I recently realized this is the only GB forum I don't have a thread up about our team's Ecto project. I will do my best to get caught up here.

Two years ago our team captain, Matt Haynes, purchased a 1972 Pontiac Bonneville Superior High-Top Ambulance. The car was located by his parents who have a farm in Colorado. The ambulance was sitting on another nearby farm. The car was only recently put out of service and had not been parked long. The engine had been sold and placed in a 72 Trans Am. For $1000 Matt purchased the car and towed it back to Phoenix. The car is being worked on at a local classic car restoration shop also owned by Matt's parents. All of the work on the car is done in the employee's spare time and between projects at the shop. Due to our dedication to charity work, they are donating their time and labor. This has helped significantly reduce the cost of the car's restoration, which has still cost thousands.

The brakes, suspension, and tires have all been upgraded. A completely rebuilt Pontiac 455 is being installed soon, just to make sure we have enough power to get around town. Every dent, scratch, and rust spot was removed and repaired and the car has recieved many coats of primer and paint. Our team member Todd has made a replacement backlit sign to read “Ghostbusters” for the roof. We are using brand new Code 3 lightbars and have replaced all of the original red lights with blue. We are using the traditional No-Ghost logos on the front doors but will be putting our AZ logo on the back door. We have all of the roof rack components and a ladder we will install. Most of the roof rack equipment and what we will install in the back came from a local scrap yard. Our goal is to make the Arizona Ghostbusters Ecto-AZ, not the ECTO-1. We are incorporating elements of both movie cars but want to make it our own as well. It will serve us well and make us a complete team.

In her found location









In her found location.















Getting ready to move



Matt (Azbuster) at the wheel







The journey









Interior

















Restoration

That's hot!

Awesome work on the old ambulance, looks fantastic!

When do you expect to get decals for the doors?
Will you be putting the black & yellow style hazard decals along it too?

That is amazing.

A great custom look for your own team.

Definitely wish I had the ability/funds to do something like this.

Love that sign on the front too. (Maybe you should reverse it though, so it reads like “Ambulance”… you know, mirror writing so that people can read it correctly in their review mirrors). Just a thought.

Really, that's fantastic. I'd love to ride around in the jump seat of that car.

We thought about the hazard tape but we're sticking to more Ecto-1. We'll have the decals on soon. We actually had to wait for awhile because of the paint job settling. If we put the decals on too soon, if we ever took them off the paint would come with.

Also were tempted on the reverse signage but we really don't want to make ourselves look any more like a real emergency vehicle. As we've researched and asked many police we're able to keep the lights uncovered as long as they are all the same color. Obviously we can only have them lit on private property and some side streets.

Wow. That's coming together very nicely. Congrats. Beautiful job.

Thanks. We hope for it to be completed soon, but like with all car restorations, there's always a new problem found after you've just fixed something else. We only just discovered the gas tank was damaged, cheaper to replace than to fix, but that took about a month to come in. We decided to go with a newer non-Caddy vehicle so we wouldn't be afraid to drive it so much, and to be easier to find parts for. Of course we found out alot of parts for a 72 Bonneville are super rare but luckily there is a local Pontiac collector we were able to get alot of stuff from.

I forgot to mention the complete front end of the car was also rebuilt. Our ultimate goal is for it to be as safe as possible, again since we know we'll be using it alot, and the drivers in Phoenix are crazy.

Looking very good. Having “the car” for any GB chapter must be the icing on the cake…

It something every group aspires to have and needs. People always ask where the car is or if we have one. Even when we were walking in the Fiesta Bowl Parade (which was our original hopeful 1st event for the car) we could hear people saying we should have a car. That was definite inspiration to get it done soon. Once people start seeing it around town, we'll probably be even busier which is what we want.

The Ecto-1 is always on top movie car lists for a reason. If you do an Ecto-1 pic search on Flickr, pretty much any type of old white station wagon is labeled as an Ecto, so only major fans will probably make comments about us not having the exact car.

are yah gonna have the “classic” logo or your modified one

and will it be on the hood too???

If you do an Ecto-1 pic search on Flickr, pretty much any type of old white station wagon is labeled as an Ecto, so only major fans will probably make comments about us not having the exact car.

In the “Spirit” (pun intended) of GB 1, the GBs had to basically find/use whatever “junker” they could afford, I mean, it's not like the Miller Meteor was destined to become THE Ecto-1, it could have been any car/van/truck. Bottom line is, they had to find what worked for them, and you guys found what works for you (in keeping with the original design), so if anybody says “it doesn't look like the real Ecto-1!” just tell them, “I believe you have us confused with those guys from NY”, “We're the, ARIZONA GHOSTBUSTERS!”. In fact, I think your license plate should say “Ecto-1AZ”(*peter)