So I have the chance to buy a 61 Cadillac Ambulance. Looks like a Superior to me. Its a standard roof height I will post some pics if the deal goes through. I really would love a 59 MM but so would everyone else that wants to do the conversion. My first question is. What does everyone honestly think of a 61 superior for an Ecto 1. I mean I think I am going to buy it and restore it either way but I am in need of opinions (no matter what its getting the siren though lol )
Well, my buddy Adam and I are converting and restoring a 1960 MM hearse to an ambulance as well so take the rest of this post for what its worth. . .
It won’t have the same fins and if its a superior, its rear glass will look different from a MM as well. But to be honest, 1959 through 1961 cadillac hearse/ambulances were very similar. I’m sure it will look similar to fifthrider’s ecto-1 but with different fins and front grill.
Yeah I noticed all that when I first thought about a replica years ago. The lower quarter panels are even different because of the redesign of the rear bumper. I guess I am mainly thinking about the haters ( non gbfans) and the fact that its not a '59 or an MM. I am pretty set on buying it no matter what I do with it. It deserves a restoration.
Well, there will be 3 types of people with opinions on the car. First there will be the Ghostheads, which you will get mixed comments from. Then there’s the pro car guys that will hate you for turning a rare car into an ectomobile. Then there will be the general public that have no concept of the ectomobile and will be happy as long has the car is white, has shit on the roof and at least 1 no-ghost logo on it.
I am a car nut I mean I have a few muscle cars I am working on and one is bone stock and I wouldnt have that car any other way. and I can see where those people are coming from but making an ecto isnt like chopping a top, tubbing it out and cutting a hole in the hood for a supercharger. It always makes me think about if there were actual GB franchises around the country…they all couldn’t have '59 MM’s lol
Isn’t this what we’re doing? Hahaha.
Yeah, as long as you don’t do this:
You should be fine. :sigh:
That makes me want to punch myself in the neck right after I spin kick a nun.
The cool thing is..
you’ll more than likely never run into the “pro car” people unless you go looking for them, and the majority of the people who are going to see your car are going to be in that 3rd category.
I drove my GREEN rusty 1979 hearse through town with no logos, and nothing but a metal rack on top.. and I STILL got people yelling ghostbusters.
Not true at all. If you’re building a decent Ecto and want to get the right parts, you’ll almost CERTAINLY deal with one.
Adam and I have been dealing with a lot of them. If you need anything for your car, like glass, chrome, or any of the interior, you are going to deal with the pro car people.
Well I used to sell auto parts for a living and I know all the yards in the Pacific NW all the way down the west coast and a lot of the niche people in the resto game and pro cars are pretty niche. So I hopefully wont have to deal with too many…But even if I do ill just make some random things up like “oh I am restoring a 61 that was used at a Hawaiian naval base and sat behind barracks for 30 years but I put a battery in and it started right up” until they stop asking me any questions.
Yeah, I didn’t take into account that his car is alot rarer and closer to the actual car. I doubt I ever come in contact with any though, I’ve got a few friends who drive hearses and none of them care. I’ve got one friend who is about to die for me to just go riding with him, he doesn’t care what it looks like, as long we go hearse driving.
But I was more or less talking about Post restoration.
If you go to car shows and such, you may run into them.. but out and about doing GB stuff, you won’t probably run into any.
I go on nationalhearse all the time, and the key there is to just not mention ghostbusters or ecto 1 at all.. and your golden.
Or have ghostbusters stuff in your photobucket account . . .
oh wow.. that bad?
Not all pro-cars make good Ectos. You could consider me one of the “pro-car people” yet I’m building a 59 myself. Bottom line up front is this, the NHAA people are more lax when it comes to Ectos, DO NOT talk to PCS people about Ectos. If you do decide to go ahead with an Ecto resto (see above comment regarding that) then mention nothing about it to them. You’re only restoring an ambulance
That’s similar to how I have to be when I am dealing with other classic cars as well. I bought a 66 Plymouth belvedere 4 door parts car for my two door post car the parts I needed were in tact but the rest of the car was trashed and it was a 4 door I was 2 hours from home with my tow truck and decided to tell the guy I was going to fix it up for my gf or some ■■■■ that so he wouldn’t flake out on the deal because he seemed like he would flip if he knew I was stripping it.
Yeah, Matt has had a run-in with a semi-knucklehead who happened to see his other photobucket albums with GB stuff in them and sort of interrogated him about it. The guy I purchased the 60 Miller Meteor from is a Caddy Hearse enthusiast…a pro-car kind of guy, but he just happens to be a very, very nice dude. I’ve been lucky to buy from him, because he has a been a big help with suggesting where to find other stuff…he even knows most of the other people who Matt and I have had run ins with…they’re all connected it seems.
That being said, the ■■■■■■■■ hearse people do not seem to like what we do to the cars, but I think 50% of that distaste comes from the fact that most people who attempt Ecto conversions do a pretty bad or incomplete job and the car eventually suffers from the failed attempt. I don’t think most people realize how much it costs to do this…I’m already in nearly 10K when all of the commitments are ironed out, and that’s with no restoration on the car yet, a need for a new engine, a need for a complete interior, and a need to paint the car when it’s all ready…which will cost over 5 grand easily.
I am prepared to spend the money and do a good quality conversion if I go that route. But either way the restoration will be nice. I am mostly into Mopars when it comes to other cars and they can be just as expensive and hard to find parts for unless you have a 70-74 e body ( cuda and challenger) or a 68-70 charger which I don’t lol they make like nothing for my GTX . The one thing I have going for me is I already spent the money on all the equipment and tools over the years and I know how to do all the work already. Patch panels metal fab work etc. Plus I have already painted a couple of cars in my shop and they turned out great. So dealing with the toolbags will be the only drawback. I will just have to keep the Ecto on the dl until I am finished finding the ultra rare parts I guess.