Boomerjinks
Member
+301|6755|Denver, CO
modedit: brought my office's DSL connection to its knees; converted images into gallery -un13

It's done! As of April 24, after two years of painting and changing/adding parts to make it match the 1993 Sahara, it's finally done!



Since it did well on many many other forums like SA and NASIOC, I hereby share with you.... my story.

Long story. Bear with me. Or read this and skip to the pictures! http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthr … ?t=1254710

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.

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.

I needed to turn this:



into this:



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.


 
Around this time I started scrambling to have the car ready to be on display at the Nan Desu Kan convention in Denver. I was working on making a set of props to go with the car, a makeshift pelican case and a weapons/survival kit like the one used in the movie. I bought an $8 gun case from wal-mart and filled it with deactivated grenades, signal flares, and a flashlight.
 

 
  I had a large InGen logo made and stuck on the gun case, and I also had a set of these made up, one of which ended up on the windshield as sort of an easter egg.


 
  On the day of the con, Shauna and Ben helped me mount the fender flares. I replaced the sun visors as well, now featuring InGen embelms. The jeep was finally 'complete'! Granted, I still have to attach the side steps, the windshield lightbar, and the front winch.


 
  On the way to the con I picked up my license plates from ActionSigns and a set of windshield wiper arms from Mike at NAPA. Upon arriving in Denver, I talked to the executive director of the convention and the head of security for the DTC Marriott. They gave me permission to put the jeep up on the grass and let me park the Ecto in front of the main entrance. Both cars were incredibly popular!
 



My crown jewel of the con, getting the cars in a picture with this guy!



Since then there have been many many more little adventures with this car...


Whaddaya think?

Last edited by Boomerjinks (2010-01-04 09:42:04)

krazed
Admiral of the Bathtub
+619|6740|Great Brown North
awesome    +1
KONG
Member
+2|5956
Amazing!! Looks very good!! Good job m8..
theDude5B
Cool member
+804|6711
Classic man, really cool.

Any plans for another car?
loonitic
...is a potty mouth
+286|6495|Valhalla
Thats ACE
mtb0minime
minimember
+2,418|6615

omfg that's fucking incredible!!!! i seriously can't believe it! JP is one of my favorite movies ever!

Next project: build a gigantic, mobile T-Rex and have it chase you in the jeep!

You need to get an old guy to drive around with you and have him tell people "Welcome... to Jurassic Pawk!"
Boomerjinks
Member
+301|6755|Denver, CO

theDude5B wrote:

Classic man, really cool.

Any plans for another car?
Right now I don't have the budget for owning more than two cars (and with three roommates in the house, parking is at a premium). I would love to get my friends involved in this sort of things, create sort of a fictional-auto club to nerd up the roads currently dominated by ricers

Here's the list of other potential replicas that my friends and I have come up with (might be missing a few)

Boomerjinks wrote:

Batmobile -- can be kit-made from a corvette

Batcycle -- put fins on any black superbike

Shaggin' Wagon -- from Dumb and Dumber

A-Team Van -- already one in Fort Collins

Mach 5 -- from Speed Racer, could make it out of a stingray

Gorillaz Geep -- wouldn't be street legal

Optimus Prime -- if someone supplied the truck, I'd do it

Ninja Turtle Party Wagon -- this is actually the project I would like to do next

Ford Torino from Starsky and Hutch -- Could be a lot of fun, would look good on some modern cars!

Herbie -- blegh, and there is already one in Fort Collins

Mirthmobile from Waynes World -- with licorice dispenser, of course!

Mystery Machine -- already one of these in Northern Colorado

General Lee -- I would NEVER drive that car

Stinger APC from Aliens -- would be cool, but I can't afford an airline tractor!

KITT from Knightrider -- no point as the red light would be illegal

Bluesmobile -- INCREDIBLY easy project! Probably only $500 including the car

Green Hornet - cool, but who is gonna recognize it?

