Boomer, I think you might be obligated to mod a guitar for the cosplay next. Your wife will know what I mean. Fantastic job.
If she's already made a costume then I'm sure she has a blue Rickenbocker around somewhere.
All you need after that is to attach a vestigial lawnmower pull-starter and you're ready to open up little boys' N\O channels so that robotic monsters come out.
A couple years ago my girlfriend and I were musing over buying a retro-style scooter so she could get around the city without having to spend money on a car and in the back of my mind I could not let the idea of making Haruko's Vespa out of my head. Of course she came into a little bit of money and got a new job and decided to get a more reasonable vehicle instead.
We ended up with a silver Toyota Rav4 that we named "Sheila" after the big tank lady in Red vs. Blue and when Sheila got totaled by a front-end collision with a minivan she was replaced with an ice-blue VW Golf we named EDI. EDI came with us to Georgia where she was given a new license plate that reads "NRMNDY2" and sports an N7 sticker in the rear window.
I still dream of modding a vehicle but unless I start making a significant amount more money that's not likely to happen.
I really want someone to drop $800 on a shitty Nissan Stanza and ride around it in dressed as Monarch henchmen.
Let me get back to you on this one. I could pull off a halfway-decent 24.
Unfortunately the friend that would best embody two-ton 21 lives about a thousand miles away from where I've moved to.
edit: Oh my goodness. There is a navy blue (not powder, sadly) 1987 Nissan Stanza being sold in my area. They're asking $1700 or best offer.
I think they must be on meth to think they can get that for this piece of shit so talking them down should be a snap.
Now I just need to not be ~$400 overdrawn on my account and we're set!
There's also a light-blue 1992 model but it doesn't match as well.
Boomer, I think you might be obligated to mod a guitar for the cosplay next. Your wife will know what I mean. Fantastic job.
She has a blue bass, but in her own words it isn't "good enough." She'll likely find a closer body, and we'll router out the back using one of the CNC machines that my buddy builds to make a spot for the ripcord.
HUUUUGE thanks to Sith Sheriff Brody for showing me how to make the kaleidoscope effect in AI. I've been working on this one for four months and he knocked it out in an afternoon... WOW!
Got this accomplished between yesterday and today.
Cklinejr made some intense modifications to the right control switch to make it work with the turn signal, and AJ Quick has been a lifesaver with letting me use his workshop for pretty much everything for the last week or so.
HUUUUGE thanks to Sith Sheriff Brody for showing me how to make the kaleidoscope effect in AI. I've been working on this one for four months and he knocked it out in an afternoon... WOW!
It was a real challenge, I got a ton of help from professional designers. I got a proof printed and you can make out even the TINIEST details on the poster. It's really pretty cool!
Also: hurrr, the Beauty is now up on the webpage for buying. If you put a link to this thread in the paypal comments I'll give you free shipping!
Is there any actual function for that little wing or was it purely an aesthetic addition by the artists?
I couldn't find any instance in the show where it does anything, it's purely style. *shrug*
I thought maybe it would protect it from grinding against the curb or for locking it up to bike stands or something. I dunno. I know it never comes into play in the show.
So we've got that scooter. I took my wife shopping for helmets and she settled on a sparkly purple 3/4 with rose-tinted visor that she's likely going to cover with stickers or something equally cute.
Initially I really wanted to get a Simpson Diamondback helmet and just spend my days being a Fat Stig, but since those cost $500+ I had to find an alternative. She made a suggestion and I started with a new 3/4 black helmet with a goofy pattern.
I tried so hard to find a used helmet that I could mod, but in the end this worked. Pulled the rubber trim.
I HATE taking something brand new and scuffing hitting it sand paper. This was almost as agonizing as when I put the drill to the roof of my brand-new Magnum in 2009, ugh.
Coat of blue - wetsand with 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 - repeat x3
Coat of clear - wetsand with 2000, 2500 - repeat x4
Then off to my vinyl guy!
