#4939597
Back again with another fun update. I've been hard at work building the BGM-34C panels, and I am quite impressed with how they have turned out. I collaborated with a couple amazing people to actually bring these things to light.

I had fun doing these, especially those weathered areas around the edges. Came out really well.

No detail is being spared while putting this thing together. If it cant be found, I will build the sucker. lol

Let me know what you think.

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I'm going to start working on the rear boxes. I really want this to be a full replica. At least as close as I can get, just because I'm going on the few hard to see photos of the area behind these front panels. We'll get there. haha

James
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#4941491
I was able to find another hard to find item, the Midland 77-859 CB Radio. A special thanks goes out to one of the guys in the facebook group (Lyndon Stephenson) for helping me locate one.

You wouldn't think it would be hard to come across one of these old CB radios, but they are ridiculously hard to find.

One piece at a time!

James

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#4943171
DeLoreanDMC81 wrote: December 9th, 2020, 3:05 pm It has been a while and I forgot I didn't post pictures of the finished BGM-34C panels.

I think they turned out great. Plus, finding the correct control box in the middle. Yay

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This is literally what I am doing right now.

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This is the old file. Finally getting around to fixing some measurements. The ones you've made turned out amazing!
#4943261
910dohead wrote: December 9th, 2020, 3:57 pm
DeLoreanDMC81 wrote: December 9th, 2020, 3:05 pm It has been a while and I forgot I didn't post pictures of the finished BGM-34C panels.

I think they turned out great. Plus, finding the correct control box in the middle. Yay

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This is literally what I am doing right now.

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This is the old file. Finally getting around to fixing some measurements. The ones you've made turned out amazing!
Wow, your file turned out stunning! Can't wait to see when it's finished. If you need any help with anything be sure to let me know.

James
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#4946975
mwilkinson wrote: March 18th, 2021, 12:58 am Nice find Andrew.

Any progress on the car? Or are you intent on getting all the parts together first?
Thanks. It's a little exciting getting those crossed off the list.

Actually, yes. I removed the rear flooring about 3 weeks ago. Along with removing the metal flooring pieces that were only in the Hearse's. I'll post some pictures of that in a little bit.

But I am mainly focusing on trying to get all the pieces together. That way I can really hit the ground running.
#4946977
Here's the proof that I've also been working on the car. haha

Since I don't have an ambulance, and I'm not building an Ecto-1A, the rear center divider had to come out. A friend of mine that does cabinetry, he's going to be building me my rear cabinet.

I also removed the rear wood floor board, along with the metal floor sections that were put in the Hearse vehicles. as well as the rear middle metal piece. All of these pieces had to come out, if not, then there would have been no way to install the rear fold down seats. And I will be installing a new rear floor board because the old one is not cut correctly for the fold down seats.

This would probably go a lot faster but I'm trying to take great care of every piece that is removed. Trying to salvage as much of everything that is coming out, versus, just cutting and ripping it all out.

So you can see a little bit of progress has been made. Still a long way to go.

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#4946983
As if we would ever doubt you.

Great work James.

I'm glad to see the car is getting some attention. I think it a nice idea to preserve what you can of the original interior. It's rare and will be of use to other collectors with an unmolested car.

I hadn't realised that Ecto 1 and Ecto 1A differed so much - the base car that is :wink:
Last edited by mwilkinson on March 19th, 2021, 12:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#4946988
mwilkinson wrote: March 18th, 2021, 1:42 pm As if we would ever doubt you.

Great work Andrew.

I'm glad to see the car is getting some attention. I think it a nice idea to preserve what you can of the original interior. It's rare and will be of use to other collectors with an unmolested car.

I hadn't realised that Ecto 1 and Ecto 1A differed so much - the base car that is :wink:
Haha, you should probably doubt me some times. lol We had great weather out here a few weeks ago, so I definitely took advantage of it and worked on the car a little bit.

Exactly! This stuff is 60+ years old and I'd hate to just destroy it. Although, if you ask the hard core purists, I've already destroyed this car. lol But I didn't want a Hearse. Plus, I feel so blessed that I've been able to find the window trim pieces, as well as meeting lots of cool and interesting people with my car build.

The Ecto-1 and Ecto-1A are pretty dang identical. It's just some of the interior pieces aren't the same. As I mentioned, the Ecto-1 had a wooden cabinet for the medical supplies. The Ecto-1A has a rear cabinet similar to mine. One that is rounded on the edges and has 1 swing open door to store supplies. And the interior fabric is different. That's about it. lol
#4947024
drcaron wrote: March 19th, 2021, 12:09 pm Great job James :cool:
Very happy of you that you removing carefuly to saving those oririnal hearse parts ,i know you will find some one that may need it and buy it from you .

