Ghostbusters Ecto-1 Gets slimed on the way home!

Our pal Sean who brought out the long awaited Ecto-1 Ghostbuster car to Fraizier park seemed to have a fun day with the car. But after he left the show,
things went from bad to worse! I gave him a stern talking to about how any of us would have come to his rescue, or at least gone and sat with him in the sun, but we didn’t know!

Here’s Sean’s account of the rest of his day, with his permission! We are so SORRY SEAN!!!!

The Ecto was definitely struggling a bit on the drive up into the desert,….oddly enough,…it was on the way BACK, (I suppose it was the late afternoon heat as it was about 20 degrees cooler in the morning drive up), I started to lose power in the engine.

I was literally standing on the gas pedal and was barely breaking forty so I pulled over immediately. Massive overheat and the bypass tube was puking coolant onto the ground like an artery that had been cut, while the radiator cap let off a low level hum as it tried to relieve the pressure.

Had to let it cool down, started it again,….sounded AWFUL. Just awful. I didn’t trust it so I listened to that little voice, (aka Kelly! LOL!), and called AAA for a flatbed. We waited on the side of the road in the blistering heat for two hours before they showed up, (while idiot people kept pulling off on the shoulder and asking for pictures)…we towed it back to Pasadena and got it running enough that we at least got it back into the yard. J came out, we popped the hood and started troubleshooting.

By the time we were done it had cooled down considerably. J and I calculated that it was a combonation of the heat and the newness of the car’s usage that put it a little over the edge. The oil was as black as midnight but we figured it was pretty-well cooked in the overheat and while it sounded a little “throaty” it was definitely more like it’s old self so,….we decided to do the dumb thing and take it to the charity event we had been “booked” for.

A forty mile drive to Chatsworth and once again it was fine on the way there,….

On the way home,….same thing only worse. We managed to get off the freeway and roll into what was probably THE ONLY CLOSED gas station in all of So-Cal. We left Kelly there with the car, walked a half a mile to an open gas station, bought some anti-freeze and two quarts of fresh synthetic and did triage on the thing in the dark.

We waited,…..got it started, made it one,….maybe two exits and this time smoke was pouring out. we limped off of the highway and gave up at the corner of Coldwater and Kling.

Called AAA again for another flatbed, the second time that day, I wanted to cry.

We waited for three hours for the flatbed to show up. During that time, it was an endless parade of insane and drunken nightlife coming and going past that car. I was in NO mood to answer any questions, I can assure you. At one point, a car-load of gang bangers stopped, ( “DA-YUM! Is dat the Ghossbustuh’s car!?”). Kelly locked herself in the front seat as they peered through the window.

The flatbed got there at three-thirty in the morning and as the idiot driver tried to put two-by-fours under the rear wheels to give it a little more height, He skewered one of the rear fender bezels with it like a spike through a railroad workers head. Tearing the body and ripping the bezel off of the bracket with a metal squeal,….fucking moron.

I got home at four thirty in the morning to find Kelly’s dog sick and puking. By the time I got her settled the sun was coming up.

That was my day.

We found the thermostat was stuck, (rusted) in the CLOSED position. NO coolant was getting to the engine and I have no idea how long that was going on. I dunno how much engine damage was done,….I’m kind of avoiding it right now. Honestly I just don’t have the strength right now. 😦

Please apologize to the guys this weekend. I trust they’ll understand but I think Ecto is in drydock until Comic-con. 😦

I’ll keep you posted.

I still had fun at the show though. Thanks for having me there.

Sean

Shaggy Dog Herbie, General Lee Charger, and Delorean S’mores!

June 13 at the Burbank Road Kings show, Paul BTTF Delorean and Jason parked together and later Brian and Robo-Herbie showed up to put a “marshmallow” on either side of the flux capacitor time machine.

The Early herbie gets the girls!

Sue (Get Smart) came out to see everyone now that she is back on her feet and it was great for a few of the SCC guys to see Sue, we missed her!
Sue brought over some good news, when she arrived she told Jason that a General Lee was parked on the other side of the show! Paul and
Jason went to investigate.

