Nos filmes originais da franquia 'Ghostbuster', a plataforma e o equipamento na parte superior do Ectomobile ou Ecto-1 nunca foram usados ou revelados.
Considerando o custo de fabricação e reconstrução de Steve Dane, creditado como consultor de hardware, foi considerado um milagre o carro se mover. O equipamento no carro nunca foi feito para ser usado pelos atores.
Em um desenho animado subsequente, um canhão de prótons (uma versão atualizada e mais poderosa do pacote de prótons) estava no topo do Ecto-1.
Versões diferentes e subsequentes do veículo (quadrinhos, desenhos animados) relatam versões diferentes do referido rack de equipamentos.
Wikipedia: Ghostbusters: Universo: Transporte: Ectomobile
The Ectomobile, or Ecto–1 is a 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor[70] limo-style endloader combination car (ambulance conversion) used in the 1984 film Ghostbusters and other Ghostbusters fiction. The original vehicle design was the creation of Steven Dane, credited as a Hardware Consultant in the credits.
In the original movie, Stantz pays $4800 (over $9900 in 2012 dollars) for it and claims it needs a plethora of repairs.[73] In Stantz's own words, it needs "suspension work and shocks, brakes, brake pads, lining, steering box, transmission, rear end... new rings, mufflers, a little wiring...."
After the necessary reconstruction, it is used to carry the Ghostbusters and their ghost-capturing equipment through New York City. Its features include a special pull-out rack in the rear containing the staff's proton packs. There are also various gadgets mounted on the top, whose function is never revealed in the movies. A cartoon episode features the proton cannon, presumably a more powerful version of a proton pack, mounted on top for use against extra large or even giant sized paranormal entities.
Outras versões do Ecto-1 são vistas em várias representações da mídia, algumas dando atualizações ao equipamento do veículo:
In the 1984 computer game adaptation, players are given the choice between the 1963 hearse (which looked the most like Ecto-1), a cheap VW Beetle, a spacious station wagon and a high performance (but low-capacity) sports car.
Ecto-1a is an upgraded version of the Ecto-1, seen only in Ghostbusters II, which includes more technical equipment on the vehicle's roof and digital announcement boards on each side of it. The logo is updated and added to the hood. The vehicle also sports strips of yellow and black along either side.
Ecto-1b is featured in Ghostbusters: The Video Game; the 1b is similar to the 1a, but features upgraded equipment and the addition of the Super Slammer Trap, an enhanced capacity ghost trap, on its roof.
E muitos outros...
Notas de produção:
- Dizia-se que o Ecto-1 no script original tinha habilidades sobrenaturais, permitindo que se desmaterializasse, permitindo que os Caça-Fantasmas escapassem à polícia. A reescrita subsequente removeu as ditas habilidades.
Harold Ramis recounts: "The encounter between the policeman and the Ectomobile is the only scene in the final shooting script which suggested that the vehicle itself had some extranormal powers -- a carryover from Dan Aykroyd's initial draft in which the Ectomobile was equipped with an advanced dematerializing capability that allowed its operators, functioning somewhat outside the law, to readily elude police pursuit." - Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 95 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685.
- O Ecto-1 estava realmente em péssimo estado. No Ghostbuster II, quando o carro estava fumando e tendo dificuldades, era porque o carro estava, de fato, quebrando. O carro finalmente morreu na ponte do Brooklyn e foi citado e rebocado porque não há pistas de avaria na ponte. O carro obstruiu o tráfego por horas.