Ectomobile
The
Ectomobile is a 1959
Cadillac Miller-Meteor limo-style combination (
hearse/
ambulance/
station wagon) endloader used in the
1984 film
Ghostbusters and other Ghostbusters fiction.
This vehicle was used to carry the team's ghost-capturing equipment, as well as transporting the Ghostbusters around
New York City. It has an extremely distinctive siren wail. Its features include a special pull out rack in the rear containing the staff's
proton packs which facilitates a quick suiting up without having to reach into the vehicle's rear. There are also various gadgets mounted on the top, but their function is never revealed in the movies. Fans speculate that the equipment includes heavy-duty anti-ghost weaponry and defenses. According to "Making Ghostbusters", the book describes a deleted scene where a police officer places a ticket on the Ectomobile only to have it instantly flare up into a pile of ashes.The vehicle makes a distinctive "siren" noise, presumably because of it previously being an ambulance. Earlier versions of scripts written by
Dan Aykroyd for the first
Ghostbusters also included mentions of the Ectomobile having the powers of
interdimensional travel.
This vehicle is also known as "ECTO-1" (because of its custom ECTO-1 licence plate shown in the original movie), which was the name used on "
The Real Ghostbusters", the animated show based on the movie.
The vehicle was mass-produced as a table-size kids' toy. The toy version of this vehicle has sold approx. 1,000,000+ units worldwide.
Throughout other Ghostbusters fiction, a number of other Ectomobiles where introduced.
* Ecto-1a : An upgraded version of the Ecto-1, seen only in
Ghostbusters II, which included more technical equipment placed on the roof of the chassis. Most noticeably this upgrade included digital announcement boards on each side of the vehicles roof, broadcasting Ghostbuster advertisements, specials, and their phone-number. Also the logo was updated on the doors and back entrance of the ambulance
* Ecto-2 : A small open-topped one-man
helicopter seen in the cartoons and the comic based on them as well as a toy. The toy's stern end had a
pistol-type grip and trigger to let a child playing with it hold it in the air and make its
rotor spin; this grip and trigger are copied in the comic despite the resulting
aerodynamic unnaturalness.
* Ecto-3 : There have been 3 vehicles with this name:-
** a motorized
unicycle and
sidecar that slips into Ecto-1's rear fender in one episode of the cartoons.
** a time-distortion
jet-like vehicle invented by Egon in the comics. This vehicle was renamed the
Ecto-4 for the cartoons as the unicycle version already had the name.
** a
go-kart-like vehicle seen as a toy.
*'Ecto-1b' (Referred to in the case by some fans) : Officially referred to as 'Ecto-1', this vehicle is a slightly different variant on car from
The Real Ghostbusters as seen on the
Extreme Ghostbusters TV series. The vehicle is equipped with a more 'modern' selection of detection equipment and emergency lights.
*Originally the filmmakers planned to have the Ecto-1 be painted black. The color of the vehicle was later changed to white when it was decided a black car would be too difficult to see during night scenes.
*The Ectomobile was originally going to be a much more high tech vehicle, with an almost artificial intelligence.
*Two cars have played the vehicle in the movies, the second 1959 Meteor-Miller was purchased after the first died during shooting of
Ghostbusters II*
Ecto-1A was originally scripted as
Ecto-2, and one reference to this remains in the movie. When
Bill Murray as Dr.
Peter Venkman is standing outside of his apartment and the car pulls up, you can just make out the words
Ecto-2 on the license plate.
*
Ghostbusters Prop Archive*
Ectomobiles*
Famous movie cars *
Fan-made Ectomobile replicas 