Dave Joseph’s General Lee is awesome! Jason and Paul were excited to see this and of course we extended an invite to join Star Cars future events!

Jason worked on the Sandford and Son truck owner again, and hopefully we will see some changes to this classic truck! 🙂

Jason stayed and had a crossgeeking moment when a Shaggy Dog wanted a picture with his Herbie. “The Shaggy Love Bug D.A.?”
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After the show a Yellow Camaro cruised by, and made Jason's day as the hope of spotting future starcars and meeting other starcar owners keeps us all looking!

Brian came late and then left with Paul to go attend and perform at SPM KITT owner Jennifer’s Party for her daughter.

Tomorrow, a Back to the Future Delorean you can hit with a stick, and LOTS and lots of Ferraris!

CAR SHOW MANIA~! HUNTINGTON BEACH /BRETWOOD/VALLEY/SIMI STARCARCENTRAL.COM IS EVERYWHERE AT ONCE! Mach 5 is not just a car, it’s the speed we are moving at every weekend!

June 5th 2010 STARCARCENTRAL.COM was at HUNTINGTON BEACH CONCOURS to support Fireball Tim

BRIAN was there with ROBOHERBIE and the crowd loved all of his tricks
But he still found time to clown around in Paul’s DeLorean!


And there was a rare sighting of a starcycle (TM Nate Truman 2010) from the movie and REALITY the world’s fastest Indian! Land speed record holder!

CHUCK brought his “RODRIGUEZ” and probably walked away with another trophy!

and new to a SCC event, GARY HUNTER brought his KITT and spent the day getting to know the SCC gang!

On the same day, at the Valley Car Show and Traffic Safety Fair.

MARK G. “ADAM 12” brought his pal Ted with his classic police car for Ted’s second appearance with the SCC!

JASON brought his HERBIE
(Who also gets credit for many of the photos for the blog, thanks Jason!) Got the Mach 5 to spend the day, and the owner tossed him the keys!

LOU’s Torino with the red car and white stripe looked great next to the Speed Racer Mach 5 with the white paint job and Red stripe!

But it was all about helping out the boys in blue, thanks guys for all that you do!

Then the next day, we were at it again!
June 6th, 2010 the SCC was in Simi Valley parking with the Valley Mustang Club.

First, the cars!

and then the stars!

JASON with his Dad and gal pal came in their HERBIE
LOU and Lynda with their STARSKY and HUTCH Torino
OSCAR with his red MAGNUM P.I. Ferrari
ALEX brought his KITT and finally got to one of Lou’s famous BBQ’s afterward,
And Jerry with his classic Herbie were the regulars. Special guest for the second time at a SCC event was the owner of one of the screen used trucks from fast and furious that “stole” tankers in the film! Too cool!

Meanwhile, across town even MORE SCC members were gathering at the Brentwood Science fair. They had the BD-5 jet from ‘Octopussy’, and the world’s biggest flyable models that were built for the movie ‘Aviator’
SUE GET SMART didn’t make it, but she got us involved in it! Sue will be off the “injured list” soon! But they found a car Sue needs to park her Get Smart Sunbeam next to, check out the licence plate!

PAUL was signing up a autograph storm as Doc with his BTTF Delorean!

Paul signed so many autographs for the kids that he never
had a chance to do his classic “technical” demonstration of Brian’s RoboHerbie tricks. At
one point he had a line of 20-30 people waiting!
Brian found a American Lafrance fire truck that he sat in and thought it was a likely candidate for the base car of a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang project… just needs to be about three feet lower to the ground!

WHEW! So next, tomorrow June 12 2010, on Saturday while I spend the day prepping the A-Team van for the paint booth you can see BTTF and Herbie at the Fountain Valley Community Foundation last year the show attracted 7500 spectators, nearly 400 cars.
Location_of_Event: 16400 Brookhurst St., Fountain Valley, ca. 92708

Then on Sunday see the StarCarCentral.com gang on JUNE 13TH at the Burbank Road Kings show!

