Watch the LAPD pull over the ‘Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1

As we informed you earlier today, the Ghostbusters Ecto-1 will be available for Lyft rides in select cities this Friday and Saturday.

I got a peek at the experience today, taking a ride around Downtown Los Angeles. Tagging along with me were my friend Nicholas and Luke Greenwood of Lyft”s Brand Team. We Facebook Live streamed it so you could all join us.

Our ride was in the actual Ecto-1 featured in the upcoming Ghostbusters reboot, a 1984 Cadillac DeVille hearse (in the original, Venkman et al. drove a 1959 Cadillac ambulance). Lyft will have two Ecto-1 cars available in each participating city – New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington D.C. – most of which will be replicas made by Cunning Communications Inc. and Motor Media USA. You won”t be able to have the Ecto-1 take you wherever you please, as Lyft wants to make sure as many people as possible get the chance to ride in the Ghostbusters car, but the brief rides are free. As are some prizes and swag.

Walter Peck didn”t bug us on our journey (the ghost trap slots in the Ecto-1 were empty today), but we did have our own brush with the law: An LAPD officer pulled us over! Turns out there might be some questionable lights on the car? (Greenwood assured us that the replicas are totally street legal.)

While you wait for your own chance to try out Lyft”s Ghost Mode this weekend, check out the Facebook Live video of our ride. Jump ahead in the video to watch any of the highlights (timecodes are listed below).

00:34: Details of the Ecto-1 exterior shown off by Spags, who fabricated the replicas for the Lyft promo.

04:41: We hit the road! Check out the interior of the car (slots for ghost traps!) and hear how you can go into Ghost Mode with Lyft this weekend.

10:40: The police action begins, just as we”re discussing the siren sound effect in the original movie”s Ecto-1.

13:15: “I”m gonna get a few pictures,” says the LAPD officer. Ah, so that”s the real reason he pulled us over.

17:18: We discuss our favorite lines in Ghostbusters and whether it”s the most quotable film of all time.

20:40: The location of the iconic opening scene of Ghostbusters (the gorgeous New York City Public Library) was a bit too far away for us to visit today, but we did cruise past the Downtown L.A. Central Library. 

22:15: Find out what will happen to the Ecto-1 replicas after the promo ends.

23:11: If you missed why Paul Feig wanted his Ghostbusters to be a reboot and not a sequel, here”s the answer. (Basically it boils down to BECAUSE SCIENCE.)

31:22: We test out the sound system in the car (no Ray Parker, Jr. cued up today, but Greenwood informed us that the Lyft rides in the Ecto-1 this weekend will be able to play the theme song).

34:35: Ray Parker, Jr., Fall Out Boy, or these four Japanese comedians – who recorded the best version of the Ghostbusters theme? We discuss.

Ghostbusters opens in theaters on Friday, July 15.

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