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Long story. Bear with me. Back in 2005 at a midnight showing of Ghostbusters, I started joking to my friend Will about how funny it would be to run out of a place like the Stanley Hotel or some large building in ghostbuster uniforms, carrying smoking ghost traps, handing the manager a bill for $5000, and running away. Of course, we'd record the whole thing and put it on the internet. Will laughed and said he knew how to build proton packs. I owned a white Subaru Outback at the time and I told him that if he built the packs, I'd convert my car. Flash forward nearly a year. My friends Austin and Will and I are talking about doing something spectacular for Halloween. We decide to go with the Ghostbusters idea. In June I start researching lightbar laws, construction costs, and ways to convert my car temporarily, with nothing permanent. By September 22 I have completed the first iteration of my Ectomobile. We roll it out and people start going crazy. It's on the cover of the local newspaper, radio djs are trying to find out who we are, and the general public thinks we're real ghostbusters. I decide to keep the car, as it's ridiculously popular and enjoyed wherever it goes. Flash forward to this spring. My buddy Ben is driving around his uncles 1970s Land Rover, and I suddenly realize I have a strong desire for and open-top, 4-wheel drive car. It occurs to me that if I buy a jeep, I could easily repaint it as one of the Jurassic Park jeeps, thus restarting the cycle and creating a new movie car for the masses to drool over. Not only that, but I could sell this car at a later date and make bank. And so the story begins. In June I started searching ebay, craigslist, cars.com, and many other sites for 1990s-era jeep Wrangler. I find a white 1990 for about $4000.  All I had to do was swap out the rollcage for the right shape, bolt on the correct side steps, replace the wheels, seats, and repaint it. In early July we start stripping the paint, pulling the car apart, and prepping it to be repainted.  We eventually took it all the way down to bare metal. I am guessing that one of the previous owners had rolled the jeep because there was extensive body damage to both sides, both rear corners, and the original color of the drivers door was actually red. We had to pull out all the bad body work and re-bondo everything.   Masking for the stripes...   Striped! Replaced the windshield, pulled out all the carpet and rhino-coated the entire interior, that way I can just hose it out whenever I want.   Refinished the front bumper and attached the corner horns.  Restored and painted the side mirrors.  Replaced every light, lense, hinge, bolt, grill, and rubber seal on the car.   Found a rollcage at a Denver junkyard that would fit.  Found sidesteps at the same junkyard  Sold off the old tires and rims, and replaced them with stock wheels and brand-new BF Goodrich tires.    Mounted spare tire and restored rear bumper and undercarriage.  Ordered graphics... lots of graphics!  Replaced the old interior speakers... good lord they were gross.   Applied graphics. The side 18s were originally reflective, I have since had them replaced with decals that are a flat gray.  With the Ecto at night.  Installed foglights, and took an ironic picture!  Got seats from a 1992 Sahara and installed them.    Internet meme, anyone?  Mounted rollcage and cb antenna.    I am currently scrambling to have both cars show-ready for an anime/sci-fi convention tomorrow. I still have to attach the fender flares, and finish building my props. The props that go with the car include some yellow pelican cargo cases with JP and InGen logos on them, my Park Ranger shirt, and my weapons case.  I still need to put the smoke grenades in there, and put the giant InGen logo on the outside of the case. I'll also have a small one of these in the corner of the windshield.  I am hoping to have the license plates ready by tomorrow, which look like this.  Bits that I'll have to take car of at a later date include the windshield lightbar, the sidesteps (those are gonna be a pain in the rear end), the winch, and the softtop mounts.   Thoughts?
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Sep 14, 2007 01:39
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Vintersorg posted:I thought this was going to be the green/yellow ones but this is just as good. Yeah, those are the Ford Explorers. Don't get me wrong, a 15-year old SUV was mighty appealing, but I opted for the open-top, kick rear end, pure FUN of a jeep. The Fords would be cool, and I've seen some people make them before. Sometimes not using an explorer. Like this  May be a lame car, but the work and talent needed to make it look like THAT win my vote! Thanks, guys! Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 01:52
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RaRRRR posted:You need a winch tho. Actually, the plan was originally to create some sort of sound system and disguise it as the winch on the front bumper. With this we would blast different dinosaur roars out in front of the car, akin to how the sound system in the Ecto's roofrack play the siren and music.
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Sep 14, 2007 01:57
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Toothy posted:Your next project: I'd actually like to make this:  That's a photoshop I made of a 1985 Nissan 300ZX. They go for around $1500 these days. The cool thing about the nissan is that it's a t-top, so if you have a friend who can weld, gull-wing doors are only a $400 kit away. And lots and lots of labor, of course.
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Sep 14, 2007 02:03
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PICTURES OF THE ECTOCAR!!!! Holy poo poo! The original car  The new Ecto..      Oh yes, and the Ecto will apparently be featured in the Fall issue of Subaru DRIVE magazine. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 02:49 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 02:20
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Corridor posted:I don't remember the JP jeeps looking like this. ALL SCENES WITH GAS-POWERED JEEPS -main characters arrive on the island and are picked up at the helipad by jeeps #18 and #29 -main characters see first dinosaur, climb out of jeeps, throw up -main characters dropped off by jeeps in front of main lodge -Dennis Nedry steals embryos and uses jeep #12 to get into the park when he shuts off the power. He crashed the jeep, tries to winch himself down a hill, and is eaten by a dilophosaurus -Muldoon and Satler arrive in jeep #10 at the T-rex paddock after the rex attack, find Malcolm, find trashed Explorers, get chased by t-rex. -Hammond pulls up to the main lodge in jeep #10 and drives survivors to the helipad. edit: NESguerilla posted:I would love to see these in person sometime. I'll have both the cars at the Nan Desu Kan convention at the Denver Tech Center Marriott this friday-saturday. Come say hi!
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Sep 14, 2007 02:31
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Video of the Ecto, if you care to see. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0Eojhzgjb4 I need to find better music.
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Sep 14, 2007 02:37
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mazachan posted:Was the ecto car actually fairly simple to do? It was interesting trying to figure out how to modify it in such a way that nothing was permanent. It had to be very very sturdy and safe at high-ish speeds, but light enough to remove it easily. Originally it was just for Halloween and then we were going to take it apart and I'd sell the car, but when we rolled it out people when nuts, so I kept it that way. Waffnuffly posted:What do you plan to do with it when the show is over? Well, considering how winter in Colorado started last week... Right now it's my daily driver. I plan on touring Colorado in late September to see 'the colors,' visit my folks, and give it a last big trip before it gets too cold to drive without a soft-top. I'd love to take it up and down the PCH sometime mid-winter. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 03:09 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 03:03
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FlyingCheese posted:What was up with the lame Batmobile in one picture though? It doesn't look like your work. It's not really the Batmobile. That's a hearse owned by a friend of mine. He's into the goth and cyberpunk culture, and he's been putting machine guns and flamethrowers on his hearses for years.  He's pretty awesome.
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Sep 14, 2007 03:18
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GeminiZer0 posted:When did the Ghostbusters drive a Subaru? ... I'm just wondering why you did it that way? Because as much as I like building the cars, I don't really enjoy the gritty parts of maintaining them. Which do you think would be easier and cheaper, buying a 50-year old 21-foot long 5,000 hearse, or a white subaru I already owned? And McKilligan, the Stinger would be freaking AWESOME. Cars that were on our list of possible easy conversions: Time Machine from Back to the Future out of a Nissan Ninja Turtle Party Wagon out of... any van Herbie (blegh) GI Joe MLRS out of a Westy or VW van Transformer (likely Jazz, take a sports car, paint little lines that represent the separation parts, slap an autobot decal on the hood) Gadgetmobile out of a Saab, though without turning into a van (though I doubt anyone would recognize it) Batcycle poo poo, I had a whole list... I'll try to remember more. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 03:26
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kewlpc posted:I still have yet to get my girlfriend to turn around and scream, "poo poo, poo poo, SHIIIIIT!" while I'm driving through town.
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Sep 14, 2007 03:39
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Holy poo poo... so many goons from Fort Collins!
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Sep 14, 2007 04:09
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Bantha_PooDoo posted:The whole time I was reading the OP, my brain was saying "Must go faster. Must go faster." Ah ah! He only says it once in JP... then he says it lots in Independence Day.  I've had several people shout this to me from sidewalks as I drive past. I usually can't stop laughing.Nearly forgot. I plan on making lots and lots of stickers or shirts with this on them. 