Come hang out with JASON and his HERBIE
CLIFF and his NASCAR HERBIE
and PAUL BTTF DeLorean! Meanwhile, I will learn from the Ferrari owners of America how to run a club in Palos Verdes with Oscar Magnum P.I.! I will be doing some private investigating of my own, and see what sort of dues those guys are paying! 🙂

Ghostbuster Ecto, Batmobile and a 4×4 vette? Frazier Park Ridge Run Movie car Madness!

Sometimes a little misunderstanding starts something big, and that was the case for this show. The SCC was invited to Fraizier Park, and for some reason I thought that sounded like it was near Alhambra, or Monrovia a nice flat short drive for most of the members. After saying “SURE!” then I google mapped it! It was at the top of the Grapevine at over 4000 ft.! It was also about as far north as the SCC Hollywood/Los Angeles chapter would ever go.

Because it was so far north, I thought of passing this show to Paul who lives in Bakersfield. Paul had been interested in starting a Central California version of the SCC, that’s right, he would be SCCCC! I tossed the ball to Paul and said “it’s all yours, all I ask is you have some cold Diet Coke and I will be happy!”

After about 1000 emails, we all hit the road for a serious road trip UP UP UP past magic mountain on our way to the small town of Frazier Park!

I brought along a documentary crew from France that rode along in the batmobile, and shot Magnum P.I. and Herbie as we climbed out of Los Angeles and into the mountains.

Past Piramyd lake, we were truly out of the city! I had flashbacks of the Fireball Run driving across wide open contry.
We all arrived safely, and Paul had put out “STARCAR” signs so no one got lost or turned around.

Sitting at the corner was a fun find by Paul, a 4×4 corvette!

The view at this car show was unlike any other the SCC has been too!

Special guest Michael Scheffe was there and Jenn had to get him on the hood of her KITT!

Sean showed Michael the inner workings of the Ecto-1, while most of us enjoyed the VIP lounge Reba and Paul had provided for us around the corner! Thanks Reba for all your help!

Paul stated correctly, “You were the real stars here. Without your participation, this show would have never gotten off the ground.”
Here was the final count in alphabetical order

1 Alex: KITT – Knight Rider
2 Bob: Fast and the Furious
3 Brian: Robo Herbie – The Love Bug
4 Charlie: Steve McQueen’s Bullitt
5 Gary: Highway Patrol
6 Jason: Herbie, The Love Bug
7 Jennifer: SPM Knight Rider
8 Jerry: Herbie, The Love Bug
9 Joe: Transformer’s Bumble Bee
10 Lou: Starsky and Hutch
11 Mark: Adam 12 Police Car
12 Michael: 4×4 Vet
13 Mike: Vanishing Point
14 Nate: The Batmobile
15 Oscar: Magnum PI Ferrari
16 Paul: Mad Max Interceptor
17 Paul: Back to the Future Delorean
18 Sean: Ghostbusters’ Ecto 1

Also there without cars were:

Jason (Buckaroo) Ybarra
Kevin Pike car star agent
Michael Scheffe designer of KITT and many movie creations
Nick Nuggent Knight Rider companion author
Cliff Calabro and Family! (Nascar Herbie had a blow out at around 100 MPH!)
LOOK!! A SLIDE SHOW! MAGIC PICTURES CHANGE BY THEMSELVES!!!

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We had a great day, and jason made me an amazing replica of my batmobile in the fireball in 1:64 edition!

Then he gave me a full scale replica of his girlfriend!

Amazing work, Jason!
All in all it was a big sucess, with great food and speaches to top it off. As for that one request that Paul was supposed to take care of? Well, there was only full calorie pepsi in the cooler, and Oscar and I had to hunt down a diet coke at the local store, then we had to drink it out of Pepsi cups!

Herbie Down Under? SCC Sydney is on the move!

Well they never made a “LOVE BUG” movie situated in Australia, but that hasn’t slowed the SCC Sydney Australia chapter down! Crockodile Herbie? Herbie Down Under? There’s still a chance and the cars are all ready to go! Alex Micakovski gathered his Love Bug pals at the 2010 VW Nationals, in Sydney.

StarCarCentral.com Australia chapter

Alex has figured out that there are certain advantages to owning a famous ride!

