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SPOTTED! Modern Car Ecto-Conversion Thread

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 9:15 pm
by Boomerjinks
As I'm sure we all know, Ectomobile replicas can be divided into two primary categories. The first category encompasses replicas built out of classic hearses or ambulances, and the second covers pretty much anything else. Today we are going to talk about the second category. As anyone who has been a member of one of these community sites for a year or more could tell you there are dozens, if not hundreds, of instances in which someone looked at their personal car and decided to slap a bunch of crap onto it with the hopes of reliving a small bit of the cinema magic brought to life by that original 1959 Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex.

The reasons why someone would do this vary wildly from case to case. Some people create a temporary setup so they can get some laughs as they pull into work on Halloween, others go the whole nine yards by drilling holes and providing entirely new paint jobs. Sometimes they are built for fan films, and sometimes they are built for performances or parades. But they are built, and there are TONS of them out there. And that's what this thread is about.

The goal I would like to see accomplished by this thread is for it to be the single most comprehensive archive of pictures of non-caddy ecto conversions on the instawebs. If someone finds a link to this thread I want them to see pictures of every known conversion on the net. In the end, I would love to see this blossom into a conversation about what makes ecto conversions work and what makes them epic fail. What makes them appealing even though they are a long way from the original ECTO-1. I'd also like to discuss what makes a conversion awful, with the hopes of guiding prospective builders down a path of vehicular righteousness. Car model, car color, decal placement, rooftop hardware, lighting setup, I want it all to be considered!

RULEZ:
- No pictures of conversions based on classic hearses or ambulances, these will be covered in a different thread.
- No photoshopped conceptualizations of ectomobiles, only the real deals, please!
- Anything with a Ghostbusters logo on the door will be accepted.x
- Do not quote more than one picture at a time. This is a picture-intensive thread so keep the reposting to a minimum.

Allrighty, let's begin!

Most of these pictures have been pulled from Flickr, but quite a bit more were found here on this site in their own little threads, tucked away back from years ago.

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This is the Ecto-1C, which I believe belongs to the St. Paul/Minnesota Ghostbuster guys. This thing has been around forever, will be featured heavily in Bustin' 911, and is clearly the most monstrous and heavy-duty non-caddy ever built. I've yet to get the full scoop on this car from the owners, but it looks like they constructed a giant platform on top of the car to support the rack, which is permanently affixed to the car. Large and in charge!

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This is the car of choice of the Minnesota Ghostbusters, and is one of my absolute favorites. You will NOT find a more accurate roofrack on any conversion out there, this thing is spot-on. They started off with green lights, but over the last year or so they've added the red spots and blue domes to the lightbars, and I think it looks wonderful.

Here's that one piece of shit.
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Moving on.

This is, I believe, the original ecto replica of the Long Island gbs.
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And I think they eventually replaced that with this...
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And then upgraded to this:
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And, as of their latest posts, they are back with the silver van again.

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This fella belongs to the Central Georgia boys, but was written off and replaced by a Transformers Mustang, which was then given the boot in favor of that SE Magnum with the scissor doors.
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This belongs to a bunch of German guys.

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Ecto HHR, of which I believe two exist, one in New Hampshire and one in Texas, if I remember right. Or am I confused?

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Ecto Freestyle from the Florida boys. Pretty much what would happen if an Outback and a minivan had an illegitimate lovechild, which I think is great.

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Donkey's Ecto mustang, a nice temporary Halloween job.

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Braedster's Dollar Store Ecto. He's from Oregon and convinced someone he knows to provide their wagon for conversion.

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This guy was pretty LOL. Oh the stories I could tell.

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A FANTASTIC demolition derby tribute. I don't care what any of you guys think, I love this car.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 9:20 pm
by Boomerjinks
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Bradboss, that you?

Oh wait, THERE you are.
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Yeah, that's about what we expected.

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This guy is apparently a volunteer EMS responder, and has responded to emergencies in this.

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The Ecto-X, or was it the Ecto-civic? I don't remember. Long time ago.

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The Ecto-4, from a LONG time ago.

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I really like this one.

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I'm sure those of us who have built are own f****g HATE this. So schmuck with a retarded car getting the Ecto-1 plate looong before we ever even thought of building our own. And it's always on a saturn or some POS pickup on a farm that doesn'tevenrungoddammitchrist!
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More Euro dudes.
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Citroen, nice.

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The Aurora Branch GBs.

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Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 9:26 pm
by AJ Quick
Wow. This thread is epic!

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 9:27 pm
by Boomerjinks
AJ Quick wrote:Wow. This thread is epic!
INDEED!

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 1st, 2009, 9:37 pm
by Some_Guy
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Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 5:30 am
by Krenzy
Boomer,

The Ecto under the Ecto 1-C is my groups' Ecto. Owned by my good friend Dustin, it's a 1984 Ford LTD wagon, ECTO-01 for plates. And you're right, you won't find a nicer roof rack (With absolutely no offense intended to anyone elses' creations). And we are the Minnesota Ghostbusters. The group above us in the '95 Caprice wagon goes by Ghostbusters 911. I hadn't seen a couple of those pictures :)

Here's a couple more of it:
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EDIT: This thread rocks!

