View new posts | View your posts Let's Rant About Owning an Ecto

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This thread has been a long time coming. We each have our own threads where we toot horns and shout into the wind about how awesome our respective automobiles are, now we have a place where we can hulk-out on the nuances of the hobby that really drive us nuts.

This thread is for ranting about frustrating things your Ecto does, like break.

This thread is for discussing hard-earned lessons in vehicle construction (dirty hose water nooooo!)

This thread is for posting stories about drunkards, fatties, rappers, hop-ons, and union members who have gone above and beyond to deliver you a particularly difficult owner's experience.

This thread is NOT for ho-hum stories, that's what this thread is for.

To start off, there's something you must understand about owning an Ecto. It's pretty much just like owning anything else you've built. The old adage of "I am my own worst critic" is incredibly true here, as I'm sure it is for packs and traps, as well as art. While you probably like your car, you see it in a completely different way from everyone else.



The point I'm trying make here is that you know your own property better than anyone else does, so you notice all the things that are not the way you'd like them. If you have a pack you probably grumble at the face that your heat sink had a fin break off, or if you have a trap you probably know of a paint run on the bottom of the handle that your eye shoots to every time you look at it, while everyone else just sees "GHOSTBUSTERS LOLOLOLOL"!!!!

Some of these things come from regular wear and tear, my rust spots come from objects impacting the rack at highway speeds, and then bloom out to rust spots after winter. Fading paint comes from 365-day UV exposure since over the course of three years. So on and so forth.

Every spring, or right before a major trip, I restore the car as best as I can. I replace bolts, hit the rack with a coat of spray paint, polish the lenses, but the most frustrating and definitely the most expensive is replacing vinyl door logos and the striping. And while that's a pain in the ass, it isn't nearly as infuriating as the increasing tally of paint chips on the car itself. I've got a sizeable scratch on the hood, two door handles, my rear bumper, and the front fender. These can ALL be attributed to people leaning on it, dropping something on it, or turning suddenly while wearing a pack.

Paint is expensive. Paint is INCREDIBLY expensive. And spot repair is practically non-existent - when something becomes scratched, you have to remove and repaint that entire panel. Yeah you can use an OEM paint pen for the small stuff, but due to the age of the original paint and UV exposure it will not match. And even having an entire panel repainted usually causes a visible difference in the shades paint between it and the rest of the car.

This is why you don't touch another person's vehicle. In addition to the normal wear and tear and general entropy your car experiences, you have to deal with inconsiderate knuckleheads who don't have the foresight or comprehension to understand just how frustrating small damages can be, and how utterly costly these small damages become when they are compounded by the number of people causing them.

Here's a jerk who saw my old car and, for some reason I can't really comprehend, though "Death Proof!"


Well, one wasn't good enough, so here's another jerk that wanted a picture for his myspace page, too!


Awesome. Both wearing jeans, too.

The problem is etiquette, which for our purposes here will be defined as "conventional requirements as to social behavior; proprieties of conduct as established in any class or community or for any occasion." Etiquette is knowing that you don't stick your fingers in a stranger's food. Etiquette is knowing not to cut in front of people in line. Of course, every subset of culture has it's own etiquette that is probably not as well-known to the population at large, but should be encouraged nonetheless.

Our "Do's and Don'ts" seem pretty well-defined, as they apply to most everyone who is part of this community.

Recasting is poor etiquette.
Grabbing ion arms is poor etiquette.
Yanking a proton gun off it's hook is poor etiquette.

I think it's high-time that we discuss manners regarding Ectos. This is a bit harder for us because, while most everyone in the community knows prop etiquette, our particular brand originates in car show etiquette. Very few people own classic or custom cars, so I can understand how you might not know these things, but this thread is where we start the long road to getting this shit on the map.

