How to turn a Station Wagon to an Ecto replica
By Jason Skoby

1.) The rack was welded out of 1 inch square tube. The measurements were made based on the size of the roof of my car. Not the actual Ecto-1 standards.
2.) After the rack was welded, I boarder up the bottom and all four sides with plywood to box it in.
3.) I used PVC pipe to make the electron gun that sticks up and out of the box. The two outward pipes were 1 1/2''. The main body was made from 6" pipe and the litter one on top was made from 4" pipe. The box that holds the twins guns was made from plywood. Then I bolted all the pieces together with one long threaded rod and some nuts and washers to it down. It had to be heavy duty so it can withstand freeway speeds.
4.) On the inside of the rack box were two different sizes boxes. The one closest to the front resembles an air conditioning evaporation unit. I made the both boxes out of plywood. The one towards the back I had no idea what it is. I just copied what photos showed and added some wood strips to make it ribbed.
5.) The cylinder dome that sticks up high was made from fiberglass. I couldn’t find a shape to mold it from for a long while. Then at a craft store I found a glass dome for displaying fancy dolls that was perfect shape. I covered the dome with tin foil and wrapped the whole thing with a couple layers of fiberglass. I slid the glass dome out from the inside and trimmed the bottom to make it sit flat. I used bondo to fill the bubbles and lined and sand smooth. Painted it with white and added to red stripes. When that was finished I had to fill the dome with expanding form so I can put a long bolt inside. I cut a piece of sheet metal the same size as the dome in the front and squared in the back. It is squared in the back so you can put the two antennas on the plate. I used snow plow marker rods for the antennas and painted them white. This was the most complicated part of the roof rack.
6.) There are two tanks on the driver's side of the rack. I think in the movie they were Freon tanks. U used hot water holding tanks that were 2 gallons. I painted yellow and attached to the rack.
7.) The PVC pipe on the passenger side and the two Freon tanks were attached to the rack using 1 1/2" cold rolled flat steal you can find at home depot. I rolled the steal a piece of 6" PVC to curve it and welded it to the rack. I then slid the tanks and long tube through these brackets and drilled a hole through the bottom of the bracket and bolted them down.
8.) I used random extra parts to make it look like a functional piece of equipment. Some of these parts include steel braided hoses, radiator hoses, large heat sinks, and some parts I frond on an old dishwasher. Above the long tube of the passenger side is a box that looks like an old fashion stage amplifier. I couldn’t find one that like the one in the movie so I made my own out of electrical box. I added some brass fittings and attached some braided hose to them and strung the hoses in all random directions.
When the rack and lights were completed, the total weight of the unit came to 472 pounds. It became very heavy. I wasn’t going to set that on the roof of my car for fear of damage so I built a platform out of plywood and 2x6 boards. The sides of the platform helped evenly distribute the weight across the roof. Then I covered it with marine grade vinyl white and bolted it to my car roof rack rails. Then I added the lights and graphics on the body. The red stripe down the length of the car was made from a roll of sticky red vinyl. I cut the vinyl to resemble the red paint of the original Ecto-1 and its fins on a 1959 caddy.