{"id":162831,"date":"2024-01-06T13:15:44","date_gmt":"2024-01-06T02:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/?p=162831"},"modified":"2024-01-06T14:23:53","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T03:23:53","slug":"blown-ls3-powered-ghostbusters-ecto-1-replica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/events\/blown-ls3-powered-ghostbusters-ecto-1-replica","title":{"rendered":"Blown LS3-powered\u00a0Ghostbusters\u00a0ECTO-1 replica!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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As far as movie car replicas go, some are tougher to source and build than others. You can make Pursuit Specials <\/em>or General Lees all day if money\u2019s no issue, but \u201959 Cadillac-based Miller-Meteor hightop ambulances like the one owned by Haltech’s Nathan Clark are a painfully finite resource. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nathan trawled the web for ages until he found this example in California, with the goal of transforming it into a mock-up of the famous ECTO-1 car from the classic 1984 flick, Ghostbusters<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s quite a rare car; there are only about 500 of them,\u201d he explained. \u201cI managed to track one down last year and bring it out. It was a California car and a combination of both hearse and ambulance. The Ghostbusters<\/em> car was actually a duplex, so it\u2019s the exact variant.\u201d
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The patina-coated rig wasn\u2019t running, which was impetus enough for Nathan to drop in an LS3, paired to a Harrop 2300 blower, 4L80 auto and nine-inch diff, with a Haltech Rebel LS ECU for brains. \u201cWe basically did a frame-off restoration, powdercoated the frame and did new suspension,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted something that could get it up and moving, which is why I went with the supercharger. I\u2019ve restomodded it; it\u2019s got all the Haltech stuff and Wilwood brakes front and back. I just want to be able to enjoy it!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The force-fed 6.2 comes in handy considering the Caddy\u2019s a pretty hefty vehicle \u2013 to the point where the first flatbed truck wasn\u2019t long enough to hold the freshly powdercoated chassis! \u201cIt\u2019s a six-metre frame,\u201d Nathan laughed. \u201cThe car itself is 6.3 metres end-to-end, and it weighs just over three tonnes \u2013 probably more now with the crap on the roof!\u201d
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That fit-out was Nathan\u2019s own doing, too. \u201cMovie cars are always two builds: you\u2019ve got the car itself, and then all the props,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been working on it hardcore for probably the last four months. It is going to get a full respray, and then it\u2019ll look like the \u201984 Ghostbusters<\/em> car. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe wanted to bring it to Summernats, so I thought, \u2018How could I get the maximum amount of enjoyment in the least amount of time?\u2019 It\u2019s been nice, because I haven\u2019t had to care too much about [the finish]<\/em> while I do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We caught Nathan just as he rolled into Summernats, lights flashing and siren wailing, and a big crowd had already formed around the Caddy. \u201cIt\u2019s been pretty cool,\u201d he said of the reception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just did it because I love the movie and love the car, but it resonates with a lot of people. On the movie car side of things, it\u2019s cool because it\u2019s so universally loved; it makes everyone happy, and I think that\u2019s a good thing!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real wrath of God-type stuff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":162848,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[9937,10175,10176,10177,10178],"coauthors":[37],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/ghostbusters-1-scaled.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162831"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162831"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162909,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162831\/revisions\/162909"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162831"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.streetmachine.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=162831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}