Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1 is legendary, but here’s what it was made of.
Since the « Ghostbusters » franchise launched in 1984, it has left an indelible mark on pop culture, like ectoplasm from a ghoul. The original ghost-busting trio of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis warned us not to cross the streams (to avoid total protonic reversal). They made the catchphrase, « Who ya gonna call? » a rhetorical question. And thanks to Ray Parker Jr., turned the film’s chart-topping theme song into a musical earworm for the ages.
Last but not least, they gave us that crazy cool Ecto-1 that took the fight to the supernatural baddies. When Dr. Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd) pulled up to the Ghostbusters fire station and office for the first time he proclaimed to Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray) that everyone could relax because he found the car, then proceeded to rattle off a litany of things that first needed to be fixed — suspension, shocks, brakes, brake pads, steering box, transmission, rear end — before it would actually serve as their battlewagon.
The latest entry in the film franchise, « Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire », dropped this year, and even now, four decades later, the Ecto-1 (one of the most iconic movie cars of all time) is as much a character in the film as the actors themselves, even taking center stage in virtually all the different variations of the movie poster. So, what car was the Ghostbusters’ original Ectomobile (aka the Ecto-1), and where is it today?What was the Ecto-1 made of?
The Ecto-1 is a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex, but it’s not as straightforward as that.
