me actually looking at a menu and ordering something. It always comes out in the shape of a gyro, even if I'm ordering shwarma or kafta kebab or shish kebab. It's getting to the point where I am not going to even bother with the pictures of the food at one of these carts or here at Ya Halla in Denver, I'm just going to say to the cook, "You pick what I am about to eat, I have no say and I'm going to ****ing love it anyway."
After breakfast we made our way to Ladder 8 in Tribeca.
If you recall, this firehouse was used as the exterior location for the headquarters in both Ghostbusters films, though the interior was actually a separate location in another firehouse in Los Angeles.
The engine was gone so we waited around, exploring the nearby shops and streets, enjoying the wonderful weather. Fun fact: the blue fenced-in area under construction at the bottom of the picture was the location of the gas station used in Zoolander. Freak gasoline fight accident.
Also, there was this lady, who was walking her dog down the street as he peed on the tires of every single emergency vehicle parked there.
God I love New York.
About a half hour later the engine returned and backed into the station. We asked the firefighters for a moment of their time, knowing full-well how sick of Ghostbusters these guys must be. We introduced ourselves, stated we were from Colorado, and he chief replied with a dismissive "don't dent the rig."
Green light, GO GO GO GO!
We backed in, left the engine running, and started snapping pictures. In an ironic twist, just as we parked, a film location tour bus pulled up and offloaded about 60 people. What was supposed to be a quick little thing immediately turned into a fiasco of hilarity. The firefighters had to be thinking, "ya give 'em an inch...."
We did our thing for ten minutes or so, trying our best to avoid confirming or denying rumors of Ghostbusters 3 to the tourists. We loaded up, switched everything on, and blew out of there moments later, not providing any answers. Also, let's run some red lights!
YouTube - Lets run some red lights!
YouTube - Ecto-1 Departs Firehouse
Kind of an epic thing.
Last edited:
epilepticsquirl
Sr Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Man I just love reading and living vicariously through your picture stories! What a great time!
Man I just love reading and living vicariously through your picture stories! What a great time!
Darth Brass
Sr Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
Awesome pictures of an awesome car and an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!
Awesome pictures of an awesome car and an awesome trip! Thanks for sharing!
Boomerjinks
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
After the firehouse we headed West to the Intrepid Air Museum. By this time we'd discovered that the car could get away with being considered a "commercial vehicle" so finding cheap parking became remarkably easy.
The Intrepid had been on my list of things to do in NY since my first visit in 2008, but during that time it had actually been towed out to New Jersey for renovations. Will, AJ, and I went to the museum while Richie and Kris poked around for a bit.
Aside from Coney Island, this was probably the most chilling thing I saw while in New York, found on the walk to the museum.
Also, steampunk Segway!
I'll spare you the relatively boring pictures of the Intrepid, as we really only skimmed the surface. The interior of the Growler missile sub was pretty neat, though I want my garage to look like this some day.
Also, why is it that the area around the Intrepid smelled more like 'ocean' than the actual oceanside? Maybe I don't want to know.
This was funny, and only funny until after we'd left.
I didn't even see the sign, and apparently the dude in the background is one of the guards. Heh.
After the Intrepid we made our way back to the hotel room. We got to experience REAL New York traffic, JUST LIKE YOU SEE IN THE MOVIES. This just meant that my buddies were getting out of the car to smoke and buy snacks while we creeped forward. It was also just like driving on I-95 south of Washington D.C., except there the traffic jams move at 80 mph. ****.
Now this, this is where things start to take a turn and get really ****ing...I-I-I don't know how to describe it. Frankly, the whole night has barely sunk in -even a week later.
So we're back at the hotel. We've been tweeting the entire journey and Kris has been following the tweets of other people since DragonCon. People like Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage and mc Chris. We'd actually met mc Chris months before at one of his shows, and he'd absolutely loved the car, then we got to talking about the Jurassic Jeep and all this other ****, mostly just really casual stuff like comments here and there on Facebook. Apparently mc's cousin had recently committed suicide, and he was taking it pretty hard. I suggested, jokingly, that we should take him for a spin and let the amazed shouts of New Yorkers get a chance to lift his spirits. Kris immediately started messaging him, but we didn't hear anything back for some time. Eventually this popped up on the feed: _mchris - because someone up there likes me, the ecto 1 is gonna pick me up and we're gonna drive around and bust ghosts.
So, it was on. He texted us his number and we got ready. We picked him and his assistant/friend Cat Greenfield up in Brooklyn. AJ climbed into the trunk to make space and we were off, hanging out with mc Chris. I'm pretty sure this is going to warrant some posts of "mc chris is a joke act" or something else along those lines, but we all really like Adult Swim and we enjoy comedy hip hop, so... I guess, go for it?
Anyway, Chris wanted to make a few stops to say hi to friends, these stops turned out to be the awesome Forbidden Planet comic store and the ****ing Upright Citizens Brigade theater.
Holy ****! We mounted the curb and did the whole lights/sound thing and people went nuts, it was fun.
