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About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 28, 2017)
LIFESTYLES WEEKEND, OCTOBER 28-29, 2017 Staff photo by E.J. Harris Pendleton resident Jesselee Leachman has turned his 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora into a Zombie Outbreak Response Team car. Staff photo by E.J. Harris A skull decal and fake blood adorn the fuel door of Leachman’s Zombie Outbreak Response Team car. Zombie-mobile prowls Pendleton’s streets Leachman said he recalled in his youth hearing the Kingston Trio’s tune, “Zombie Jamboree.” “That made Zombies sound a When the zombie apocalypse hits, Jesselee Leachman of Pendleton will lot more fun than they are,” he said. be ready. Or at least ready to drive “But, I think, it may be they are fun.” Fun became the aim of the Olds, through the hordes of shambling and even if it’s macabre. Especially the rotting dead. Leachman, 34, is the owner fake arm he sticks out the trunk. The of a 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora he rubbery prop scared one woman so bought two-and-half years ago and bad at the Pendleton Walmart she decked out to become the “Zombie almost called police, Leachman said, Outbreak Response Team” unit. He but ultimately clutched her chest and laughed. gave it a name: Zom-B13. “I’ve had people stop and look, Because that looks something and another took pictures of the car,” like the word zombie. Multiple decals adorn the worn he said. “A lot of positive response.” When people talk to him about exterior, from the large response team logo on the hood to bloody hand the car, he’ll ask if they have seen prints here and there. Leachman said any zombies. Their answer is, of he has no plans to rectify the weath- course, no. His reply is, “You’re welcome.” ered look. Children also take to the car, he “There’s no perfect cars in the said. They appear “intrigued and zombie apocalypse,” he quipped. interested” The only rather than non-zombie More online frightened. sticker on the And he said the car, he pointed For video of the clients he serves out, shows his car in action visit support for the eastoregonian.com on the graveyard shift at Columbi- University of aCare Services, Oregon. The small decal replaces the lead “A” in Pendleton, get a kick out of seeing him arrive in the zombie mobile. Aurora on the car’s rear. Last year he installed fl ashing Leachman said he wanted a reliable daily driver and the Olds green LED lights that blaze from the checked that box. The four-door top interior of the windshield. He sport sedan packs an eight-cylinder said he knows better than to run the engine powering a front-wheel drive LEDs when he drives because of the and tips the scales at about 4,000 law. He wanted something similar pounds. Leachman said the ride gets for running lights, he said, but police advised him against it. about 15 miles per gallon. Leachman for the past two years But he also wanted to decorate the car in a fashion that was “kind of drove Zom-B13 in the Dress Up under the radar,” he said. He scoped Parade at the start of Pendleton around online for possible exterior Round-Up week. About 10 others decals and spotted the zombie theme. have been willing to don makeup That worked, he decided, because and outfi ts to play along in the it played on the overall popularity presentation. “My group of zombies and of zombies in popular culture. The designs also lacked trademarks, he hunters,” he said. “That was a lot of said, a bonus that allowed him to fun to put together.” The entry took second place for adapt the looks as he saw fi t. While the ghoulish monsters of vehicles in this year’s parade. Leachman continues the undead movies and TV shows are about consuming the fl esh of the living, motif on his own back. He said he By PHIL WRIGHT East Oregonian Staff photo by E.J. Harris Jesselee Leachman, who works in residential care services, says he transformed his car for fun. “This is just something in the community, it’s not a business. It’s for fun. Something for the community to be involved in.” — Jesselee Leachman, automotive zombie enthusiast went to DG Gifts, Pendleton, for help with the car decals, and the business created his zombie response team jacket, complete with fraying cloth at the shoulder. Zombie designs adorn his T-shirt and ball cap as well. Leachman grew up in Eastern Oregon and graduated from Pend- leton High School, he said, and the car is a way to connect to the place he considers his home. He said he would have the car out Tuesday during Halloween, perhaps in down- town Pendleton, where children trick-or-treat merchants. “The community that gave so much to me as a teenager here, I’d like to give back to,” he said. “This is just something in the community, it’s not a business. It’s for fun. Something for the community to be involved in.” Other vehicles in the community also play on zombie themes. One passenger car in Pendleton sports a decal for Umbrella Corp., the fi ctional company responsible for a outbreaks of all kinds of bad in the Resident Evil video game and fi lm series. Leachman said he heard of a pickup with a zombie theme, but he has not seen that. Leachman said he is entertaining ideas for what more he can do with the car, perhaps charitable organi- zations could use it as a draw for events. He also might add decals and other elements, perhaps in time for next year’s parade. “Hopefully next year,” he said, “I’ll have a zombie dance troop.” ——— Contact Phil Wright at pwright@ eastoregonian.com or 541-966- 0833.
