I know some of you with the more modern ones do, but what about you folks with hearse/ambulance conversions? How much gas do they drink? I’m looking into buying a hearse/ambulance to convert into an ECTO but I’d be wanting to drive the thing everywhere, and I’m assuming that would get costly. Maybe I could just drive it on special occassions (dates, parties, halloween, parades, maybe one day a week to work.. or something.) I don’t want it to just sit in my yard/garage.
I’ve owned 6 hearses, great gas mileage is NOT what they’re known for.
Just as an example, my '68 and '74 both got around 9 miles to the gallon. My '81 got around 13 or 14. So that’s the range your looking at.
Also remember that like any older car, things will fail on it. So unless you have the cash to go on and do a frame off restoration on it and replace everything with new parts, be prepared to drive someplace and have the water pump, or alternator or whatever suddenly not work. The placement of stuff on the motor is a little harder to get to than a chevy or ford and parts are sometimes hard to find and expensive. Also be prepared to always feel like your brakes are weak, and to drive around in a 30ft car where you can’t see out of the back.
And I say all that as a huge hearse and cadillac fan. My hearses have been the most fun cars I’ve owned, but also the biggest pains and usually when I’ve owned one I used it as a daily driver, so as long as you go in knowing what to expect and carry a full tool kit and lots of extra parts you’ll be fine.
I’m thinking because of my work commute, I’d still have a “daily driver” and just use the hearse for going out to Longhorn!
Chace, saw you on NHAA a friend of mine told me about that site tonight.. remind me never to post anything about an ECTO there.
LoL yeah, I’m one if the original members of Dead Ends, the Atl based hearse club that cofounded the NHAA. But yeah many members are sensitive to ectofication.
I’m in search of a car to convert into an ECTO. I’m not a huge car buff, but I have people around me who are who would love to help for the fun of it. As I’ve seen with even things like proton packs, “most” people (not those of us here) think any white station wagon type car with a no ghost logo and some lights is a ECTO.
I’ve thought alot about this, and how hard it would be to find a 59 or even similar era car nowadays at a low price. I also thought about how even if I did find one, the parts would be ridiculously expensive and hard to find and if something broke down in it.. there may come a time when its impossible to repair. So, I’ve contemplated just looking for something that is a bit newer, but will still be able to be converted into a respectable ecto replica. That way, parts would be easier to get and I might be able to get one in alot better condition than I would otherwise. I’m looking at an 84 Caddy right now. I would have liked something just a TAD bit older, but I’m trying to figure out what the threshold is for being able to get parts easily, and it still looking like an ECTO in the end.
I’ve also thought about the fact that they are pretty strict here about “lights” and I wouldn’t be able to put blue or red lights on it anyhow, so it would sort of toss the “exact replica” idea out of the window anyway. Ideally I’d like to have one with “fins” but I don’t in what year they stopped making them with fins.
What are your thoughts on my idea? Its going to be a ton of work either way, but I’d rather have something thats not quite as accurate thats easier to maintain (because most of the people will not care anyway.. I mean.. ITS A GHOSTBUSTERS CAR!)
So you’re asking us if we’d like to see a Non-59 Ecto or something?
Apparently you have not seen these threads:
I’ve seen those threads.
My question however, (sort of buried in there)
What year did they stop putting fins on the ambulances/hearses.. (make is not important)
nevermind I found the answer.
Consult this thread for your answers.
I’ve been on the lookout for a hearse/ambulance to convert into an ECTO-1. Something I’ve wanted to do since I was a wee young one. I used to have a 78 nova that I loved to pieces!
Now I have already found a few potential cars, but none are older than 70s or 80s. I went through every page of these forums and I could not find one single 80s model hearse converted into an ECTO. I’m sure there has to be some somewhere. My question is, how “new” does one go with a hearse conversion before its sort of silly to even bother?
I’m looking at an 84 right now for 1500.00 and I’ve spotted another one that might be alot older (but not below a 70s model)
Dude, 4 topics? Really?
If you’re going to make a topic for every question you have - Make one topic and post new questions in it.
No you didn’t.
There are 6 or 7 caddys and oldsmobiles between '81 and '92 in the hearse and ambulance conversion thread.
Avoid the front wheel drives and avoid the HT4100 engine (a 4.1 v8 with an aluminum block one of the worst engines Cadillac ever made.)
I said every “page” not every “thread” there’s only like 11. But I’ll go back and look again.
Thanks Chase, I’ll look again.
Sorry about that.
I apologize, I’ve looked at both those threads numerous times. Which is awesome that you complied all those into one place. I’m not so great at distinguishing the non ghostbusters era cars, maybe the 70s and 80s models all look somewhat similar.