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 8:03 am
by Donkey8012
It's nice to be noticed. Thanks Boomer. : )

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 10:36 am
by Boomerjinks
Krenzy wrote:And you're right, you won't find a nicer roof rack
How did you guys go about doing that? Is it an exact reproduction of the original rack according to the measured plans, or did you scale it to fit the car? Or did you just eyeball the measurements and it came out great?

Also, how in the hell are you getting away with those lights?

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 1:09 pm
by Krenzy
Dustin and Scott are the two that have full credit for the rack. He started by building the metal rack frame, then slowly added stuff, like the original green lights. Most of the stuff he either bought new at a hardware store or found at surplus/electronics stores. Dustin is one creative MOFO lol.

How do we get away with it? Law enforcement loves it. We have a picture from the Haskell's event where while we were inside, we left his sister to watch the car. While we were there, a cop walked up and whispered to her "Take a picture...Quick!" As long as you don't run the lights while driving (in a populated area ;)) and don't sound the siren off while driving, they have no problem with it. When we're parked, they could care less.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 1:19 pm
by EctoTrk
Awesome thread boomer. Its kinda hard to pin poiint exactly what makes or breaks a custom ecto, but i give everyone alot of credit regardless simply because of the fact that it aint easy! Thanks btw for thrown up some ecto-trk pics...still need to fix my own pics...

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 3:29 pm
by FunkPunkTwang
Hey thats my HHR!!!!!

Thanks for the love!

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 3:37 pm
by Speedmonkey80
That was great, thanks alot Boomer! Glad to know that your Outback and the Long Island van made our Ecto Freestyle

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 2nd, 2009, 4:45 pm
by Dr. Ray Stantz
Not completley up to date, but this is the only picture I can seem to find of our Ectomobile. Used for the fan film Ghostbusters: Hellbent.

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Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 3rd, 2009, 12:53 am
by OAOSwartz
Holy Hell!

It looks like our Ecto but with a lift kit and from what i can tell, a roof rack, but maybe i'm missing it or cant see it by the pic

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 3rd, 2009, 8:29 am
by river_of_slime
Why cant people send me these pictures with a little info to my site?

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 3rd, 2009, 1:10 pm
by EctoTrk
What is your site?

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 3rd, 2009, 1:20 pm
by Boomerjinks
EctoTrk wrote:What is your site?
*facepalm* Ectomobiles Version 2.0 coming soon

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 4:18 am
by EctoTrk
Ah, thank you boomer for yet again making me feel like a complete moron. I dont have computer skills!!! ...and some how the other post i screwed up fixed itself i guess...

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 11:17 am
by ihsanamin
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I just saw one of these with the rear door panel kits and thought it would look dope decked out as an Ecto.
Maybe I'll take a crack at it in Photoshop... but I won't post it here per the rules. (I read. LOL)

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 7:35 pm
by Sorrow Of Moldavia
what is the best method of affixing the ghostbusters logo to the car?
magnets?

or decals?

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 7:47 pm
by FaNBoY
Mine:

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Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 4th, 2009, 9:12 pm
by Boomerjinks
Most inexpensive is vinyl graphics, though they are usually one-use things. Magnets are significantly more expensive, and fears of them flying off at high speeds have been proven wrong by people who have successfully used them.

Both are incredibly low-impact means of signage.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 5th, 2009, 2:50 pm
by EctoTrk
Only thing to worry about with magnets are idiots messing with them or stealing them. Let my old 1's to a friend and they got stolen...

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 5th, 2009, 4:28 pm
by FaNBoY
Mine are vynil.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 5th, 2009, 6:05 pm
by Boomerjinks
FaNBoY wrote:Mine:

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Logo fail. I hate it when people go through everything get logos printed and don't even get the background colored in right!

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 6th, 2009, 11:01 am
by FaNBoY
Thats a printer problem on them...either way...makes me happy.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 12th, 2009, 1:16 pm
by GB2032DKM
Well here is mine, for what it was worth:

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With a pic of the rack:

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And me meeting Denver GBs:

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And my thread is somewhere still here about what happened to my car, but here is a pic:

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Great thread Boomer.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 15th, 2009, 8:15 am
by Gareee
Epic thread! Since we are considering removable ecto stuff for our white tiburon, its food for thought.

Is there one specific thread that details roof rack construction, or tips?

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 15th, 2009, 10:15 am
by 69428scj
if you go to www.theecto1.com there is a treasure trove of knowledge there regarding Ecto 1, not so much 1A though.

Re: Ecto Conversion Archive

Posted: April 15th, 2009, 10:31 am
by Gareee
VERY cool.. thanks for that link!