Martin
Thank you, good sir. I definitely appreciate all your help so far.



mwilkinson wrote: March 19th, 2021, 12:22 pm The embarrassment of realising that I've been calling you by your middle name.... :blush:

I take comfort from the fact it is at least a name linked to you.
Haha, totally fine. My dads name is also James, and most of everyone I know in Ohio still calls me Andy or Andrew. lol

At least you weren't so far off base, like calling me Zachariah, or something like that. :mrgreen:
#4949626
mwilkinson wrote: May 17th, 2021, 11:53 pm Great attention to detail.

What are the various components and where did you find them?

I assume the base boards are custom, are they made from metal or wood?
Thank you. I'm just super OCD about the small details, because I think those are always overlooked. People usually just do their own interpretation of the interior. Which there is nothing wrong with that.

These pieces actually came from all over the place. Mainly just scouring ebay for endless amounts of time. haha I wish I could put together a list, but the only real thing to find on ebay are the Master Specialties switches, the 2 dial switches, as well as the dialight lights.

Yes, the base boards are custom. They were designed and laser cut from aluminum. And the circuit board and boxes were also custom made.
#4949629
It's also been a very productive 2 weeks. Got my rear window trim loosely installed. I needed to have it on their to install my Dietz roof lights.

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I was able to purchase the correct front roof light mount brackets:

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What has me super excited is the fact that I was able to track down the rear roof light mounting brackets. Actually came across them by accident. But they look the part and I'm ridiculously excited about that!

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#4950608
If anyone was lucky enough to purchase the last few pairs of blue domes that Code 3 was selling, you know that they used that horrible plastic strip to keep the 2 halves together. Unlike the originals, which had a top and bottom metal strip and were held on with 12 rivets.

Not boasting or anything, but I was one of those people that managed to get one of that last few sets of blue domes, which had the awful plastic strip. They were just really chintzy. And my plastic strips weren't even glued in all that well.

So I did the only logical thing, I measured the metal strips from some original domes that I had, had them designed, laser cut from stainless steel, and buffed them to an amazing mirror shine. I'm very happy with how they turned out. As a friendly word of advice, get an electric buffer. You'll thank yourself for it. I tried buffing these things by hand, going through the gradual steps of sandpaper grits. The first one went great, although I killed my fingers on, only to realized I had 7 more strips to do. haha No thanks. Work smarter, not harder.

I also bought some tubular 1/8" x 1/4" rivets, along with a rivet tool and, bingo! They look amazing, just like the originals. And gone is that stupid crappy plastic strip!

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#4951129
I don't know if anyone else had as much time hunting down the correct whip antenna springs as I did. But I finally tracked down the correct whip antenna springs. lol The ball mounts were OK, but the springs were a different story. I just couldn't find the ones with the correct hex bolts at the top and bottom. Thankfully these were NOS pieces, so the metal is nice and bright. Now I can scratch 2 more pieces off the list. And for anyone curious, these are the Antenna Specialists springs.

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#4951931
A very special thank you goes out to Marc Bayé Saltó for pointing me in the right direction for this magnificent piece. Marc was able to find the correct piece that sits on top of the Regency Scanner and was kind enough to share the info with the group. It's great to actually know what the piece actually is. It's just a simple Radar Detector. There are a couple of different versions but the waterproof one is the correct screen accurate one. So again, my hats goes off to Marc.

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As for another super hard piece to find, I have always wanted the accurate base for the C5GB siren, and I finally found it! Do you have any idea how ridiculously hard that was? lol

Thankfully it was just the base being sold, I didn't need to purchase a whole siren unit. That really cut the cost down.

Another piece can be crossed off the list.

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Here is the original base that my siren had. You can see how drastically different it is.

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#4953838
DeLoreanDMC81 wrote:Found some more pieces for the interior. 'm very excited that I was able to score these 2 beauties. These are the 2 panels that sit behind the drivers head, and mount on top of the rear cabinet.

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Is there any chance you have more or could take more pictures of this? I'm trying to 3D model it and I can't for the life of me find any good images from different angles.
#4953843
CantAllBeWinners wrote: August 13th, 2021, 11:08 am
DeLoreanDMC81 wrote:Found some more pieces for the interior. 'm very excited that I was able to score these 2 beauties. These are the 2 panels that sit behind the drivers head, and mount on top of the rear cabinet.

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Is there any chance you have more or could take more pictures of this? I'm trying to 3D model it and I can't for the life of me find any good images from different angles.

Sure thing. PM me your email address and I can shoot you over some pictures.
#4961852
mwilkinson wrote: November 8th, 2021, 1:41 pm Any updates on this James?
Things are coming along slowly. I was working hard to get the car done for the Ghostbusters: Afterlife premier but unfortunately that didn't happen. But I'll be ready for the sequel. mwah ha ha

But don't worry, I'm still hard at work on this car. Currently I'm working on several of those impossible pieces to find. You'll have to stay tuned in to see which pieces those are. 😎

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