Jurassic Park Jeep Replica

[Boomerjinks]

Long story. Bear with me. Or read this and skip to the pictures! http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1254710

Back in 2005 at a midnight showing of Ghostbusters, I started joking to my friend Will about how funny it would be to run out of a place like the Stanley Hotel or some large building in ghostbuster uniforms, carrying smoking ghost traps, handing the manager a bill for $5000, and running away. Of course, we'd record the whole thing and put it on the internet. Will laughed and said he knew how to build proton packs. I owned a white Subaru Outback at the time and I told him that if he built the packs, I'd convert my car.

Flash forward nearly a year.

My friends Austin and Will and I are talking about doing something spectacular for Halloween. We decide to go with the Ghostbusters idea. In June I start researching lightbar laws, construction costs, and ways to convert my car temporarily, with nothing permanent.

By September 22 I have completed the first iteration of my Ectomobile. We roll it out and people start going crazy. It's on the cover of the local newspaper, radio djs are trying to find out who we are, and the general public thinks we're real ghostbusters. I decide to keep the car, as it's ridiculously popular and enjoyed wherever it goes.

Flash forward to this spring. My buddy Ben is driving around his uncles 1970s Land Rover, and I suddenly realize I have a strong desire for and open-top, 4-wheel drive car. It occurs to me that if I buy a jeep, I could easily repaint it as one of the Jurassic Park jeeps, thus restarting the cycle and creating a new movie car for the masses to drool over.

And so the story begins.

In June I started searching ebay, craigslist, cars.com, and many other sites for 1990s-era jeep Wrangler. I find a white 1990 for about $4000.

I needed to turn this:


into this:



All I had to do was swap out the rollcage for the right shape, bolt on the correct side steps, replace the wheels, seats, and repaint it.

In early July we start stripping the paint, pulling the car apart, and prepping it to be repainted.


We eventually took it all the way down to bare metal. I am guessing that one of the previous owners had rolled the jeep because there was extensive body damage to both sides, both rear corners, and the original color of the drivers door was actually red. We had to pull out all the bad body work and re-bondo everything.




Masking for the stripes...


Striped!

Replaced the windshield, pulled out all the carpet and rhino-coated the entire interior, that way I can just hose it out whenever I want.



Refinished the front bumper and attached the corner horns.


Restored and painted the side mirrors.


Replaced every light, lense, hinge, bolt, grill, and rubber seal on the car.



Found a rollcage at a Denver junkyard that would fit.


Found sidesteps at the same junkyard


Sold off the old tires and rims, and replaced them with stock wheels and brand-new BF Goodrich tires.




Mounted spare tire and restored rear bumper and undercarriage.


Ordered graphics... lots of graphics!


Replaced the old interior speakers... good lord they were gross.



Applied graphics. The side 18s were originally reflective, I have since had them replaced with decals that are a flat gray.


With the Ecto at night.


Installed foglights, and took an ironic picture!


Got seats from a 1992 Sahara and installed them.




Internet meme, anyone?

[DETN8R]

That Is Awesome!!

[Marcus]

lol I sometimes see you cruising down college ave on Saturday nights ha. I'm usually driving in my red TJ or driving a blue '07 Tacoma 4 door. I always get a laugh when i see that damn jeep. Looks really legit man. Good work. Next time I see you I'll wave or honk or something ha.

[Boomerjinks]

Mounted rollcage and cb antenna.







Around this time I started scrambling to have the car ready to be on display at the Nan Desu Kan convention in Denver. I was working on making a set of props to go with the car, a makeshift pelican case and a weapons/survival kit like the one used in the movie. I bought an $8 gun case from wal-mart and filled it with deactivated grenades, signal flares, and a flashlight.



I had a large InGen logo made and stuck on the gun case, and I also had a set of these made up, one of which ended up on the windshield as sort of an easter egg.


On the day of the con, Shauna and Ben helped me mount the fender flares. I replaced the sun visors as well, now featuring InGen embelms. The jeep was finally 'complete'! Granted, I still have to attach the side steps, the windshield lightbar, and the front winch.




On the way to the con I picked up my license plates from ActionSigns and a set of windshield wiper arms from Mike at NAPA. Upon arriving in Denver, I talked to the executive director of the convention and the head of security for the DTC Marriott. They gave me permission to put the jeep up on the grass and let me park the Ecto in front of the main entrance. Both cars were incredibly popular!




My crown jewel of the con, getting the cars in a picture with this guy!


So, having spent all summer working on the DinoJeep, I found myself faced with only a few weeks of greenery and warmth in Colorado before winter set in. I am not too fond of soft-tops on jeeps unless they are absolutely necessary, so I had my mind set on enjoying the open-top as much as possible. I had originally planned to go on a little road trip through the mountains; Glenwood, maybe the sand dunes, possibly see some old friends in Grand Junction, and also to have some fun in Breck. I have currently found myself with very few consecutive days off for the rest of the month, so I decided to make the most of it and visit my parents up in Granby, CO.

