The Goblin Project
I owned a video store in 1987 in southern Ohio. All of my family lived in Wilmington, NC area. One evening my brother gave me a call and said there was an article in the Wilmington Star about a man that had a Green Goblin head for sale that was used in the movie Maximum Overdrive and he thought I might want it to display in my store. I called the guy up right then and we worked out a price. I drove all night and bought it the next morning.
The Goblin mask was mounted on the Happy Toyz Co. White-Western Star 4800 truck. It is the face of the Green Goblin from Spider-Man. The movie was filmed ten miles west of Wilmington, NC in Leland. After filming wrapped, some locals bought & restored the parially demolished gas station and transformed it into a working truck stop. I was fully functional for three or four years until it went bankrupt and was torn down sometime in the late 1980's. It is said that signs for the Dixie Boy truck stop still exist.
He said he saw the tow truck taking the semi past his house to the junkyard down the road from his house. He knew the owner so he went down and ask if he could have the head off of the truck. They gave it to him. He cut the head off of the hood and strapped it to the top of his car and took it home. The whole thing was burnt badly. The tops of the ears were missing and the whole jaw, tongue and lower teeth were missing where they were blown off at the end of the movie. I knew right then that some day I wanted to fully restore it.
I bought the head and took it back and displayed it in my video store for several years till we sold the business. With that I took it home and put it in the back yard where it laid for around 20 years. One day my wife was mowing and bumped the ear with the riding mower and knocked it off. At that moment I knew it needed to go to the garage!
When my youngest child reached 18 I knew it was time to start the restoration. I spend a lot of time researching, measuring, designing, etc. before I started. I own a sign company so I used my high tech software to take DVD still shots of the heads from different angles to full scale on the screen where I hand drew the jaw line, lower teeth and tops of ears. I then had my plotter draw out the pieces life-size. I constructed a 3-D jaw from a lightweight plastic and mounted it to the head. I took measurements from all directions to make sure it was all in place. I then started laying fiberglass over it. After it was built up thick enough I removed the plastic from the back side and continued.
Maximum Overdrive was released in 1986 and is based on the short story Trucks by Stephen King. The film was nominated for two Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Director for Stephen King and worst actor for Emilio Estevez. King described the movie as a "moron movie" and said later that he was "coked out of his mind all through its production, and he really didn't know what he was doing."
People would stop by my office and want to know what I was working on and I told the I was working on a Goblin Project. At that point I started calling it "The Goblin Project". I spent 2 years working evening and weekends restoring it. On March 16, 2014 it was painted. One week later it was at HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati! I hired a friend to take it to and from the show because I didn't have a trailer. I month or so later I drove to Virginia and bought a new trailer! I lucked out and was able to buy a personalized license plate - "GOBLIN". The trailer was now worthy and complete!
We did 10 conventions last year and have several this year already planned. We even have on in Canada. When I first started restoration I had no idea these horror and comic cons even existed. I was restoring it because it HAD to be done. I was going to restore it and just keep it with my authentic movie prop & wardrobe collection (www.hollywoodpropcollector.com) which consists of over 600 items. About halfway through the build I shared some photos on Facebook and people started going nuts! They wanted to know if I was going to do any of these cons with it. I started checking them out and booked the one in Cincinnati, Ohio which is an hour and a half away. I thought it would be selfish to keep this to myself. I need to get this out for fans to see!
I by no means have made it rich off of this. I sell t-shirts, Goblin Dust, Goblin pieces and some of my movie props at the cons. Wait a minute... you say what is this stuff. lol Ok, as I was restoring the head I swept up the sanded dust every night and I bottled it up and sell it. It come with a label and a COA (Certificate Of Authenticity) and sells for $10. It is now in 13 countries! I also trimmed off some of the back of the head to make it straight after painting it. I cut that piece into 235 1/2" x 1/2" pieces. They are each numbered and come with a numbered COA and sell for $20 each. I am trying to offer fans a piece of history without robbing them.
Fans can stop by my booth and take all the photos they want for free but I charge them $10 to get their picture taken with it. Some do it some not. What they don't realize is all the time and money I have in taking this out to share with them. The cons all give me a free space to set up and cover my hotel and very very few of them cover my fuel. I bought a brand new trailer to haul it in last year. I have trailer costs, insurance, fuel etc. I went in the red over $2500 last year just in fuel to share with fans. The truck I pull with is a 4 cylinder 1999 S-10 with over 200,000 miles on it. I take a risk of being stranded far from home. Why do I do it? I truly have to get it out there to share with the fans!
I have been looking for minor and major sponsors so I can buy something more reliable so I can book cons farther from home and so I have fuel expenses. Anyone with suggestion please send them to me. I hope to meet you all at a con sometime soon!
Here is a few links with info and photos.
Thanks,
Tim Shockey
My personal Facebook Page. Please send me a friend request!
www.facebook.com/tlshockey
Here's the Official Green Goblin Head Facebook page. Please "Like" our page and share it with everyone!
www.facebook.com/GreenGoblinHead
The main official Goblin Project web page.
www.thegoblinproject.com
My prop and wardrobe website.
www.hollywoodpropcollector.com
To book us for an event: bookus@thegoblinproject.com
All other inquiries:
propmaster@hollywoodpropcollector.com
Information in the shaded areas are from the Maximum Overdrive Wiki and the Villains Wiki. All other was written by Tim Shockey.