Help Save GHOSTBUSTERS’s Ecto-1A!

One of the most iconic cars in motion picture history is the retrofitted 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance from the Ghostbusters movies known by fans as the Ectomobile. Unveiled in the first movie with the moniker, Ecto 1, it received some upgrades for when Manhattan’s paranormal eliminators went back into business in Ghostbusters 2 and was rechristened Ecto 1A.

In reality, there were actually three cars that “played” Ecto-1 in the films. The first, the dilapidated old black car seen in one early scene of the first Ghostbusters, was a rental and never converted into the Ecto-1 that fans know. The second was used in both the first and second films, but when it broke down during production of Ghostbusters 2, a third car was brought in to complete filming. Universal studios restored the first Ecto 1 back in 2007, but the replacement Ecto 1A never got similar treatment reportedly due to budgetary issues. It was on public display at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida for a while, but now sits in a corner of Sony’s prop storage space, forgotten and in a sad state of disrepair. As you can see from the photo below (via Instagram user cheekybama) the car has a smashed windshield, a dented hood and its lightbar tossed unceremoniously on top. Additionally, the interior has had several parts stripped out, presumably by fans.

But there may some hope for Ecto 1A. A group of Ghostbusters fans named, appropriately enough Ghostbuster Fans, have started a petition to buy the car and original parts at scrap value from Sony in order to restore it themselves. The group’s petition, which you can sign here, doesn’t state how the group will pay for the project, but I certainly do admire their spirit a (no pun intended) and their willingness to step up and save the car in the face of Sony’s disinterest.

While there are a couple of professionally built replicas of Ecto 1, one made for Universal’s “Spooktackular” stage show now owned by a collector in Tennessee while another replica currently is on display at the Historic Auto Attractions museum in Roscoe, Illinois, there are only two original, screen-used cars. Given the ongoing popularity of the films nearly a quarter of a century after the second one came out, it seems right that both of the cars are preserved for posterity.

Via Motor Authority.