Red vinyl is reflective, which I guess is redundant since if I am to wear the helmet at night I will have to switch the faceshield out for a clear one. But I rarely ride at night.
I actually need to trim the white stripe 2 inches away from the visor, and I am still debating whether or not I want a non-flip-up mirror visor. Right now the flip-up completely covers my face and jaw so I like it, but I know the simpler face shields would look closer to the actual design.
It's not supposed to be a straight-up replica or anything really worthy of the term "cosplay," but it was fun to make. It's hardly worth showing off compared so the AMAZING paint jobs and mods that people make to their helmets, but I like it.
Early summer was pretty busy, tons of shows and even a huge comic con! The gear selector cables self-destructed in early June so the scoot had to be trucked around in the back of the Ecto and then spent a few weeks at Sportique Scooters in their intensive care shop. I got it back mid-July only for the gear selector arm (I think?) to come loose, so back in the shop it went. Getting this scooter into a reliable state after the restoration is a pain, but it's showing lots of progress.
Anyway, on to the pictures!!
Totally wrong anime scooter girl, but whatevs.
Paul Italiano's GOBATS scooter, which is like a MILLION times cooler than the SS180. Holy crap that thing is AMAZING.
Aaaaand just for fun, me looking way too large to be on a tiny scooter.
Just got back from Los Angeles, where we hung out with notable 50's culture/automobile/bicycle enthusiast LobsterBoyX from the somethingawful forums.
Since I completely failed to achieve my life-long goal of seeing a space shuttle launch, my next best option to see a shuttle "in flight" was to be present when NASA ferried the spacecraft to their new homes.
The transfer to Los Angeles was our best bet, so we scheduled flights for Wednesday and Thursday, September 19 and 20. Lobsterboy had recently, and graciously, offered to show me around the next time I was in LA, so I took him up on that offer.
Who DOESN'T want to get picked up from the airport in this ******* thing?
Our first stop was Pann's diner, which has incredible 50s charm (something that would become more or less a theme for the trip; not complaining) and has been open continuously since it was built.
After that it was a short trip to see the ocean (because we're stupid inlanders) near Santa Monica, and then it was off to the Petersen Auto Museum.
Of course, we had to slow down as we passed Sony Studios so I could wave to a buddy I hadn't seen since 2010. No time to spend hour crawling around inside with tools and measuring tape, though...
'Hey we just dumped tens of thousands of dollars into restoring this car, time to leave it out in the sun for another 20 years.'
And of course
****ing awesome Kaiser-Darrin, supposedly there's a big collection of these near Denver, so we need to try to make friends with those guys sometime soon. Also hey, it's that place we ate!
This was the main reason I'd wanted to go to the Pete, the Hannibal Twin-8!
Obligatory 59.
Dem fins. :damn:
Obligatory Lancia, minus hot chick posing.
After the Petersen, we took on LA traffic and fought our way up through Laurel Canyon into the valley. Danny took us to see the effects shop he works at, where we oggled a 1:1 lunar lander, a TON of amazing space suits from every era and -my favorite- the environmental suits from Outbreak. So very cool!
We had a little time to burn, and it occurred to me that we weren't far from APEX surplus, which is regarded as the go-to place for switched and cables and little sciencey-looking prop parts. Apex is pretty much the source for anything Time Machine or proton pack-related. But Danny knew a better place, called Norton Sales.
The specialize in used rocket parts.
We got there maybe 10 minutes before they closed so we didn't get any pictures, but hell if that isn't going to me on my list of things to do the next time we're there.
After Norton, Danny took us to a pretty secretive shop that he referred to as the Cadillac Ranch (not the place in Texas, but arguably cooler) where we got to see a bunch of really fantastic 50s cars in their original colors. Oh, and the #3 Tucker. We didn't snap any pictures, but this is it:
Then we took a break, rested at our hotel in Burbank for a bit. After that we headed over to a friend's home in Pasadena. We caught up for a bit while Danny got to pour over several Rocketeer jetpacks that were recently cast from the original mold, which was an amazing sight to see.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped by the Gamble House to shoot some nighttime pictures.