Frankly, Ecto owners have it easy. I have a good friend who owns a General Lee. Imagine the neuroses this guy has from the realization that one of the most iconic attributes of the General Lee is people sliding across the hood. Just like how women seem preternaturally inclined to do the "Charlie's Angels" pose in any photographic situation, and just how people want to be seen holding up the leaning tower of Pisa, the first thing that occurs to most people when they see the General Lee is "how could would it be to get a picture of me sliding across the hood?!?" What they don't think about are the tiny little metal rivets on the back of their jeans, and the $1000 dollars the owner now has to shell out to get the paint stripped, the metal resurfaced, the hood primed, and repainted.

Here's the problem as I see it. People get excited. People get so excited over some stupid pop-culture throwback that they forget manners or critical thinking. These two people up above saw the car and thought "Ghostbusters," and "classic pose on hood!" but did not think "Not-classic car, not steel construction, lightweight, bendable hood." That car lived out the rest of it's life with a 10-inch dent just off the center.

I think with all Ectos, most people people will get excited and geek out over what they are seeing. Even green mustangs will occasionally get people shouting "ghostbusters!" or whipping out a cell phone camera, even if it's only because of brand logo recognition. While there isn't a way to keep the average person from jacking up your work, I strongly feel that actual fans and community members should know better. The problem is that actual fans and community members will probably be the ones freaking out the hardest.

Now, unfortunately, this kind of this is unavoidable. You can't expect everyone to be considerate, or polite, or even smart.
Case in point.

Here are some people who happened upon a 1959 MM undergoing restoration. They couldn't just snap a few pictures, they had to check and see if it was unlocked. When it was unlocked, they hopped on in. Here is what is probably someone's most prized possession being. Maybe they took a souvenir? You don't know, but there is so much that could go wrong doing something that an inconsiderate person deems harmless. You ever see someone close an MM's door so hard the window cracks?

However, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that a fan be able to control his or her nerdboner so much as to keep them from throwing caution to wind and doing something socially unacceptable. If you were at a car show and you opened the door to a car sitting on display, or started gangta-leaning on it like you owned it just to show your chums on facebook, you would be a lucky, lucky person to leave that event unscathed.

So just my two cents on that particular issue. People leaning on cars that don't belong to them really rustle my jimmies, I'm sure we'll get around to talking about other things that suck about owning Ectomobiles. I'm sure NJ Chris has a few gripes from his rack that he'd love to vent about in here.

This thread is way overdue. I have a couple stories about some idiots getting touchy-feely with my Pontiac. I'll share later; its too much typing and I'm about to go to bed. Good topic though.

Kudos Kev, A topic that's long overdue.

I've touched on this before but one of the most annoying things I've had happen was people at one particular event INSISTING on sitting in my Ecto.

For any unframiliar my doors do this...



Aside from allowing me to check out ladies' asses when I ask them to lean in and grab something off the seat for me, that also makes the Ecto even more unusual...so at shows I'll often display the car with one or both doors up.

I never had a problem until last year's Atlanta Comic-Con. I was asked to display the car in front of Ernie Hudson's booth.

The cast of The Human Centipede LOVED it!


Anyway the GB fan table was positioned kind of behind and to the left of Ernie's table, about 20ft from the car. I'm standing at the table and suddenly I hear the siren wind up...I run to the car to find some brat sitting inside covering his ears and his parents fumbling with their cameras.

When I shut the siren off and asked what they were doing they said they thought it was ok to sit in it because the doors were open. I told them I leave my door up when I get gas, and asked if they saw me pumping gas if they'd let him jump in the car and start hitting buttons....they replied, "Why not? He's not hurting anything."

The same thing happened about an hour later and I made some big "Do not sit in vehicle" signs...then it happened again and I closed and locked the doors.

Same thing happened with Bumblebee at Free Comic Book Day. That time I was standing close enough to yell as soon as they opened the door. But again it was attempted THREE TIMES!

Oddly enough Ecto was parked next to it with the doors up and I didn't have a problem....but then I had the do not sit signs in the seat.



I've never encountered that before or since with any car of mine at any regular car show.

