The sequel would see an upgraded version of the custom Cadillac dubbed Ecto-1a.įans of bustin' ghosts would see vehicles like Ecto-2, a gyrocopter that you could eventually buy in toy form thanks to Kenner. Ghostbusters was so popular, it spawned a sequel, a video game, comic book series, and a well-loved cartoon series that ran until 1991. Moreover, while it was a one-of-a-kind machine, it wouldn't be the last. ![]() It jived perfectly with the bumbling do-gooder image of the Ghostbusters team, and instantly became a classic. Instead, owing to the difficulty of shooting a black car at night, Ecto-1 ended up cheerily white and red – more an ambulance than a hearse. It would have changed the tone of the movie entirely. Dane would also design the Ghostbuster's Proton Packs and other accessories, using the Ectomobile's sliding gurney as a storage device.Īckroyd's script called for Ecto-1 to be darkly brooding, weirdly lit by purplish lights. Preliminary sketches were drawn by John Davekis, and then the car was built by a single man, Steven Dane. Universal Studios only bought the one car for conversion, a rarity in movie making, where a backup is almost always required (there were three Back to the Future DeLoreans, for instance). ![]() The 1959 car on which the Ectomobile is based is one of only several hundred outfitted to be both a hearse and an ambulance, and would have been used in the sort of small rural town where everybody had two jobs. Even if you couldn't afford to buy a Cadillac, there was every chance you might get a ride to the hospital in one and, if you were lucky (or not-so-lucky, come to think of it), one last ride to the gravesite as well.Ĭadillac provided the front clips of their cars, along with beefed-up suspension and brakes, to custom coachbuilders who would make the cars to order for various funeral and ambulance services. And, slightly more rarely, massive flower arrangements too. Right through until a law was passed regulating requirements for ambulances, Cadillac had a nice little sideline in building cars for ferrying the sick and the dead around. Instead, the car the production team picked and built was almost a one-of-a-kind already, a 1959 Cadillac hearse/ambulance coachbuilt by Miller-Meteor.Įven before Ectoplasm and Proton Packs show up, here's where things start getting a little weird. It's not the usual movie car story you find nowadays, what with embedded advertising, product placement, and behind the scenes sponsorship deals. This Friday, August 30th, fans first watched the colossal white and red beauty roll on-screen, lights flashing, ghost-traps armed and at the ready. It looms in the imagination, and just like the Stay-Puft marshmallow man, you can't keep it out of your head.Įcto-1 will forever be immortal, thanks to cinema, and this year it celebrates its thirtieth birthday along with the rest of the Ghostbusters franchise. ![]() Any time anybody mentions the '80s, up it pops. Any time anyone makes a list involving movie cars, it's on it. In fact, the resulting vehicle vies with the Dukes of Hazzard's General Lee, and the Back to the Future DeLorean DMC-12 as one of the best-loved star cars of all time. ![]() Wait, $4,800? In 1984 money? “Also new rings, mufflers, a little wiring.” This is going to be a complete disaster. Brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear-end.” “Everybody relax: I found the car,” he says, pulling up in a grey-primered old 1950s relic, “Needs some suspension work and shocks. When Dan Aykroyd's Ray Stantz first brings home a stray, the Ghostbusters aren't too sure about it.
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