On Friday we got up early and hauled ass to LAX to find a spot to park. We then hiked about a mile to the roadway that passes immediately adjacent to the end of the south runway. A huge crowd had already started to gather. Cops on bikes were going up and down the street blasting sirens to keep people out of the road and to keep traffic moving. We all agreed they should have just shut down the road for the two hours or so that this took. Meh.
EVERY rooftop was covered in people, it was unreal.
You can even see the people that have stopped on the freaking FREEWAY and have gotten out of their cars to see the shuttle. What a spectacular and meaningful event.
Then, out of the haze...
The SCA flew across the horizon over Hollywood and looped around for a near flyby over the north runway before heading south to Anaheim.
It then flew much, MUCH closer.
Before finally coming in
Utterly breath-taking. I'm very glad I got to experience it. And a huge thanks to Danny, as I would have never had the chance without him being such a kind and generous and enthusiastic badass.
Norton was amazing, would love to go again and load up on braided metal hoses for various projects. Also, we missed out on the Nethercutt Collection, but that is stickied as a "must" the next time I'm there. Hopefully it won't be entirely during the week so I can rustle up a few of the StarCarCentral guys.
Also also also, a few shots from the picture car company I visit whenever I'm out there. The people that run it are so freaking chill about everything, I love them!
Wreck Mercedes from The Hangover
1:2 scale mastadge from the original StarGate, I think?
Not sure if this was from the tv show or one of the sequels, it appeared to be sort of a "stunt" or maybe mockup of the real ED-209.
Original KITT from the 2008 NBC show.
I... what?
So weird to see this in a picture car lot. Have there been any films the featured my home town? Is this a different Granby? The only movie I know of that even mentions Granby is Atlas Shrugged, what the hell?
No idea what this is from. Definitely not Twister or Dante's Peak, it's something much more recent. A friend in the movie car community identified the top as being on a Hummer in Deja Vu, I need to doublecheck, though.
In the duplicate section of the lot, where there are two of everything!
BANG BANG BANG!
First in friendship, fourth in obesity!
And lastly, maybe the coolest thing we saw there, two of these sitting in the shop. The helicarrier was nowhere to be found, lame.
It's been really hard keeping quiet on this for the last two months. I didn't want announce anything officially or jinx it in any way by getting all excited before we were completely finished, but I think now's a safe time for a preliminary re-cap of Ecto Tours 2012.
Here in Denver we have a ton of haunted houses. They range in size from smallish, two-night productions put on by youth groups or schools to humongous, 40,000 square-foot million-dollar productions housed in warehouses that run from late September through early November.
Ever since building the cars I've been constantly asked if we "rent out" the cars or give people rides in them. I answered "no" since I didn't want to run afoul of copyright issues and I didn't want to feel like a shill for advertising and selling appearances of the cars.
There was a lot of excitement for what we were doing, and I tried coming up with ways to channel that enthusiasm into means of helping others. The idea fully coalesced in 2009, and I sent out a number of emails to various haunted houses in the area stating the idea - let's take people around to haunted houses in the Ecto-1, with the proceeds benefiting Children's Hospital Colorado. Shortly thereafter we heard back from the owner of the two largest haunts in Denver. He said, "Just tell me what you need."
This is the idea in clustered, overly busy graphic form -
In October 2010 we raised about $800 for Children's Hospital. We had maybe two reservations and we combined that to the money we raised at the Zombie Crawl.
In October 2011 we raised about $2,000 for Children's Hospital. Reservations were dead until the last week of October, when Heidi McGuire aired this newscast. After the newscast we had so much interest in Ecto Tours that we actually had to start doing two runs per night to get everyone in.
This year we took 92 people to haunted houses in the Ecto, the Resident Evil car, and the Mystery Machine. And we ended up raising $9,160.
