INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Ghostbusters hit theaters in 1984, and just five years later, Joe Pace built a replica Ectomobile.
The car made a special appearance at a block party Friday night for neighbors on S. Crysler Avenue in Independence.
“Oh, dude. It’s killer, man,” neighbor Jeremiah Rittenhouse said. “My brother called me, and he was like, ‘You gotta walk up the hill, man. You gotta walk up the hill and check these speakers out.’ And I was like, ‘What speakers?’ And he was like, ‘And they’re Ghostbusters.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I’m on my way.'”
Pace bought the 1959 Cadillac ambulance in 1989 for $500. When he bought the car, it was sitting in a yard in Springfield, Missouri.
Since then, it’s been to shows all over the country.
“This car has been coast to coast. It’s been as far as the Canadian border, up by Green Bay, Wisconsin, all the way down into Texas and Atlanta, Georgia, Vegas. It’s been everywhere, so it’s got a good reputation.”
The Ecto-1 was recently upgraded with a new sound system.
“Young and old, everybody knows what it is, and they want to see it,” he said. “They want to take pictures. They can’t wait. They want to ask questions. It’s a lot of fun.”
Pace has also built other movie cars, like the Delorean from Back to the Future and the Mutt Cutts van from Dumb and Dumber.