Joe Joey and Alex brought their Herbies to this VW only show, but have an “all starcar” show coming up! I have connected Alex with all the star cars I could find and he’s working on getting together several movie and TV cars at the Kool Kruisers Car Show – SUNDAY 6th of June – Liverpool Catholic Club. It’s a charity event that will support the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

David – General Lee Replica and a Original Blues Brothers Mobile
Chris – Back to the Future Time Machine Replica in progress and
His father owns a TV Series KITT (starcar disease can be passed down to children!)
John – Gone in 60 Seconds Eleanor GT500 Replica
Vince – Batmobile –
I hope everyone joins the fun and swaps star car stories while helping others! I am sure if everyone shows up this weekend, they will understand the fun of a pile of star cars in one place! If you want to see the cars check out the web site for the event. The Annual Car Show & Swap Meet will be held on Sunday 6th June at the Liverpool Catholic Club on cnr. Joadja & Hoxton Park Rds, Liverpool West.

For further information please contact: Barry 0413 808 390

If you know of a starcar anywhere Down under, email Alex and let him know!
OR if you know of a famous movie or TV car, real or replica anywhere, pick the nearest chapter HERE or let me know at NateT@starcarcentral.com

If I could find the owner of this Herbieboat we could take a long cruise and head over for the show!!

Speed Racer Mach 5 for sale, and the Deathrace truck found!

Jason holds the title of StarCar Detective extraordinaire, and often finds starcars others would miss.

First he found a black Buick just like the one in American Graffiti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then he spotted this perfect truck that if some letters were added on the side, would be the Sandford and Son Truck!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason also found a Shelby Mustang that was interested in being the NEW KITT and once that red light is installed he can join the line up!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I got contacted by the owners of the Deathrace truck (no it wasn’t smashed, that was CGI! CGI IS GREAT it saves star cars from crashing!)
And it’s in Canada now. They are filming a sequel for Deathrace in Africa so many of the original cars were bought back by the studios to make a second film. Gary, one of the welders that worked on the trucks sent me this info: ”

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“well we actually built 2 of them one hard and one soft being thinner metal  1\8 as opposed1/4 in steel there was only one tanker and it was destroyed along with the soft truck they were built in calgary and shipped to montreal it took six weeks to build with abuot 15-20 poeple working on it there were only a few of us welders working on it because we let the props guys and painters weld on it so it looked worse believe it or not . the tanker was an aluminum tanker we were sent that still had fuel in it we put dry ice in it before cutting it open with skill saws!”  Thanks for the inside info, Gary!

In the past Jason has often “discovered” old friends of mine, but this time his constant looking on ebay turned up a great find! A street legal Mach 5 just a few miles away, and we both went down to check it out.

For the Speed Racer fans, there are very few options out there. The owners of the cartoon had one builder make a few that I think are the best at reproducing the cartoon, inside and out. In an effort to not get sued, a second builder made these molds, and changed a lot of the details to make his Mach 5 tribute different enough that he was not infringing on the rights of the original design.
Below is a shot of the official Speed Racer Mach 5.

As far as I know parked behind it is the only Racer X car in the world. But there are several of these Mach 5’s built under license. I like these the best, and was hoping it was one of them that had surfaced.

The movie Version

Here is the only Mach 5 from the movie. The Mach 6 was all CGI and the actor was just driving a “green screen gimble” so the Mach 6 car never existed! Stupid CGI!!
The movie version changed the look from the cartoon car as well. Mostly the rear fins. I have heard that this car doesn’t even have a motor in it, it is a “pusher”.
The Petersen Museum ended up with the very first Mach 5 built in the 90’s for a tour to promote safety for kids and even though it has the doors painted on, it’s the best replica from a looks point of view of the cartoon. It was made under license as well by the same builder who did some great work on my batmobile.

All of the drivable replicas are built on old Corvettes.

The owner of the car lot that was selling the Mach 5 discovered the instant notoriety of driving a starcar and I think he has “the disease”. He was looking to buy a 1966 Imperial (green hornet) and I think he is hooked! Hey, if he can’t sell it, I suppose he can convince the owner to come out and play!