When we first promoted the Tours in 2010, we got a lot of calls from people who wanted to go in groups of 6-10. Since the Ecto only holds 4, we had to turn them down, and this limited the program's scope. After the success of 2011, we decided to bring in other Halloween-relevant cars into the mix for "overflow convoys." If we had a reservation with more than 4 people, we brought in the Resident Evil car. If we had more than 8, we'd bring in the Mystery Machine.
For 2013 each car will be available independently - we won't have as much fun convoying, but we'll be able to accommodate more donors.
One of the groups even whipped up some goofy shirts just for their night on the town! I was utterly blown away by this - people were really getting into it!
We had participants of all ages. We had a group of 15-year old who were getting to experience mega-haunts for the first time, and we even had a group of senior UNITED pilots!!
Our largest run of the month - 12 people at once! Pulling into the haunts with all three cars was a BLAST!
We even got some snow about halfway through October, but it didn't discourage people from donating! Of course, people participating in the tours spent less time waiting in line than ANYONE.
And of course, while I was waiting for the donors to come out of the haunts I took pictures for people, handing out business cards to promote the tours for next year. We got a TON of reservations in 2012 from people who had seen us while standing in like the year before. Also, the strobes **** with phone cameras so my little Canon point-and-shoot was a more appealing option.
We were out doing these runs from 6pm-midnight almost every day of October. I put about 1,200 miles on the Magnum and burned over 50 gallons of gas.
DONATION BREAKDOWN
-88 people at $100 per person
-4 people on a post-Halloween, 4-house run at $65 per person
-1 completely unsolicited, out-of-the-blue, amazing $100 donation from CelebrityMachines.com owner Travis Bell, who saw the project unfolding on our Facebook page.
If it weren't for two cancellations, we would have cracked $10,000 easily. Children's Hospital Colorado wants to do a "giant cardboard check" presentation in early December, and I'm mulling around ideas to raise that final $1000, either through selling Ecto-1 posters or possibly copies of the Denver Ghostbusters patch I from the Ecto Tours jacket.
So yeah. It's nice to look back and see that the program more than doubled every year so far. The end goal - the "Five Year Plan" as I call it - is to have each of the cars individually available for reservations, you'd get to pick 5 haunted houses from a selection of 10 in the Denver area, and you'd get the car for the whole night (as opposed to the two nightly runs we've been doing). It would be more of a full-service limo package that last 5 hours or so, we'd take donors to restaurants or bars, and we'd even learn a few good ghost stories to tell as we drive donors between the haunts (nothing serious, just good enough to set the mood for a terrific Halloween experience), and then auction off each of the slots.
Of course, all I did was promote the charity, schedule reservations, and drive. The real sacrifice, as I see it, was on the part of the haunted houses. They let donors cut in line and enter for free. Typical Instant Access tickets usually run $45 per house, and the owners just waived that and let us do our thing. A few haunts even stepped up to the plate on little to no notice when other houses closed due to weather.
Of course, this isn't 100% complete until the money is in the hands of CHCF. The hospital has invited us to do a "giant foamboard check" presentation in about a month, so hopefully we'll have some awesome pictures and stories of that when the time comes.
One day I'd like Ecto Tours to basically be a nearly-automatic $10,000-$15,000 fund raiser that we can just kick at whoever needs it. A few people need mobility chairs? Bam. Service animals for kids? Bam. Just, helping local causes or whoever is in need.
I love the variety in the vehicles. "Yes for old men in ghost costumes we've got the Mystery Machine here, usually staffed by a bunch of teenagers. For real ghosts the Ecto 1A should suit your needs, complete with a proton pack and trap. If you're dealing with zombies or other genetic monstrosities you probably want to go with the Umbrella corp car, though we recommend a few classes in kung-fu dog kicking before you get started."
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If she's already made a costume then I'm sure she has a blue Rickenbocker around somewhere.
All you need after that is to attach a vestigial lawnmower pull-starter and you're ready to open up little boys' N\O channels so that robotic monsters come out.
