Boomerjinks Jan 31, 2007

DINO DAMAGE





Long story. Bear with me.



Back in 2005 at a midnight showing of Ghostbusters, I started joking to my friend Will about how funny it would be to run out of a place like the Stanley Hotel or some large building in ghostbuster uniforms, carrying smoking ghost traps, handing the manager a bill for $5000, and running away. Of course, we'd record the whole thing and put it on the internet. Will laughed and said he knew how to build proton packs. I owned a white Subaru Outback at the time and I told him that if he built the packs, I'd convert my car.



Flash forward nearly a year.



My friends Austin and Will and I are talking about doing something spectacular for Halloween. We decide to go with the Ghostbusters idea. In June I start researching lightbar laws, construction costs, and ways to convert my car temporarily, with nothing permanent.



By September 22 I have completed the first iteration of my Ectomobile. We roll it out and people start going crazy. It's on the cover of the local newspaper, radio djs are trying to find out who we are, and the general public thinks we're real ghostbusters. I decide to keep the car, as it's ridiculously popular and enjoyed wherever it goes.



Flash forward to this spring. My buddy Ben is driving around his uncles 1970s Land Rover, and I suddenly realize I have a strong desire for and open-top, 4-wheel drive car. It occurs to me that if I buy a jeep, I could easily repaint it as one of the Jurassic Park jeeps, thus restarting the cycle and creating a new movie car for the masses to drool over. Not only that, but I could sell this car at a later date and make bank.



And so the story begins.



In June I started searching ebay, craigslist, cars.com, and many other sites for 1990s-era jeep Wrangler. I find a white 1990 for about $4000.





All I had to do was swap out the rollcage for the right shape, bolt on the correct side steps, replace the wheels, seats, and repaint it.



In early July we start stripping the paint, pulling the car apart, and prepping it to be repainted.





We eventually took it all the way down to bare metal. I am guessing that one of the previous owners had rolled the jeep because there was extensive body damage to both sides, both rear corners, and the original color of the drivers door was actually red. We had to pull out all the bad body work and re-bondo everything.









Masking for the stripes...





Striped!



Replaced the windshield, pulled out all the carpet and rhino-coated the entire interior, that way I can just hose it out whenever I want.







Refinished the front bumper and attached the corner horns.





Restored and painted the side mirrors.





Replaced every light, lense, hinge, bolt, grill, and rubber seal on the car.







Found a rollcage at a Denver junkyard that would fit.





Found sidesteps at the same junkyard





Sold off the old tires and rims, and replaced them with stock wheels and brand-new BF Goodrich tires.









Mounted spare tire and restored rear bumper and undercarriage.





Ordered graphics... lots of graphics!





Replaced the old interior speakers... good lord they were gross.







Applied graphics. The side 18s were originally reflective, I have since had them replaced with decals that are a flat gray.





With the Ecto at night.





Installed foglights, and took an ironic picture!





Got seats from a 1992 Sahara and installed them.









Internet meme, anyone?





Mounted rollcage and cb antenna.









I am currently scrambling to have both cars show-ready for an anime/sci-fi convention tomorrow. I still have to attach the fender flares, and finish building my props. The props that go with the car include some yellow pelican cargo cases with JP and InGen logos on them, my Park Ranger shirt, and my weapons case.





I still need to put the smoke grenades in there, and put the giant InGen logo on the outside of the case.



I'll also have a small one of these in the corner of the windshield.





I am hoping to have the license plates ready by tomorrow, which look like this.





Bits that I'll have to take car of at a later date include the windshield lightbar, the sidesteps (those are gonna be a pain in the rear end), the winch, and the softtop mounts.







Thoughts?