On Tuesday morning, Austin and I piled some crap into the car and took off. We went through Rocky Mountain National Park, which took us over Trail Ridge Road. This road caps off at over 11,300 feet above sea level. Luckily, we were prepared and enjoyed a nice cozy trip.



Today I decided to take the jeep up Corona Pass (Rollins Pass), a popular trail outside of Winter Park that goes all the way up and over the Continental Divide.


Leaving the folks' property.


The trail is more suited for ATVs and snowmobiles in the winter, but you can make a relatively smooth trip by staying in second gear and zig-zagging across the trail to avoid the giant dips and potholes.


Closer to the second leg of the trail, with the Winter Park ski resort in the background.

At around 9,000 feet we hit tree line and the forest gave way to enormous meadows.



At the top of the pass. The sun was out and there wasn't much wind, it was unbelievably enjoyable. The road leading up to Corona Pass is know as Old Moffat Road, it's an 11-mile dirt trail made out of the remnants of the Northwest and Pacific Railway. After the Moffat Tunnel was built in 1928, the railroad going over the mountains was dismantled and turned into the current trail. At the top of the pass there used to be a lodge and train service area. Long above-ground tunnels known as snowsheds snaked their way over the pass, allowing trains to run in the winter without the necessity of plowing the tracks of 10-foot drifts. The remnants of these buildings and tunnels are everywhere. Wooden debris litters the slopes below the trail and along the meadows at the summit. There are even places on the trail where the dirt gives way to wooden railroad ties!


Coming back down with the Riflesight Trestle in the background. The bridge is off-limits for preservation and safety purposes, but is largely intact save for a good twenty feet in the middle. This is what you would have seen 100 years ago.



Not nearly muddy enough!

My favorite picture from the trip...


Sure, it's not really jurassic scenery, but it was a blast!

And that's the story so far! I will make updates here from time to time when new stuff gets added or when we go on more adventures.

[Rhino95]

How cool is that!

[crzyxj]

Nice! now you need to lift it! LOL

[Wild Hare]

all i can say is awesome. very cool story and great effort. what a blast.

[loganschmidlkofer]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=196163


may get a kick out of this to.

[architect1]

WOW now that is a hobby.

[Boomerjinks]

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/...d.php?t=196163


may get a kick out of this to.

Oh god! His printer misspelled Jurassic! That's awful! I've had mistakes like that in the past, but mostly very very insignificant things like fonts or shape sizes. I even sent back my original JP plates because their borders were orange instead of red. I may be anal about this, but it is worth it when people flip out over how accurate it is.

On the plus side, he'll actually be able to take his out on trails while I baby mine for car shows, lol!

[formatt]

that is sooo freakin sweet!!~! At first, I was thinking: "what the hell is this guy doing?" That really turned out great...

[MuDD OlllllllO]

You should start a business that makes replica cars from movies and tv shows. I think the A-team van should be next!

[Boomerjinks]

I would if the studios that own the logos and trademarks wouldn't come down upon me like a black cloud of locusts!

There is actually an a-team van in Boulder. Lemme dig up the 'list-o-cars'.

List of other ideas:

Time Machine from Back to the Future -- I'd do it out of a 1985 Nissan 300zx

Batmobile -- can be kit-made from a corvette

Batcycle -- put fins on any black superbike

Shaggin' Wagon -- from Dumb and Dumber

A-Team Van -- already one in Boulder

Mach 5 -- from Speed Racer, could make it out of a stingray

Gorillaz Geep -- wouldn't be street legal

Optimus Prime -- if someone supplied the truck, I'd do it

Ninja Turtle Party Wagon -- this is actually the project I would like to do next, if I decided to.

Herbie -- blegh, and there is already one in Fort Collins

Mirthmobile from Waynes World -- with licorice dispenser, of course!

Mystery Machine -- already one of these in Northern Colorado

General Lee -- I would NEVER drive that car

Stinger APC from Aliens -- would be cool, but I can't afford an airline tractor!

KITT from Knightrider -- no point as the red light would be illegal

Bluesmobile -- INCREDIBLY easy project! Probably only $500 including the car

Green Hornet - cool, but who is gonna recognize it?

Christine -- not easily recognized

The Car -- not easily remembered

Transformer -- easy to do, just slap an autobot or decepticon logo on your hood, then paint lines all over the car to show the segments of when it transforms. Also, you'd have to make the horn play the transformation sound effect!

Gadgetmobile --you could make this out of a Saab, but without it transforming into a van, I don't think anyone would get it

Green Goblin Truck -- Maximum Overdive

Pursuit Special -- Mad Max, would be AWESOME!

TransAm from Smokey and the Bandit -- not my style

OCP police car from RoboCop -- would be illegal to have the lights

[KINSPINZ]

The jeep is sweet, and i love the subi. The A-team Van belongs to the snowboard shop Satalite in Boulder. My brother is the manager there. Great job with the Jeep i would love to see it in person.

[GPP33]

Saw your subi in "Drive" magazine the other day.

[Banjer]

That is so cool! Great job with the replica. I love that movie.

[Big Kev]

Very cool, nice work.

[denalijb]

Fantastic. Where did you get the decals?