A couple years ago my girlfriend and I were musing over buying a retro-style scooter so she could get around the city without having to spend money on a car and in the back of my mind I could not let the idea of making Haruko's Vespa out of my head. Of course she came into a little bit of money and got a new job and decided to get a more reasonable vehicle instead.
We ended up with a silver Toyota Rav4 that we named "Sheila" after the big tank lady in Red vs. Blue and when Sheila got totaled by a front-end collision with a minivan she was replaced with an ice-blue VW Golf we named EDI. EDI came with us to Georgia where she was given a new license plate that reads "NRMNDY2" and sports an N7 sticker in the rear window.
I still dream of modding a vehicle but unless I start making a significant amount more money that's not likely to happen.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Let me get back to you on this one. I could pull off a halfway-decent 24.
Unfortunately the friend that would best embody two-ton 21 lives about a thousand miles away from where I've moved to.
edit: Oh my goodness. There is a navy blue (not powder, sadly) 1987 Nissan Stanza being sold in my area. They're asking $1700 or best offer.
I think they must be on meth to think they can get that for this piece of shit so talking them down should be a snap.
Now I just need to not be ~$400 overdrawn on my account and we're set!
There's also a light-blue 1992 model but it doesn't match as well.
yo I did this in high school
except venture bros weren't out then. and I didn't dress up
And rattle-can that beast. DragonCon parade, here you come!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Opening a secret savings account as we speak. I'm sure there are a number of GAGBs that could fit 21's *ahem* body-type.
It's a good thing I'm tall though, these Georgia boys are a lot larger than my heavy-set friend back home.
She has a blue bass, but in her own words it isn't "good enough." She'll likely find a closer body, and we'll router out the back using one of the CNC machines that my buddy builds to make a spot for the ripcord.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
HUUUUGE thanks to Sith Sheriff Brody for showing me how to make the kaleidoscope effect in AI. I've been working on this one for four months and he knocked it out in an afternoon... WOW!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Cklinejr made some intense modifications to the right control switch to make it work with the turn signal, and AJ Quick has been a lifesaver with letting me use his workshop for pretty much everything for the last week or so.
Vidya!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSQnPwWNptM
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
I will trade you three small islands
WANT
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Even if they weren't to match Haruko's vespa, they're just a really rad little mod!
Need some stuff designed or printed? I can help with that.
Fin is a perfect fit!
Wife pulls off the final version of the decal, the last major piece!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
End credit stop-motion re-creation!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QLJjb39VrA
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
been waiting on a black beauty!
It was a real challenge, I got a ton of help from professional designers. I got a proof printed and you can make out even the TINIEST details on the poster. It's really pretty cool!
Also: hurrr, the Beauty is now up on the webpage for buying. If you put a link to this thread in the paypal comments I'll give you free shipping!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Still questing to find the perfect location in Denver for an all-in-one photograph with power lines, a bridge, a river, and that elusive yellow sky!
Yesterdays sunset gave me a pretty good sky, though...
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
I couldn't find any instance in the show where it does anything, it's purely style. *shrug*
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
+10 horsepower
Dear satan I wish for this or maybe some of this....oh and I'm a medium or a large.
I thought maybe it would protect it from grinding against the curb or for locking it up to bike stands or something. I dunno. I know it never comes into play in the show.
Here's another photo dump, I've yet to take it into a more industrial part of town, but this was the perfect bridge/river, I think...
HDR is tacky to me, but I thought this had some nice colors...
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
This is the car I want
Initially I really wanted to get a Simpson Diamondback helmet and just spend my days being a Fat Stig, but since those cost $500+ I had to find an alternative. She made a suggestion and I started with a new 3/4 black helmet with a goofy pattern.
I tried so hard to find a used helmet that I could mod, but in the end this worked. Pulled the rubber trim.
I HATE taking something brand new and scuffing hitting it sand paper. This was almost as agonizing as when I put the drill to the roof of my brand-new Magnum in 2009, ugh.
