Ghostbusters car visits Larne

Larne folk saw something strange in the neighbourhood yesterday evening after a '˜Ghostbusters' car visited Larne Omniplex.
Mike Barr with his new Ghostbusters replica car outside Cairndhu House. Photo by Reinis Babrovskis. INLT-30-702-conMike Barr with his new Ghostbusters replica car outside Cairndhu House. Photo by Reinis Babrovskis. INLT-30-702-con
Mike Barr with his new Ghostbusters replica car outside Cairndhu House. Photo by Reinis Babrovskis. INLT-30-702-con

The eye-catching Ecto 1 replica car has been fully kitted out in the style of the car from the recently-released Hollywood blockbuster starring Melissa McCarthy and Kristen Wiig.

However, far from being the property of the new all-female ghostbusting team, the vehicle belongs to Ballygally businessman and owner of Star Car Hire Mike Barr.

Ecto 1 has now been added to a novelty fleet of TV and movie car replicas, which include the General Lee from Dukes of Hazard, a ‘Back to the future’-style DeLorean and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

“The car is a Cadillac Fleetwood hearse which I ordered on e-bay and shipped over from America,” Mike told the Times.

“It is the model from the new movie and these cars are very hard to get.

“When I ordered it on e-bay I had no idea what condition it would be in, I just imported it from the States and hoped for the best.”

After taking delivery of the car, Mike and his team undertook a complete overhaul of the vehicle to make it ressemble the instantly-recognisable movie car.

“The car was originally just a black hearse but we wanted a real Ghostbusters car and we wanted it to be ready in time for the movie,” Mike continued.

“That meant repainting it, building a roof rack, putting the graphics on, getting the lights from Canada, it all took about three months.”

Mike has already hired the car out to Sony for PR work around the film’s release in Ireland, and hopes to use it at events in Northern Ireland too.

“We have a lot of events planned for Halloween and we even have a wedding booking,” he revealed.

“The bride is hoping to suprise her groom on the big day.”

A recent photo shoot at the derelict Cairhdhu House showcased the car to its full spooky potential.

“I would like to thank Dessie and George for allowing us to do the photo shoot at Cairndhu House,” Mike continued.

“It is such an incredible building in beautiful surroundings and it would be a massive shame not to restore this historic place.”

However, Mike says that ghostly goings-on have been limited since the company took delivery of the former hearse.

“our mechanic was working on the car in the workshop when he turned around and thought he saw two faces in the car, but it was just the angle of the light,” he revealed.

“He had it in his head but the rest of us just fell about laughing!”

For more information visit www.starcarhire.co.uk.

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