Hey there, fellow Ghostheads and hope your 2015 is going swell.
Well,…for about the past seven to ten months, give or take, I’ve been working on the great Ecto-accurization. As any of the other Ecto owners, (59’ Caddy or otherwise), can tell you, it’s a years, (nay, Decades), long process.
You get your car to a certain point and you run out of time and money and it’s “done” aka “done for NOW”.
Then you get a little more time, a little more money, wash rinse, repeat. Groundhog Day,…glitch in The Matrix. This is the way of things.
So I was simultaneously surprised, delighted and just a little bit melancholy when I realized that this next phase will, most likely, be the final phase of this, (between both Ecto’s I’ve done), eighteen year project. The finish line never seemed in sight and yet somehow, by the grace of God, it looks like the car will manage to make it into the “maintenance phase”, which will most likely involve a NEW Groundhog Day scenario in which I polish it, tarp it, garage it, take it out for holidays and ALL OF OCTOBER, provide the proper car care and maintenance, wash rinse, repeat.
So it is with great excitement that I give you lads-n-ladies who may give a hoot a sneak-peek at what’s to come this October when ol’ Janine :eyeroll: hits the road again. She’ll be about 90% screen accurate give or take, while incorporating some of the interior design differences of my 59’ with a little artistic license making the remaining 10% Ecto-1A-ish and an interior color changing LED lighting system that is 100% and lovingly inspired by the RGB Ecto.
I found, when recreating interior components, (some for the simple fun of it and sometimes because you just can’t find what you need in the time you need it), your best friend, (all you beautiful lunatics out there currently working on or contemplating Ectos), is a sheet-metal bending brake, some nice angle iron, a good drill and tap set and a sweet set of hole saws.
IF you can find new/old stock,…rub off transfer type is invaluable. Hobby Lobby sells it and it’s good in a pinch, but I was lucky to find a graphics supply place out here in LA that had a WALL of boxes of old Letraset and Chartpack rub off transfer type that took me three weeks to go through.
Worth it, though.
So without further ado,…some of the components.
The Texas Instruments cross section sensitivity unit was a pain in the A$$! I redid that damn thing three times before I was happy with it.
Fan box! WOOT!
that’s not the droid you’re looking for.
Test fit.
This,…I get tired just looking at it. :sigh:
Here’s some quick peeks at the ongoing exterior upgrades,…
And finally,…probably the nicest photo ever taken of her. It looks Photoshopped but it came out like this with my wife’s Samsung Galaxy. That camera is sick.
If any of you like-minded maniacs are in the market to build your own interior components, a good aircraft and electronics surplus store is a MUST. If you have one in your area,…lucky you. If not,…travel within reason.
I am lucky enough to live twenty minutes away from the surplus place that supplied all of the stuff for the original films and even then it took me fifteen years of digging through boxes,…lens by lens, knob by knob, switch by switch.
Fifteen,…years.
I just heard it in my head. I think I have a problem. 
Thanks for looking! More to come!
V71
:kylie: :garrett:
