anyone know what kind of car the ecto-1 was i know they said it in the movie

a 1959 Miller Meteor Cadillac ambulance chances of finding one even in the worst condtion, slim.

Chances are Extremely slim! (but how sony found 4? hmmm.) alot of old hearses and cadillacs of that age today are usally rotting away in a storage lot or a farmers feild. but an elite few have been saved, you can still veiw S&S's, M&M's, Eurekas & Superior 1959 model cadillacs if you look hard enough. but even if they have wasted away there worth alot more than you think, at times there worth more rusted out than restored belive it or not! but as much as i love Ghostbusters unless i found 2 cadillac's of that make/model/year i'd have to restore the 1 to cherry, factory condition. the other and ecto of course! lol
im gone.

What any person who is constructing an ecto-1 or an ecto-1a needs to do is go to cadillac and look for the old “blueprints” to the car. Its worth a try or find a cadillac museum.

What would you use these for? I have not a clue

I wonder if Miller Meteor still has the dies used to make the body panels? I know M & M is still in business, and the chances of them still being in possession of the original dies are slim, but it might be worth finding out.

Maybe if there were spare body panels around, you could find a later model commercial chassis and build a ‘59 from the ground up. Mind you, it would be very expensive and probably more trouble than it’s worth.

Oh absolutely! GM and other fine automotive companies dont usally destroy the molds to cars like that. but building a car up from scratch like that would cost a bundle but would look like a dream. but dont forget the interior panels and other little fittings that cant be made.
im gone.

YES it would be very expensive to go through all that trouble just for a car that you'll only drive so often. However, if you plan on selling the car in the future for even more then it isnt such a bad idea, plus it would be one more M & M ambulance

Well, as far as I know, the front-end you could pull off any old ‘59, it’s just everything behind that that's different.

I don't know if any of you are into street machining, but I often read about guys who make totally custom cars from scratch. That includes forming totally unique panels, glass, interior, in fact everything down to the door handles! I see no reason why this can't be done for a ‘59 MM.

I mean, everything needed for a Miller Meteor is around somewhere. Most glass and chrome can be pulled of a ’60 (which are becomming common - and cheap - on Ebay), front-end and fins you might find on a wrecked Caddy, as with drivers doors. Side and rear loading doors might also be found on a ‘60 (rear door might be different). And a coach builder might be able to fabricate the rest.

See what I mean? Anything can be done if you’re seriously cashed up and with a lot of time to spare. Otherwise, if you've got the time but lack the cash, another idea would just be to scour the contryside looking in every used car lot, backyard, and barnyard to find a genuine '59 MM.

It truely is a genuine idea as far as building it goes and I'm sure the payoff is even better. If we only had the money to do so, maybe someone should do some price hunting.

The M-M Company (Name) has been sold several times since the ‘59’s were produced new. At this point in time, M-M is nothing more than a Nameplate owned by a large coachbuilder. Superior, S&S, M-M are all owned by Accubuilt. They are all the same company now, they are different trim levels of the same cars. Also, coach builders generally didnt keep the dies used in the coachbuilding process. (And you can assume that the Engineering drawings and plans have been lost or destroyed since ‘59. With the number of times the company has been sold, paperwork gets thrown out or destroyed or lost) Some of the larger more standard stampings were kept for a while. (Roof sections for example) Alot of the body panels were built by hand though. (Meaning no Dies for stamping) My ’59's have ALOT of hand welding, and alot of Lead in them. And I can honestly say that each one is a little different, even though they are all 1959 M-M's. Of my 3 M-M's, they ALL have small differences in the bodies and how they were built.

You pretty much have two choices if you want to Build a “New” ‘59 M-M. You can take an Existing car of a Similar year and convert it to look like a ’59. Or you could have someone build you a Brand New car. Which is “Prototyping” a vehicle. Both of which are Expensive, and time consuming processes. Costs to convert another year of coach into a ‘59 are going to be astronomical since you are either going to have to find 2 cars. (A ’59 Donor for the parts and trim) and another year “Base” vehicle. Or you are going to have to pay someone to Hand fabricate an entire car from the ground up on your “Other Year” Frame. (Hand Built Street Rods can start at well over $100,000 and rise sharply from there. A Larger car like a ‘59 ambulance would cost more just due to the increased work required) Either way, you can count on paying for alot of expensive hand work.

If you decide to go with a Prototype “New” vehicle, Almost everything would need to be hand built. From the Frame up. (There arent any current production vehicles that have the proper wheelbase and frame size.) Front sheet metal and Fins are standard Cadillac if you can locate NOS parts, but everything in between was Coachbuilt by hand, so it would need to be fabricated by hand on your “New” version.

Estimated costs for Prototyping a vehicle, (Not including the Testing that is required by the Government)generally starts at about 1.5 Million. And if a large enough percentage of the car is not built on an Existing “Certified” vehicle, you also have the expense of Crash Testing and EPA Certification. (Meaning you need to build 2 copies at least. One to test and crash and one for you.)

And then, once you get it done, you cant title it as a ’59. Its then a 2002 (Or Newer, depending on the time it takes to complete and test) And you cant call it a M-M or a Cadillac. (Both of those trademarks are owned by others and would need to be licensed to be used)

I hate to rain on everyone's parade. But there is such a limited market for these cars, the costs associated with making a “New version” are way too high to be realistic. If there was REALLY a good enough market for them, someone would have made one by now..

If you really want one, you are going to have to save your pennies and find one to restore.

TheEcto1a