Around this time I wanted to do a run through Times Square, as it was early evening and we hadn't done that yet. So we drove over and did a slow cruise right through it, with everything but the lights absolutely maxed-out. Cat was laughing non-stop from the fun and Chris was keeping his twitter feed flowing steadily. EVERYONE inside the car and out seemed to be having an awesome night.
Now, we'd had some pretty heavy experiences with police during this trip, and it wasn't until we cruised Times Square that I really thought we'd show up on the NYPD radar as something that might need to be addressed. I mean, come on. It's New York ****ing City, they have bigger fish to fry than a nerdmobile filled with nerds. But as we pulled out of the Square, a police car whipped in behind us and followed at a very close distance. Sphincters tightened and I prepared for the lights to turn on us to get our asses handed to us on the side of the road. But there were no lights - at the first opportunity the car pulled up alongside and the officer simply asked, "Hey, can you pull over so I can get some pictures?"
Suddenly the mood was completely changed. We pulled over, got out, and turned everything on. The officer and his partner we ****ing jazzed to see the car come to life and started snapping pictures.
It wasn't even two minutes before Chris had their police lights on for a "siren party."
AJ suddenly had an idea, grabbed my arm and dragged me across the street to make a quick video parodying our pull-over clip that surfaced on youtube from Atlanta.
YouTube - Ghostbuster's Car @ Times Square gets pulled over!!
Eh, I thought it was funny.
The cops finished up their pictures and thanked us. Not one to ever waste an opportunity, I politely asked if there was any place in Times Square where the Ecto might pull over so we could get photos a little better than if it was in the middle of traffic. Something like a taxi pulloff or a vacant ambulance spot, anything. I knew it was an impossible question but one would have to be an absolute idiot to come this far and not even ask. The cop began to describe an area off to the side near one of the police towers, but then cut himself short and simply said, "Follow me."
We immediately piled back into the Ecto and began following the police car as it headed back toward the Square. The officer had radioed ahead and arranged for Broadway to be shut down in order for the Ghostbusters to drive directly into the middle of Times Square.
At the earliest chance, I flipped on our lights and followed our ****ING POLICE ESCORT around to a barricaded area, where an opening was made. One cop car blocked off traffic in one direction from 47th, and another veered off to cover the other side. We then drove into the pedestrian area of the Square, next to the TKTS stage.
For the next forty minutes, tourists and New Yorkers alike mobbed the area to see what all the excitement was about, and thousands of people crowded around the car for pictures.
What started off as a lark and a potential traffic violation had turned into an unforgettable and unprecedented moment for us. We shook hands with police and thanked them profusely, but it seemed the whole ordeal was enjoyed equally by both parties.
Not wanting the moment to grow stale or outstay our welcome, we gave one last round of thanks to the members of the NYPD present and loaded up into the Ecto. Traffic into Times Square was once again shut down as the Magnum backed out of its spot and into the Broadway intersection. After receiving a send-off salute from the crowd present, the lights and siren were turned on and we departed down 47th in true "end credits" fashion.
Un. ****ing. Believable.
Here's the video.
YouTube - mc chris and Ghostbusters in Times Square
Forgive our gooniness, but we were all just moment from ****ing soiling ourselves.
After that we headed back to Brooklyn and trolled some of Chris favorite spots to grief hipsters. There is almost nothing as fun as watching groups of people seeing something that makes them really excited, and watching them try very hard not to look excited.
Anyway. Yeah. I don't... I don't ****ing know.
After the firehouse we headed West to the Intrepid Air Museum. By this time we'd discovered that the car could get away with being considered a "commercial vehicle" so finding cheap parking became remarkably easy.
The Intrepid had been on my list of things to do in NY since my first visit in 2008, but during that time it had actually been towed out to New Jersey for renovations. Will, AJ, and I went to the museum while Richie and Kris poked around for a bit.
Aside from Coney Island, this was probably the most chilling thing I saw while in New York, found on the walk to the museum.
Also, steampunk Segway!
I hate steampunk, but it's the only way the joke works
I'll spare you the relatively boring pictures of the Intrepid, as we really only skimmed the surface. The interior of the Growler missile sub was pretty neat, though I want my garage to look like this some day.
Also, why is it that the area around the Intrepid smelled more like 'ocean' than the actual oceanside? Maybe I don't want to know.
This was funny, and only funny until after we'd left.
I didn't even see the sign, and apparently the dude in the background is one of the guards. Heh.
After the Intrepid we made our way back to the hotel room. We got to experience REAL New York traffic, JUST LIKE YOU SEE IN THE MOVIES. This just meant that my buddies were getting out of the car to smoke and buy snacks while we creeped forward. It was also just like driving on I-95 south of Washington D.C., except there the traffic jams move at 80 mph. ****.
Now this, this is where things start to take a turn and get really ****ing...I-I-I don't know how to describe it. Frankly, the whole night has barely sunk in -even a week later.