I guess we luck out with jammy door handles.... Makes it harder for people to open the decades old doors,

Honestly and kevin touched on this.... People leaning on hoods.... While we were waiting to leave a convention hall, .... ( the only door we could fit out of was in another hall that had a seperate cheerleader convention going on.... Not the cool highschool kind... The younger , oh they tried their hardest tey get a gold award... F#%€> you lost you get nothing and like it ! )


ok soooooo anyway, comic convention has been closed for hours, we have to wait till the cheer leaders are done, they finish and pour out.... Some end up near us, we're chillin in the car waiting, when these little brats Come up and JUMP ON OUR HOOD !, just flatout onto a 1970 MM caddy for a picture ?!?!?... So we blast the siren and yell at them, and their parents got all uppity at us and told us not to shout at their daughters..... Un. Huh. They're lucky i didn't slap the prep off them.

From the horse's mouth.

This mentality is a problem.

I had my Ecto on display at the public premiere of the indie horror flick I produced, and I had to watch it like a hawk the entire time. I haven't had a chance to change out all the locks, so the doors are unlockable right now. I assumed that since the doors were shut, noone would try... A few people did actually 'ask me first" if they could sit in the driver's seat for a picture.. and I obliged them".

But then came ONE nut.. I walk around the back of the car and not only does he have the back door open, but he's in the process of putting ON my proton pack.. WTF? Before I can stop him he's running all through the parking lot "shooting his friends" with my proton pack, that he decided to just "take" from the back of MY car.

I've already had several "omg what the eff are you doing" moments.. with the ladder too.. Everybody wants to climb the damn thing. Sure its functional, but that doesn't mean you should climb it.

I'm sure I'll have more as time goes on. Right now my smog belt is broken, and haven't had time to repair it.

Urge to kill,.....rising,........

I understand there's been some,....excitement around here lately that I may have missed,.....

This topic wouldn't have ANYTHING to do with THAT now, would it,....

I'll tell ya what, especially lately,......I cannot TELL you how many times I've said "I wish I'd never laid eyes on that f***ing car."

Especially since it tried to kill me the last time I was in it.

Hey, Kev, got your text. Much appreciated. I will message you back as soon as I get a break between meetings. ;-p

For my official induction in this thread I will repurpose the "boat-owners paradox"

What are the two best days in an Ecto owner's life?

The day he buys it,.....and the day he sells it.

Ruminate upon that for a pinch.

Venky

I don't have any cars decked out as an ecto, but I have had (and still do) some classic cars so I can completely relate to what happens to everyone. I have had many times caught people leaning on or sitting in them. I have also had to take cars to the body shop to get repaired. It amazes me how people don't have any respect for other peoples property and think they can do whatever they want. I am a car guy though. Every time I find a new door ding/chip, or scratch, or start of rust bubble, I start stressing out and can't think about anything else.

In one of my cars I installed a train horn with an air compressor and tank. It also has remote door locks with an alarm. There have been many times I have caught someone leaning on it to take pictures or just because they are lazy and don't want to stand. When I do see this I set the car alarm off with the remote. Watching them jump and almost pee their pants helps a little, but it still eats me up to see how inconsiderate people are.

I catch people sitting in the Ecto ALL the time when I take it out.

I can literally be walking around the car checking stuff and as I come back around to the DRIVER'S side door there'll be SOME person SITTING in it.

I usually start with "Um,....EXCUSE me?"

To which they usually reply,...."Is this your car?"

It's a good think I don't carry a bat around with me.

I think the same goes for DeLoreans at car shows. Not even BTTF replicas, just regular ol' DeLoreans. Because they're mostly displayed with the doors up people think that's an open invitation to jump in and rifle through the glove box and play with window switches.

I see 2 counts of justified murder in the above photos.

Why do people do stuff like that? Ecto or not. My car is not your jungle gym. If I decide to lay on the hood of my car, then that's fine. it's MY CAR. And my car is NOT a leaning post. Get your fat ass off my fender.

This topic is a real eye-opener. It's a shame the people who need to read this won't.

The perfect modern conversion defense for fender leaners and hood dwellers is the trusty remote start.
Seeing people run from an empty car is simply priceless.

As for Ectomobile owner issues, how about uillegal unmarked low clearences? There's nothing like backing out of a drive thru or parking garage because someone never thought to indicate that the ceiling or sprinkler pipes are less than 8' high.