Coat of blue - wetsand with 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 - repeat x3
Coat of clear - wetsand with 2000, 2500 - repeat x4
Then off to my vinyl guy!
Red vinyl is reflective, which I guess is redundant since if I am to wear the helmet at night I will have to switch the faceshield out for a clear one. But I rarely ride at night.
I actually need to trim the white stripe 2 inches away from the visor, and I am still debating whether or not I want a non-flip-up mirror visor. Right now the flip-up completely covers my face and jaw so I like it, but I know the simpler face shields would look closer to the actual design.
It's not supposed to be a straight-up replica or anything really worthy of the term "cosplay," but it was fun to make. It's hardly worth showing off compared so the AMAZING paint jobs and mods that people make to their helmets, but I like it.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
When I discovered that some faceshields had the mirrored finish, my wife mentioned Cobra Commander and I just ran with that idea right away.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Anyway, on to the pictures!!
Totally wrong anime scooter girl, but whatevs.
Paul Italiano's GOBATS scooter, which is like a MILLION times cooler than the SS180. Holy crap that thing is AMAZING.
Aaaaand just for fun, me looking way too large to be on a tiny scooter.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Just got back from Los Angeles, where we hung out with notable 50's culture/automobile/bicycle enthusiast LobsterBoyX from the somethingawful forums.
Since I completely failed to achieve my life-long goal of seeing a space shuttle launch, my next best option to see a shuttle "in flight" was to be present when NASA ferried the spacecraft to their new homes.
The transfer to Los Angeles was our best bet, so we scheduled flights for Wednesday and Thursday, September 19 and 20. Lobsterboy had recently, and graciously, offered to show me around the next time I was in LA, so I took him up on that offer.
Who DOESN'T want to get picked up from the airport in this ******* thing?
Our first stop was Pann's diner, which has incredible 50s charm (something that would become more or less a theme for the trip; not complaining) and has been open continuously since it was built.
After that it was a short trip to see the ocean (because we're stupid inlanders) near Santa Monica, and then it was off to the Petersen Auto Museum.
Of course, we had to slow down as we passed Sony Studios so I could wave to a buddy I hadn't seen since 2010. No time to spend hour crawling around inside with tools and measuring tape, though...
'Hey we just dumped tens of thousands of dollars into restoring this car, time to leave it out in the sun for another 20 years.'
And of course
****ing awesome Kaiser-Darrin, supposedly there's a big collection of these near Denver, so we need to try to make friends with those guys sometime soon. Also hey, it's that place we ate!
This was the main reason I'd wanted to go to the Pete, the Hannibal Twin-8!
Obligatory 59.
Dem fins. :damn:
Obligatory Lancia, minus hot chick posing.
After the Petersen, we took on LA traffic and fought our way up through Laurel Canyon into the valley. Danny took us to see the effects shop he works at, where we oggled a 1:1 lunar lander, a TON of amazing space suits from every era and -my favorite- the environmental suits from Outbreak. So very cool!
We had a little time to burn, and it occurred to me that we weren't far from APEX surplus, which is regarded as the go-to place for switched and cables and little sciencey-looking prop parts. Apex is pretty much the source for anything Time Machine or proton pack-related. But Danny knew a better place, called Norton Sales.
The specialize in used rocket parts.
We got there maybe 10 minutes before they closed so we didn't get any pictures, but hell if that isn't going to me on my list of things to do the next time we're there.
After Norton, Danny took us to a pretty secretive shop that he referred to as the Cadillac Ranch (not the place in Texas, but arguably cooler) where we got to see a bunch of really fantastic 50s cars in their original colors. Oh, and the #3 Tucker. We didn't snap any pictures, but this is it:
Then we took a break, rested at our hotel in Burbank for a bit. After that we headed over to a friend's home in Pasadena. We caught up for a bit while Danny got to pour over several Rocketeer jetpacks that were recently cast from the original mold, which was an amazing sight to see.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped by the Gamble House to shoot some nighttime pictures.
