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| 1959 Cadillac Ambulance |
Ghostbusters was released in June 1984 and grossed $13.6 million on its opening weekend,$23 million in its first week, and went on to total a gross box office return of $238.6 million making Ghostbusters the most successful comedy of the 1980s. Why is it a more memorable movie than other 1984 releases such as Footloose, The Karate Kid, and Beverley Hills Cop?....Because of the car!
What is offered here is a faithful recreation of one of the most iconic movie cars of our time. Rescued in 2007 from a twenty year tenure as a fete car belonging to a church in Maryland, USA, the vendor saved the car from being scrapped and undertook more than £65,000 worth of restoration to bring her to the exacting standard at which she is offered for sale. The restoration included replacing the entire roof of this enormous car since the Maryland church had removed it to provide open-top parades. The history file includes images of the car prior to, and throughout the restoration.
The car is a 1959 Cadillac S&S Ambulance. S&S are the coachmakers that took the original Cadillac car and turned it into the Ambulance, much the same as coachmakers take a Volvo or Jaguar here and turn them into hearses. The car now exactly replicates the one from the movie; the roof props and logos are identical, only the interior has been amended at a cost of £7,000 to host 3 bench seats, (one in the front, and two in the rear) making the car a usable than the crude interior of the original film.
'Ecto 1' has a 6.5 litre V8 engine returning a rather meagre 8 miles to the gallon. The Prius it is not, but then, how much fun can you have in a Prius? It is a staggering 20 foot long by 6.5 foot wide and weighs in at a colossal 2.55 tonnes.
The vendor of the car has used this vehicle for promotion work and private hire. Being the only one of its kind in Europe, demand is high. Though we are not going to publish the exact figures that this car has generated in income, it is safe to suggest that a return of some £25,000+ is achievable if regularly booked.
Ecto 1 is complete with V5C registration document, road tax, HMRC Import Certificate documentation, and an extensive, though not complete, history file documenting the works undertaken by the vendor.
Who ya gonna call??
The Cadillac is up for sale as part of the Historics at Brooklands auction on Saturday September 25.