When I had my Time machine,....we had a BAR up one time when I had the driver's side door up so people could LOOK in but not GET in,.....wanna guess how many people jumped over the bar and slammed down into the seat?

"Oh,...there's a BAR here,....guess that means I jump over it!"



V71

This is one great thing about my airbag suspension.

There's one deck in particular I like to use in Atl for DragonCon and it has one pipe right at the entrance that my dish wouldn't clear...so I hit the switch and drop the car down, go under the pipe and pop it back up.



Fashionable yet functional.

I agree 100% with all of this. reguardless of what inspired the topic to finally appear it is much needed. I have my car decorated and I die when people touch it without asking. I have no issue with pics infact if I dodnt want them taken i wouldnt be driving a decorated car out in public. I just hate people leaning on the hood or on the doors or the obvious reaction i get "OMG YOU HAVE THE GHOST LOGO THING ON YOUR CAR!" yes thanks for informing me.

I prefer the look on their face when you walk up and pull your retractable night stick out of your pocket.

(Friend of mine did that once).

This post was deleted by AJ Quick on January 17th, 2012, 8:10 pm. Reason: Off Topic, and Ignorant.

Well,....it certainly isn't my CHOICE to leave it in an outside lot where people can get access to it,.....

UNFORTUNATELY, that's the type of shop that my mechanic, (the ONLY Cadillac mechanic in my area who knows this car inside and out), has.

When it's down there, it's blocked in but people can certainly go up and look at it. MOST of the time they're respectful and while they're just taking photos, I'm sure my mechanic wouldn't be too thrilled to know there's people sneaking onto his property after hours but whaddayagunna do?

If you have a better suggestion I'm all ears but I've been restoring/refurbing these Caddy's for a LONG time and he's the only one I've found who isn't a complete and total huckster/bullsh!tter.

The rest of the time, it's covered in my back yard, under a cover and behind a locked gate.

V71

I have no visual proof of my Ecto being vandalized, but I can relay a couple second hand stories. The first public appearance my car made I left it outside overnight at a Con. there was a pool party in the hotel that night and thankfully a couple friends were keeping an eye on the car. Well apparently someone thought it would be cute to depants and proceed to be "penetrated" the taillights saying "I'm f****g the Ecto!". Well thankfully the lowlife degenerate was shooed away and dignity was restored to the car. Over the weekend, there were mutliple children pawing at the car and other general touchings were being had by grown ups at an indoor car show despite being roped off. There was always at least one set of eyes on the car, but stil didn't deter them. Thankfully no scratches were found, but the point remains...other than the Con, my car will NEVER be left outside unattended overnight so it can be desecrated.

I was talking about this at work and one of my coworkers said he accidently found a pic of some girls on my car online the other day.

This was taken in the Fox parking lot while I was working....awesome

Unfortunately common sense isn't quite as popular as it used to be. We are part of a dying breed who actually have respect for others and their belongings. Hell, I wouldn't even want to take pictures of someone's car unless I asked permission, let alone jumping into or onto it.

Maybe get some gel something that will dry and not hurt the fabric. Pour it onto some plastic making it look like slime and let it dry. Then put it over the seats at events with a sign "Slimer is our driver"



I have been to hundreds of car shows and think it is sad to see owner have to go to such lengths to keep people away from the cars. If people would just have some respect and common sense to stay away and out of the cars.


next time a little kids sits in your car and the parent says "What's wrong, he's not hurting anything" reply "That's illegal entry, shall I call the police??"

You guys are too nice. I would see if castle doctrine involves cars.

Depends on the state. But yeah, I would ask them if they left their front door open on a hot summer day whether it would be alright for me to walk in, sit down in front of their TV and start eating their potato chips.

At least you fellas have smaller cars. With the hearse, you have no idea how many times I've had to shoo people off of my car, climbing it like it was some kind of goddamn monkeybars.

I did an event not that long ago, where we were a part of a parade (not the car, too cramped for a 22 foot boat). I was done up like Vinz, acting a fool, and stumbled upon people who'd climb atop the roof to get a good look at the parade.... yea, that sucked. And is also why I REALLY dont want to have a ladder.