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Sep 14, 2007 04:24
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The Human Cow posted:That was one of the forgotten cars on my list. I actually have a friend who loves the Blues Brothers and wants to build the car. He claims to not have enough money. I slapped him and said he could get a sedan for $400 and rattle-can it. He could use monstrous flower pots for the speaker. The A-team van was ALSO on that list. Goddammit how did I forget? There is actually a fairly decent a-team van replica in Boulder somewhere, I've seen it twice. I've also been told that there is a Mystery Machine in Northern Colorado... anyone? Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 04:49
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Another reminder... If you are in Colorado and want to see these cars... I will be at Nan Desu Kan all weekend with them. NDK starts Friday at the Denver Tech Center Marriott, going through Sunday. Both cars will be parked directly in front of the hotel. If you get a chance, stop by and say hi. If not, whenever you DO see me in one of these cars, please be sure to honk and wave like crazy! We need to add goon+ectojeep pictures to this thread, yes?
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Sep 14, 2007 05:15
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Pics I just dug up...  And this is me! 
Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 05:58 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 05:53
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whypickthree posted:What was the deal with it getting broken into and hosed around with? This... must have been a rumor. We built the original car out of my 1998 Outback in september of 2006, and five days before Halloween it was rear-ended by a semi.  Insurance counted it as totaled, and in November I bought a 2003 Outback and transfered the roofrack over. I've never had any problems with vandalism or people messing with it, strangely enough. Once, early on, someone took the magnets that hold the blue hoses to side and stuck them up on the satellite dish, but that's all. What did YOU hear about it being broken into? The Rage posted:Wait, what? What new movie? ANYTHING you hear about a movie is bogus, Bill Murray won't do one. Recently a video was released of an alpha version of a 360 game based on Ghostbusters. The car used in promos for the game was a stretched Chrysler 300C. Sony clamped down on the game studio and optioned the rights to higher bidders, so there is a possibility of a game coming out. As cool as the magnum and 300c are, I don't think they would make good ectos because their roofs slope back so far. Any roofrack on one of those would be tilted [i]backwards. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 07:32 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 07:29
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sky shark posted:Does the dish shake horribly when at highway speeds? It vibrates, but it generally stays pretty steady. After 16,000 miles in all kinds of crazy colorado weather (including being under 3 feet of snow), the dish cracked around the bolts holding it to it's little mast thingy. I have since bought and painted a new dish, which I'll be mounting tomorrow morning before the con. HardCoil posted:Do the side-mirrors have the "Objects are closer than they appear" stencil? That's on my to-do list. In fact, early on it occurred to me that putting a screen cap of the rex in the mirror, in the mirror would be really cool. So I'm working on that. Taken just moments ago... After a month of waiting, and working, and sanding....  Maybe YOU don't know why I'm so happy, but these flares have been the biggest pain in the rear end imaginable. And now they're ready to be mounted! Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 07:49 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 07:46
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astrakio posted:Not to troll, but I could've sworn I've seen a Geocities page by you guys Yup, you would be very very mistaken. Before building this car (Fall 2006), the last time I ever donned or did anything related to Ghostbusters was in... third grade, I think. There ARE plenty of funny guys out there that are ghostbusters nuts. Like this guy...  There's nothing as exciting as watching some struggle to get into a jumpsuit, to music. Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 09:15 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 08:54
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obsidian440 posted:Google keeps telling me that an all CGI ghostbusters 3 movie is in the works and set for 2009. This is what Dan Akyroyd announced earlier this year, and then he saw the zootfly prototype and announced that THAT would be 'Ghostbusters 3'. Dan 'confirms' production is in the works about once every three years and then no one hears of it again.
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Sep 14, 2007 14:03
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Radio on the TV posted:See how nice we are when you aren't a douche Boomerjinks? See how awesome I am regardless? ;P Taking a break from putting the fender flares on. You guys probably won't hear from me until after the con, unless I find a laptop or web terminal.  Completed "road safety case." Well, not all the way completed. I gotta put the InGen logo on the outside.  Fake pelican case that I'll store items for maintaining the jeep in; rags, windex, armor-all, etc. Bye for now! Boomerjinks fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Sep 14, 2007 |
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Sep 14, 2007 18:38
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Well guys... there it is. *tear*   I still have to mount the sidesteps and make the lightbar, but those are the last two things. DinoJeep completed at 12:45pm, September 14, 2007 Thoughts?
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Sep 14, 2007 20:00
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