Christine -- not easily recognized

The Car -- not easily remembered

Transformer -- easy to do, just slap an autobot or decepticon logo on your hood, then paint lines all over the car to show the segments of when it transforms. Also, you'd have to make the horn play the transformation sound effect!

Gadgetmobile --you could make this out of a Saab, but without it transforming into a van, I don't think anyone would get it

Green Goblin Truck -- Maximum Overdive

Pursuit Special -- Mad Max, would be AWESOME!

TransAm from Smokey and the Bandit -- not my style

OCP police car from RoboCop -- would be illegal to have the lights

Winnebago from SpaceBalls -- would be pretty cool, though hard to drive with how wide it would be.
The jeep was really easy to create an accurate replica out of, but I am really all about making normal, average cars into custom replicas. Here's a photoshop I threw together of what you could do to a 1985 Nissan 300Z

https://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/Boomerjinks/300zxTM.jpg

Once in a while I'll get flak for not going full-out and making the cars precise replicas. I look at it from a more practical standpoint. Converting an actual DeLorean would cost about $18,000 if you did it right, whereas you could build the above replica for about three grand. That leaves you $15,000 to build more and more and more!

Last edited by Boomerjinks (2007-11-30 01:45:44)

FloppY_
­
+1,010|6246|Denmark aka Automotive Hell
I frickin love you man <3

I wish i could do that to cars,,, but the Danish law is so FRICKIN' restrictive when it comes to modifying cars >.<


Are you educated in this in any way?? or have you learned it all yourself as you went along?
­ Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me
FloppY_
­
+1,010|6246|Denmark aka Automotive Hell
Is it really legal in the states to fit all those light bridges like you have on the ecto (subaru) ?
Do you have the real ghostbusters siren on the Ecto? (i see someone on youtube have made one)

EDIT: I would love to own an A-team van


EDIT2: Would you consider cars from videogames as well??? Because tbh i would love to see a replica of either the buggy from Half-life2 or the Charger from HalfLife2:EP2
though they probably wouldn't be street legal due to the lack of doors most of the frame beeing replaced by a roll cage

Last edited by FloppY_ (2007-11-30 02:01:37)

­ Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me
pirana6
Go Cougs!
+682|6251|Washington St.
I wish I was rich...


cool though
Boomerjinks
Member
+301|6755|Denver, CO

FloppY_ wrote:

Are you educated in this in any way?? or have you learned it all yourself as you went along?
I knew pretty much next to nothing about cars when this started, and I still have incredibly limited knowledge on them. I have more experience with prop building.

FloppY_ wrote:

Is it really legal in the states to fit all those light bridges like you have on the ecto (subaru/nissan i guess?) ?
Do you have the real ghostbusters siren on the Ecto? (i see someone on youtube have made one)
It really depends on where you are, laws vary from state to state. There is a generally-accepted set of guidelines called Lacey Laws or Police Impersonation laws that restrict the color lights you can have on a car. The lightbars on the original ecto in the movie were blue, but blue, red, and green are all restricted colors in Colorado. I would like to eventually change them to purple, if I ever get around to it.

pirana6 wrote:

I wish I was rich...


cool though
You probably just wish you were resourceful. Both mods were about $1,500 each.

Last edited by Boomerjinks (2007-11-30 02:06:53)

FloppY_
­
+1,010|6246|Denmark aka Automotive Hell

Boomerjinks wrote:

FloppY_ wrote:

Are you educated in this in any way?? or have you learned it all yourself as you went along?
I knew pretty much next to nothing about cars when this started, and I still have incredibly limited knowledge on them. I have more experience with prop building.

FloppY_ wrote:

Is it really legal in the states to fit all those light bridges like you have on the ecto (subaru/nissan i guess?) ?
Do you have the real ghostbusters siren on the Ecto? (i see someone on youtube have made one)
It really depends on where you are, laws vary from state to state. There is a generally-accepted set of guidelines called Lacey Laws or Police Impersonation laws that restrict the color lights you can have on a car. The lightbars on the original ecto in the movie were blue, but blue, red, and green are all restricted colors in Colorado. I would like to eventually change them to purple, if I ever get around to it.

pirana6 wrote:

I wish I was rich...


cool though
You probably just wish you were resourceful. Both mods were about $1,500 each.
Look up please i edited my posts...

