Back in 2013, quite a while before the LEGO Cuusoo/Ideas Ecto-1 was unveiled, I built my own version of this movie classic. For many LEGO builders, including yours truly, a model is never quite finished. I am happy with it when I build it, but if the model is still around a few years later, my fingers sometimes start to itch to make a few improvements. LEGO keep making new and useful parts and I may pick up a few new tricks along the way. My Ecto-1 looked as though it could do with a bit of work.

This turned out to be pretty extensive. The roof, some of the interior equipment and the rear end are mostly unchanged, but everything else is new. I was never too happy that the sides of the car from the Ideas set had a nicer shape than those on my model, but using cheese slopes and various brackets, I was able to make them much more rounded. This meant rebuilding the chassis and fitting new door handles and involved a lot of tinkering to ensure that the red from the fins continues along the bottom of the windows. The front was completely overhauled, with new 1×2 curved slopes used for the edge of the hood and a completely rebuilt radiator, with new jumper plates, that allow a stud to be stuck in the middle from below, used for the half-stud offsets. The windows have been partially tinted and I’ve even fitted new hubcaps.

Good to go for another few years!