I had a choice of ending with a shot of Jason or his girlfriend in the car. Sorry Jason, she looks better behind the wheel (you better agree)! So get it for her!
🙂

Jason, you can get this one for yourself…it’s a lot cheaper…

Green Hornet and the Black Beauty 1966 imperial and George Barris bumps the batmobile!

If you are into starcars, you know George Barris’s work. As the self proclaimed King of the Kustomizers, he is chiefly responsible for the tv version of the Batmobile, the Munster Coach and Dragula, and along with his brother Sam he was at the forefront of the “lead sled” customizing of the 50’s.

Normally the SCC doesn’t want trophies, so as a group we don’t attend car shows. But for the King, well, ya gotta make exceptions!

I wrote Joji (Georges DOC, Daughter in Charge) and offered up our services!
Hi Joji,
Just wanted to let you know several of the movie and TV car owners want to honor your dad and are attending his upcoming show. If you want the cars near his booth, all the owners would be glad to park nearby like my Knight Rider club pals did last year.

Cars available are KITT, Starsky and Hutch Torino, BTTF Delorian, 66 batmobile, Get Smart Sunbeam and a few others. …we just wanted to offer them up to support the King of the Kustomizers!
let me know what we can do!

As usual, the SCC didn’t dissapoint! Even though we were split at other shows (see Linda Blair post) still rows of famous movie and TV cars showed up bright and early!

The Knights of the West coast showed up in force, and lined up with Lou in his Starsky and Hutch Torino, Oscar made sure Magnum PI was represented, Back to the Future Delorian, and Luis punisher car and the blues brothers brought up the rear of the line.
After being moved around by various police, put in alleys and split up, eventually everyone found a place to park!

Knights of the west coast all in a row!

Even though we got split up we eventually all found each other for our usual swapping of the starcar stories, and dumb jokes!
,

I left my batmobile at home by request of Joji, so I got to sleep in and gave my spot to the Tazmobile. I had to show up and hang out though and look for star cars to add to our ranks!
One in particular was there, a Green Hornet Black Beauty from the east coast. Just seeing it in person made me send another encouraging letter to my brother Mark who has his black beauty in the PAINT SHOP and will be crusing with us this SUMMER!

My cosplay pal Scott Sebring, usually sporting bat-togs had a spot on Green Hornet costume for the occasion, and took some amazing photos with Kato and the car!

Scott Sebring and Nate Truman fight over who gets to take the car for a spin!

Scott and I discussed who should be the first to drive it around the block, and it quickly turned heated.

Nate had a convincing argument!

I convinced Scott that it would be in his best interest if I went first.
🙂
So when I was done, I let Scott have a turn!

black beauty green hornet scott sebring

This owner has done a lot of personal changes that differ from the original, but it’s a one of a kind “beauty!”

Scott did have to trade me his extra Kato in exchange for full access to the car.

Next up a quick tour with Alex Wong looking for Star cars, and we found some fun cars that could certainly hang with us.

Of course that meant that Alex’s KITT was left unattended…. Danny decided to try KITT out while he had the chance! I think Luis was in charge of watching KITT….

I knead some bread, man!

There was a helms bakery truck that has to be one of VERY few still around that caught my eye.

I love weird and wacky cars, and I always have to check out rare military vehicles. This 1974 steyr-Puch Pinzgauer 710K got an instant free membership in the SCC when I saw his poster next to his car!
I have often said that part of having a star car is having to answer the same 5 questions all day long by fans. This guy had solved that problem with a simple sign! I like his sense of humor as well!

EVIL Bumblebee? The next KITT?

I didn’t find any bonafide star cars, but I did find MY next daily driver once I stop driving star cars like KITT and the Batmobile to work. Meguiers bought all the options I wanted! Now to convince them to sell it to me after they are done polishing it for a car show season or two!

Wait a second Nate, I'm in charge of the NEXT show?

I left the team enjoying the sunshine and early start time after making sure Paul was clear on the ONE detail he should take care of for his first show in Frazier Park. Diet Coke. They sell it everywhere. I am sure he will take care of it.

I found one photo I wasn’t sure why Alex took it, I guess to make sure everyone knew it was the end of the blog.