In Denmark you won't even be able to get one of these:
https://billeder02.bilinfo.dk/getpic.asp?id=652700206_1&amp;picsize=350https://billeder02.bilinfo.dk/getpic.asp?id=185101346_1&amp;picsize=350
For $1,500
­ Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me
Boomerjinks
Member
+301|6755|Denver, CO
Yeesh! As far as the video game replicas go, I have SALIVATED over the prospect of making a Chinese FAV

Oh, an as far as the siren goes, the Ecto has a water-proof sound system hidden behind the tanks that I use to blast the original siren as well as any music I like.

Check check it, yo
Old Ecto




New Ecto


Last edited by Boomerjinks (2007-11-30 02:25:32)

FloppY_
­
+1,010|6246|Denmark aka Automotive Hell

Boomerjinks wrote:

Yeesh! As far as the video game replicas go, I have SALIVATED over the prospect of making a Chinese FAV
That would be SEXY!


But wouldn't it be easier just to buy one at a millitary supply store ? i don't know what they are called in English,, but you know.. those auctions where they sell old military equipment at millitary bases and such?



Oh okay, i just couldn't hear that in the other vid i saw

I love the Ecto :]

Want to trade it for an '95 opel vectra? ^^


EDIT:

Youtube wrote:

The url contained a malformed video id.

Last edited by FloppY_ (2007-11-30 02:22:09)

­ Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me
aLeX
.?
+160|6291|:D

krazed wrote:

awesome    +1
Second that! Good job!

(Sticky? xD)

Last edited by aLeX (2007-11-30 02:21:42)

FloppY_
­
+1,010|6246|Denmark aka Automotive Hell

Boomerjinks wrote:

F**K that thing so so freakin' sexy !!!!! I want it !!! Sigh,, but i will never be able to afford it as long as i live in Denmark *cries*


Nice video btw..

Last edited by FloppY_ (2007-11-30 02:28:54)

­ Your thoughts, insights, and musings on this matter intrigue me
Ty
Mass Media Casualty
+2,398|6735|Noizyland

Fucking A. I've always loved Jurassic Park. It came out when I was six and from that point I learned all I could about dinosaurs, (I imagine as would most kids my age when shown Jurassic Park.). I even learned the theme tune on the piano which is the ONLY song I can still remember from my eight years of playing the piano.
You could always add to your JP collection by modifying a couple of cars into the tour cars.
Can't wait to see what you do next.
[Blinking eyes thing]
Steam: http://steamcommunity.com/id/tzyon
Boomerjinks
Member
+301|6755|Denver, CO
Whole thread on the ecto, just for you Floppy.
[url]http://forums.bf2s.com/viewtopic.php?pid=1690853#p1690853[/url]

Also thank you, everyone, for the compliments!!
Mekstizzle
WALKER
+3,611|6581|London, England
That's just awesome. this one is the one I thought you were gonna do though. Complete with automated driving thingy just like in the film

Nice job though, we'll have to see if it can really outrun a T-Rex, don't worry. I got that lined up for you.
VspyVspy
Sniper
+183|6633|A sunburnt country
Well done Boomer that is great work man.  +1 for you
aLeX
.?
+160|6291|:D

I think you should have a pop at this one next tbh.
Nordemus
BC2 plat: CG, GL, M60, Mortar, Knife
+60|5958
Yeah, great! +1
PhaxeNor
:D
+119|6376|Norway | Unkown
Very nice work you have done there. Have you been on car shows with the ones you have made?
FFLink
There is.
+1,380|6651|Devon, England
That is fucking bad-ass.

Build a DPV! I love that car... Minus the gun emplacements, of course
FatherTed
xD
+3,936|6460|so randum
Fucking Epic
Small hourglass island
Always raining and foggy
Use an umbrella

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