New London threesome provides the prop for ?Ghostbusters?

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

Dalton Overton and his uncle and aunt, Darren and Tammy Wilson, arrived in Mt. Pleasant Friday night in a 1964 Cadillac hearse, wearing their Ghostbuster outfits and armed for action with their proton packs.

The New London trio became the show before the show, drawing a large crowd in front of the Main Street Cinemas.

Friday night was the opening of the new ?Ghostbusters? movie across the nation, and Overton and the Wilsons are Ghostbusters zealots.

Overton owns the 1964 Cadillac hearse (a 1959 Cadillac hearse was used in the movie), which was refurbished by D. Wilson and Tom Shahan, of Shahan?s Auto Body, in Mt. Pleasant.

Wilson purchased the car as more or less a present for his nephew. ?He (Overton) fell in love with Ghostbusters. I have a friend who owns a movie museum in Tennessee. While visiting him, I saw he had a Ghostbusters car, and I told him if he got another one to let me know.?

That was five years ago, and Wilson and Shahan went to work immediately, converting the hearse into the Ghostbuster car ?in three or four months,? Wilson said.

Since then, the car has traveled the parade circuit and has become a favorite of young kids. ?Kids just love it and we did it for the kids,? Wilson said. ?This is one thing that can cross all nationalities.

?The whole family gets involved in it when we go to parades,? Wilson noted. ?Even grandma, who is 91, makes the parade circuit. It can be pricey, though, as we go through about $100 worth of candy every parade.

While the hearse is definitely Overton?s favorite movie car, Wilson said the first vehicle he restored ? a Pontiac TransAm, similar to the one used in ?Smokey and the Bandit? ? is his first love. ?If you do movie cars, how can you get any better than a Smokey and the Bandit car?? he questions.

Wilson is rebuilding a ?Scooby-Doo? car now and also has a Batmobile. He said he plans to keep on restoring vehicles from movies.

?I have been a movie fan ever since grade school,? he noted. ?I never charge anybody for anything we do. It is just my way of giving back.?