On Friday we got up early and hauled ass to LAX to find a spot to park. We then hiked about a mile to the roadway that passes immediately adjacent to the end of the south runway. A huge crowd had already started to gather. Cops on bikes were going up and down the street blasting sirens to keep people out of the road and to keep traffic moving. We all agreed they should have just shut down the road for the two hours or so that this took. Meh.
EVERY rooftop was covered in people, it was unreal.
You can even see the people that have stopped on the freaking FREEWAY and have gotten out of their cars to see the shuttle. What a spectacular and meaningful event.
Then, out of the haze...
The SCA flew across the horizon over Hollywood and looped around for a near flyby over the north runway before heading south to Anaheim.
It then flew much, MUCH closer.
Before finally coming in
Utterly breath-taking. I'm very glad I got to experience it. And a huge thanks to Danny, as I would have never had the chance without him being such a kind and generous and enthusiastic badass.
Norton was amazing, would love to go again and load up on braided metal hoses for various projects. Also, we missed out on the Nethercutt Collection, but that is stickied as a "must" the next time I'm there. Hopefully it won't be entirely during the week so I can rustle up a few of the StarCarCentral guys.
Also also also, a few shots from the picture car company I visit whenever I'm out there. The people that run it are so freaking chill about everything, I love them!
Wreck Mercedes from The Hangover
1:2 scale mastadge from the original StarGate, I think?
Not sure if this was from the tv show or one of the sequels, it appeared to be sort of a "stunt" or maybe mockup of the real ED-209.
Original KITT from the 2008 NBC show.
I... what?
So weird to see this in a picture car lot. Have there been any films the featured my home town? Is this a different Granby? The only movie I know of that even mentions Granby is Atlas Shrugged, what the hell?
No idea what this is from. Definitely not Twister or Dante's Peak, it's something much more recent. A friend in the movie car community identified the top as being on a Hummer in Deja Vu, I need to doublecheck, though.
In the duplicate section of the lot, where there are two of everything!
BANG BANG BANG!
First in friendship, fourth in obesity!
And lastly, maybe the coolest thing we saw there, two of these sitting in the shop. The helicarrier was nowhere to be found, lame.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Until the day it blocks out the sun
3DS FC: 4699-5714-8940 Playing Pokemon, add me! Ho, SATAN!
Oh hey, what's that in my pants? A boner?
Yes.
At this point I'm just waiting to hear about an aircraft carrier in the Rockies, honestly.
Like Mega Man Legends? Then check out my story, Legends of the Halcyon Era - An Adventure in the World of Mega Man Legends on TMMN and AO3!
High winds moved into Denver hours later and now NONE of these trees have leaves. Lucky!
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!
Here in Denver we have a ton of haunted houses. They range in size from smallish, two-night productions put on by youth groups or schools to humongous, 40,000 square-foot million-dollar productions housed in warehouses that run from late September through early November.
Ever since building the cars I've been constantly asked if we "rent out" the cars or give people rides in them. I answered "no" since I didn't want to run afoul of copyright issues and I didn't want to feel like a shill for advertising and selling appearances of the cars.
There was a lot of excitement for what we were doing, and I tried coming up with ways to channel that enthusiasm into means of helping others. The idea fully coalesced in 2009, and I sent out a number of emails to various haunted houses in the area stating the idea - let's take people around to haunted houses in the Ecto-1, with the proceeds benefiting Children's Hospital Colorado. Shortly thereafter we heard back from the owner of the two largest haunts in Denver. He said, "Just tell me what you need."
This is the idea in clustered, overly busy graphic form -
In October 2010 we raised about $800 for Children's Hospital. We had maybe two reservations and we combined that to the money we raised at the Zombie Crawl.
In October 2011 we raised about $2,000 for Children's Hospital. Reservations were dead until the last week of October, when Heidi McGuire aired this newscast. After the newscast we had so much interest in Ecto Tours that we actually had to start doing two runs per night to get everyone in.