So we're back at the hotel. We've been tweeting the entire journey and Kris has been following the tweets of other people since DragonCon. People like Wil Wheaton and Adam Savage and mc Chris. We'd actually met mc Chris months before at one of his shows, and he'd absolutely loved the car, then we got to talking about the Jurassic Jeep and all this other ****, mostly just really casual stuff like comments here and there on Facebook. Apparently mc's cousin had recently committed suicide, and he was taking it pretty hard. I suggested, jokingly, that we should take him for a spin and let the amazed shouts of New Yorkers get a chance to lift his spirits. Kris immediately started messaging him, but we didn't hear anything back for some time. Eventually this popped up on the feed: _mchris - because someone up there likes me, the ecto 1 is gonna pick me up and we're gonna drive around and bust ghosts.
So, it was on. He texted us his number and we got ready. We picked him and his assistant/friend Cat Greenfield up in Brooklyn. AJ climbed into the trunk to make space and we were off, hanging out with mc Chris. I'm pretty sure this is going to warrant some posts of "mc chris is a joke act" or something else along those lines, but we all really like Adult Swim and we enjoy comedy hip hop, so... I guess, go for it?
Anyway, Chris wanted to make a few stops to say hi to friends, these stops turned out to be the awesome Forbidden Planet comic store and the ****ing Upright Citizens Brigade theater.
Holy ****! We mounted the curb and did the whole lights/sound thing and people went nuts, it was fun.
Around this time I wanted to do a run through Times Square, as it was early evening and we hadn't done that yet. So we drove over and did a slow cruise right through it, with everything but the lights absolutely maxed-out. Cat was laughing non-stop from the fun and Chris was keeping his twitter feed flowing steadily. EVERYONE inside the car and out seemed to be having an awesome night.
Now, we'd had some pretty heavy experiences with police during this trip, and it wasn't until we cruised Times Square that I really thought we'd show up on the NYPD radar as something that might need to be addressed. I mean, come on. It's New York ****ing City, they have bigger fish to fry than a nerdmobile filled with nerds. But as we pulled out of the Square, a police car whipped in behind us and followed at a very close distance. Sphincters tightened and I prepared for the lights to turn on us to get our asses handed to us on the side of the road. But there were no lights - at the first opportunity the car pulled up alongside and the officer simply asked, "Hey, can you pull over so I can get some pictures?"
Suddenly the mood was completely changed. We pulled over, got out, and turned everything on. The officer and his partner we ****ing jazzed to see the car come to life and started snapping pictures.
It wasn't even two minutes before Chris had their police lights on for a "siren party."
AJ suddenly had an idea, grabbed my arm and dragged me across the street to make a quick video parodying our pull-over clip that surfaced on youtube from Atlanta.
YouTube - Ghostbuster's Car @ Times Square gets pulled over!!
Eh, I thought it was funny.
The cops finished up their pictures and thanked us. Not one to ever waste an opportunity, I politely asked if there was any place in Times Square where the Ecto might pull over so we could get photos a little better than if it was in the middle of traffic. Something like a taxi pulloff or a vacant ambulance spot, anything. I knew it was an impossible question but one would have to be an absolute idiot to come this far and not even ask. The cop began to describe an area off to the side near one of the police towers, but then cut himself short and simply said, "Follow me."
We immediately piled back into the Ecto and began following the police car as it headed back toward the Square. The officer had radioed ahead and arranged for Broadway to be shut down in order for the Ghostbusters to drive directly into the middle of Times Square.
At the earliest chance, I flipped on our lights and followed our ****ING POLICE ESCORT around to a barricaded area, where an opening was made. One cop car blocked off traffic in one direction from 47th, and another veered off to cover the other side. We then drove into the pedestrian area of the Square, next to the TKTS stage.
For the next forty minutes, tourists and New Yorkers alike mobbed the area to see what all the excitement was about, and thousands of people crowded around the car for pictures.
What started off as a lark and a potential traffic violation had turned into an unforgettable and unprecedented moment for us. We shook hands with police and thanked them profusely, but it seemed the whole ordeal was enjoyed equally by both parties.
Not wanting the moment to grow stale or outstay our welcome, we gave one last round of thanks to the members of the NYPD present and loaded up into the Ecto. Traffic into Times Square was once again shut down as the Magnum backed out of its spot and into the Broadway intersection. After receiving a send-off salute from the crowd present, the lights and siren were turned on and we departed down 47th in true "end credits" fashion.
Un. ****ing. Believable.
Here's the video.
YouTube - mc chris and Ghostbusters in Times Square
Forgive our gooniness, but we were all just moment from ****ing soiling ourselves.
After that we headed back to Brooklyn and trolled some of Chris favorite spots to grief hipsters. There is almost nothing as fun as watching groups of people seeing something that makes them really excited, and watching them try very hard not to look excited.
Anyway. Yeah. I don't... I don't ****ing know.
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
It's SO cool. Thanks for sharing!
It's SO cool. Thanks for sharing!
Zombie_61
Master Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
thumbsup
Agreed. In the history of the Internet, websites, forums, chat rooms, blogs, etc., there has never been anything posted that was simply this much fun.Best Thread Ever
thumbsup
nick-a-tron
Well-Known Member
Re: Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Magnum
So frickin' cool!!!!!
So frickin' cool!!!!!
