What Car Was The Ghostbusters' Original Ecto-1, And Where Is It Today? - SlashGear (2025)

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What was the Ecto-1 made of? Very few Ectomobiles exist in the wild Recommended

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ByEli ShayotovichOct. 21, 2024 10:15 pm EST

What Car Was The Ghostbusters' Original Ecto-1, And Where Is It Today? - SlashGear (1)

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Since the "Ghostbusters" franchise launched in 1984, it has left an indelible mark on pop culture, like ectoplasm from a ghoul. The original ghost-busting trio of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis warned us not to cross the streams (to avoid total protonic reversal). They made the catchphrase, "Who ya gonna call?" a rhetorical question. And thanks to Ray Parker Jr., turned the film's chart-topping theme song into a musical earworm for the ages.

Last but not least, they gave us that crazy coolEcto-1 that took the fight to the supernatural baddies. When Dr. Raymond Stantz (Aykroyd) pulled up to the Ghostbusters fire station and office for the first time he proclaimed to Dr. Peter Venkman (Murray)that everyone could relax because he found the car, then proceeded to rattle off a litany of things that first needed to be fixed — suspension, shocks, brakes, brake pads, steering box, transmission, rear end — before it would actually serve as their battlewagon.

The latest entry in the film franchise, "Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire," dropped this year, and even now, four decades later, the Ecto-1(one of the most iconic movie cars of all time)is as much a character in the film as the actors themselves, even taking center stage in virtually all the different variations of the movie poster. So, what car was the Ghostbusters' original Ectomobile (aka the Ecto-1),and where is it today?

What was the Ecto-1 made of?

What Car Was The Ghostbusters' Original Ecto-1, And Where Is It Today? - SlashGear (2)

mark6mauno/Wikimedia Commons

The Ecto-1 is a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Futura Duplex, but it's not as straightforward as that. This was originally a"coachbuilt" vehicle, meaning Cadillac built the engine and most of the mechanical components atop aSeries 75 commercialCaddy chassisbut then turned it over to athird-party "coachbuilder" who finished off the interior and the bodywork. Stephen Dane was the man behind it.In this case, Cadillac built the base and sent it on to Miller-Meteor (a merged company formed byWayne Works and Meteor Motor Car Company) to create a line ofpurpose-built vehicles that included limos, hearses, and in the case of the Ecto-1 — ambulances.

This Futura Duplex was indeed as beastly as it appears on screen.At almost 21 feet longand seven feet wide, it was built from solid steel and had a stock curb weightbetween 7,000 and 7,300 pounds.And that's beforeDane– the man who whipped up the designs for the Ecto-1among other gadgets like the ghost traps, particle thrower, and proton packs — tacked on all the things that turned it into a ghost-fighting-mobile.

Like other stats about this car, sources about how it was powered vary slightly. All say it was a V8 (with a 390 ci displacement),but some sources list it as a 6.3L while others say it was a 6.4L, pumping out anywhere from325 hp to 345 hp at 4,800 rpm.Despite the big engine, the Ecto-1 still ranked as one of our slowest iconic movie or TV cars.

[Featured image by mark6mauno via Wikimedia Commons | Cropped and scaled | CC BY-SA 3.0]

Very few Ectomobiles exist in the wild

What Car Was The Ghostbusters' Original Ecto-1, And Where Is It Today? - SlashGear (3)

adolf martinez soler/Shutterstock

The number of Miller-Meteor hearse/ambulances (one of the more bizarre hearses that you've probably never seen) built back in the day varies wildly.One source states only 25, while another claims 200, and still another places the total at 400.Whatever the actual number, if you're looking to build a replica Ecto-1, the available Duplexes are few and far between.

Incredibly, only one Duplex was used as the "hero car" during the making of the first "Ghostbusters" film.A second was reported to have been used for early "pre-modification" scenes and never used again. The stripped-down Duplex Aykroyd drives up to the fire station was apparently leased just for that scene and returned.The studio later bought it and turned it into an Ecto-1 used for promotional events.

The original Ecto-1 lasted well into the filming of "Ghostbusters II" in 1989, but ended up a "piece of junk" that kept breaking down.It finallyconked out during a scene on the Brooklyn Bridge and was replaced by the Ecto-1a.This car was eventuallydisplayed at a Universal Studios theme park back in the 90s.

According to some reporting,there are only eight "legitimate" Ecto-1 replicas in theUnited States,one of which canbe rented for $6,500 a day through the Volo Car Museum.Sony still owns the film used Ecto-1 and Ecto-1a,with the originalsitting at Sony Pictures Studioin front of a fictional Ghostcorps office and is part of a tour of the lot. The vehicle used in "Ghostbusters: Afterlife" was — as of 2022 — part of the Petersen Automotive Museum.