This year we took 92 people to haunted houses in the Ecto, the Resident Evil car, and the Mystery Machine. And we ended up raising $9,160.
Cool spotlight-fog effect... otherwise regular picture.
When we first promoted the Tours in 2010, we got a lot of calls from people who wanted to go in groups of 6-10. Since the Ecto only holds 4, we had to turn them down, and this limited the program's scope. After the success of 2011, we decided to bring in other Halloween-relevant cars into the mix for "overflow convoys." If we had a reservation with more than 4 people, we brought in the Resident Evil car. If we had more than 8, we'd bring in the Mystery Machine.
For 2013 each car will be available independently - we won't have as much fun convoying, but we'll be able to accommodate more donors.
One of the groups even whipped up some goofy shirts just for their night on the town! I was utterly blown away by this - people were really getting into it!
We had participants of all ages. We had a group of 15-year old who were getting to experience mega-haunts for the first time, and we even had a group of senior UNITED pilots!!
Our largest run of the month - 12 people at once! Pulling into the haunts with all three cars was a BLAST!
We even got some snow about halfway through October, but it didn't discourage people from donating! Of course, people participating in the tours spent less time waiting in line than ANYONE.
And of course, while I was waiting for the donors to come out of the haunts I took pictures for people, handing out business cards to promote the tours for next year. We got a TON of reservations in 2012 from people who had seen us while standing in like the year before. Also, the strobes **** with phone cameras so my little Canon point-and-shoot was a more appealing option.
We were out doing these runs from 6pm-midnight almost every day of October. I put about 1,200 miles on the Magnum and burned over 50 gallons of gas.
DONATION BREAKDOWN
-88 people at $100 per person
-4 people on a post-Halloween, 4-house run at $65 per person
-1 completely unsolicited, out-of-the-blue, amazing $100 donation from CelebrityMachines.com owner Travis Bell, who saw the project unfolding on our Facebook page.
If it weren't for two cancellations, we would have cracked $10,000 easily. Children's Hospital Colorado wants to do a "giant cardboard check" presentation in early December, and I'm mulling around ideas to raise that final $1000, either through selling Ecto-1 posters or possibly copies of the Denver Ghostbusters patch I from the Ecto Tours jacket.
So yeah. It's nice to look back and see that the program more than doubled every year so far. The end goal - the "Five Year Plan" as I call it - is to have each of the cars individually available for reservations, you'd get to pick 5 haunted houses from a selection of 10 in the Denver area, and you'd get the car for the whole night (as opposed to the two nightly runs we've been doing). It would be more of a full-service limo package that last 5 hours or so, we'd take donors to restaurants or bars, and we'd even learn a few good ghost stories to tell as we drive donors between the haunts (nothing serious, just good enough to set the mood for a terrific Halloween experience), and then auction off each of the slots.
Of course, all I did was promote the charity, schedule reservations, and drive. The real sacrifice, as I see it, was on the part of the haunted houses. They let donors cut in line and enter for free. Typical Instant Access tickets usually run $45 per house, and the owners just waived that and let us do our thing. A few haunts even stepped up to the plate on little to no notice when other houses closed due to weather.
Huge thanks go out to , Josh Holder from The Frightmare Compound in Westminster, Warren Conrad of The Asylum, and of course the owner of The 13th Floor, Chris Stafford. Without their generosity, enthusiasm, and willingness to humor my dorky ambitions, none of this would have been possible. If you live in the area, please support these businesses next year!
Of course, this isn't 100% complete until the money is in the hands of CHCF. The hospital has invited us to do a "giant foamboard check" presentation in about a month, so hopefully we'll have some awesome pictures and stories of that when the time comes.
One day I'd like Ecto Tours to basically be a nearly-automatic $10,000-$15,000 fund raiser that we can just kick at whoever needs it. A few people need mobility chairs? Bam. Service animals for kids? Bam. Just, helping local causes or whoever is in need.
I think we'll get there.
Check out Colorado Movie Cars! It's amazing!