Also, how about insensitivity to bigger cars? At the same event, I was made to move the Wreckto, not once - but twice. I parked where I was told when I first got there. And then a security fella, let's call him George, came up to me with a cocked head on his shoulder, "HEY! You can't park here." At first, I thought he was just trying to be funny. So I waved him off, annoyed... Little did I know that his gaiety was actually ignorance. Makes me move closer to the curb.

A short time later, George insisted I needed to move on to the sidewalk. George acted as though the car were some SmartCar that could easily hop curbs and maneuver around people. Longer story short, as anyone who has driven a hearse could undoubtedly agree, even with the largest mirrors in the world, seeing around the car a full 360 is impossible. Where am I going with this?

So George keeps insisting that the car needs to be moved, and says to me, "Ill spot ya."
Well, gee sir, that's mighty kind of you... considering you are making me move... again.

I start backing up, to get a run so I can hop my 2 ton+ mammoth on a curb. Eyes on the rear view, on George, casually waving me back. Five feet, ten feet. Then suddenly, my eyes meet my wife's, who is staring at my blind spot, with a look of awe and disgust on her face. Thinking I've gotten really close to the curb, or store front, I slam on the breaks and hop out car...

George let me ride against a concrete planter for about 5 feet, leaving scratches in the paint.

AND as it turned out, where I had parked originally was where they wanted the car.


George lost his job
tl;dr, ECTO HEARSES ARE LIKE FREAKING BOATS, EXCEPT LESS FUN.

Also, how about them days when the car is your DD and all you want to do is just get home - but everyone on the street wants to get in your face? Or the "fans" who think they know EVERYTHING about the cars, ie: "That's not the car from the movies..." No arguments here, man.
"It was a Ford station wagon!"

Update: (Man this thread is SO MUCH FUN)
What about the police officers who just really want a picture, so they pull you over? I've got two stories about that happening, but I'll save em for later. I LOVE THIS THREAD SO MUCH.

i don't own an ecto, wish i did. but i did own a replica from one of the cars from the first fast&furious movie. jessie's volkswagen jetta. the movie was just out when we made the replica so it was hot on meetings and not only there, everytime i took it out people would surround the car, if i didn't pay attention they went straight in it. drove me crazy. after 2weeks the paint was all scratched, the stickers scratched. i don't understand why it is so hard to ask the question if it is okey if they can sit in it for a picture, then you can decide if you let them or not. once i had a guy who spilled his drink in it. i confronted him and he just said: what does it matter to you, you don't own this car, the movie does. you just drive it for promotion. you don't want to know how i reacted on that. they just don't understand how much time, money and effort people put in their car, no respect at all for other peoples pride and glory

We took the ECTO-1C to a kid's car show outside an elementary school once. Our friend also brought his BTTF DeLorean replica to the show (the one that appears in our show). Jason's ECTO is locked up tight at these events, and he hasn't had too much trouble with unlawful entries in his car...but our friend had the gull wing doors wide open and was letting kids climb in and out of his car like roaches! Jason and I asked him, "Aren't you worried about kids climbing around in there?" and he replied, "Naw! It's cool. I usually let people climb in it and get a close look. Never had any problems." Literally 10 seconds after he said this, the child in his car said "Uh oh!" This kid was climbing over the seats and broke the lever Doc Brown uses in the films to turn on the time circuits. Our friend's smile faded rather quickly, and he didn't stick around much longer after that.

I find it incredibly awkward when someone tells me they are excited about the car and that they have personal problems with ghosts, expecting me to have some kind of feedback on that.

There's a cool little stained glass gallery/geek novelty store that is fun to go into here in Denver, and I swear to god every time I forget that the guy running it is convinced he has a personal ghost that follows him and does things.

Sorry dude, I got nuthin'.

I love it when my Ecto's brakes don't work...just a couple days before a major car show. Work long hours trying to get it ready to go, and I even buy a used police car with amber lights as an escort car and what happens??? Nada, so on the rollback it goes again