[Boomerjinks]

I had them made at Action Signs on Horsetooth. They share a building with AAD accessories. They also did all the graphics for the Ecto.

[MinesJeep]

That is awesome, I was watching Jurassic Park the other night and thought it would be awesome to turn my jeep into their jeep, and now I see you've done it and it looks great!

[jeeplvr79]

Looks sweet!!!

So what's the next project?

[HIGHTIMES]

Looks good. wrong color though, they were Tan in the movie not grey. Still looks great though.

[newracer]

AWESOME!!! I cannot believe I have not seen you around town in it yet. I have seen the subi numerous times though. Great job!!! Can't wait to see it in person.

[Backwoods Rambler]

It looks grey to me and that looks like a screenshot right from the movie

I like the Ectomobile better. I looks like it required a lot more creativity. Great work though

[Jason]

nice work



leave it to me to point out the light bar your missing from the pic. lol

[BeastXJ]

Pretty cool, did something like that a while back. Had a 75 Nova and built it to look like mad max's interceptor.

[Pilot]

All I can say is WOW! Nice work!

[4.0Cherokee]

add a herbie luv bug

[Griz]

That YJ looks Kewl. I always wanted a LUV Bug too, but Baja style.

[deadjeep]

Maybe you should try posing it with the velociraptor archery targets at gander mountain. I was looking at those today and thought of this post

[HIGHTIMES]

Its the tan Sahara color, same as what my jeep is. I have seen one of the jeeps from the movie in person once. Still looks awesome though. He did a great job none the less.

It looks grey to me and that looks like a screenshot right from the movie



I like the Ectomobile better. I looks like it required a lot more creativity. Great work though

[Mack]

Saw your Suby last night on 11th/Walnut in Boulder last night....

[Boomerjinks]

Welcome to crosspost HELL. In becoming a member of nearly half a dozen forums I am forced to post one big chunk update in multiple threads. This means I'll be posting the identical stuff in both JP Jeep and Ectomobile threads. The upshot is that I'll do my best to ensure that each post is chock-full of awesomeness.

Lately my friend Logan (SA: Bruno_me) has been figuring out how to do incredibly cool things with his camera, not the least of which is taking HDR photos. Since drooling over some of the HDR pics on the NASIOC forums, I decided I wanted to try something similar with my replica cars. I figured we could make some cool images and use them the website, myspace, and mail them to all the different magazines and newspapers that want good pictures of the car. Eventually this would lead up to a very badass picture that I would use as my "It's What Makes a Subaru an Ectomobile" fake ad that I'll send to subaru dealerships.

Ahem.

Anyway, we took both the cars down to Boulder on Saturday night. I was hoping to get some cool pictures in front of city buildings and possibly in the Boulder Cemetary. We did get a few neat ones, but we didn't have much in the way of lighting, so they are sub-par. Stuff like this:


We got plenty of cool driving shots of both cars with the wheels and road all blurry, lookin' fast. Again, this was our first outing with this sort of picture-taking so if it looks a little crappy or amateurish, how about giving us some pointers?


Shauna driving the Ecto.


Me driving ze jeep.



A few miles out of Boulder the sky looked amazing and we had a great view of the mountains, I figured the IBM facility would have an open space where we could take some pictures. We went down an access road and found a nice flat clearing just south of the buildings. From there we set up and started shooting.















I think they turned out awesome. I can't wait to find locations that fit each car more appropriately (burned-out spooky warehouse or gothic skyscraper, high-tech firm or concrete bunker).

These are the forum-friendly versions of these pictures. I'll come back tomorrow and edit this post with links to the full-size images if you care to see.

Whaddaya think?

[Bskey]

Funny, that's my Legacy GT to the left of your Ghost Buster Mobile!

Great job on the Jeep build. If you ever decide to sell it, I have a friend who is a JP NUT and would probably buy it!

[Starboard M]

I see the ghost buster car a lot in FoCo. Always laugh at it.



Those last pictures are awesome. Good job.

[Eric]

Looks great! .... aside from the part about driving through the mountain meadows. Next time please stay on the trail.

[PhantomD AKA Zach]

Looks great! .... aside from the part about driving through the mountain meadows. Next time please stay on the trail.

did not even notice that... PLEASE stay on the trail!

Zach

[Boomerjinks]

Next time please stay on the trail.

I share the sentiment, which is why those pictures of my jeep in 'meadows' were actually taken in camper pulloffs.

[85xtracab]

i saw you guys driving on the hill in boulder the other night after i got dinner. good stuff

[Boomerjinks]

A short video we made for the Ecto.

I was bored at work today and started tinkering with the footage Will and I shot with his XL2 in spring. I was setting some of the video to the usual dark orchestral music when I got distracted and started fitting clips to "Invincible" by OK GO.

Before I knew it I had finished a little 1 minute 30 second short that was apparently better than any of my original vids. I consider anything I work on for less than 5 hours to be sort of a 'throwaway' project, meaning I try to make it look a little fancy, but generally it's just a sort of 'editing calisthenics' that I do to pass the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW3JufvNowU

It's a little dark and fuzzy, but at least youtube didn't mess up the timing of the music!!