One of the most iconic images from the 1986 Stephen King classic, ‘Maximum Overdrive,’ is no doubt the Happy Toyz truck and the bright green goblin head that adorned the front of it. It is a real shame that they blew the truck and the Goblin Head up, but one man has made many fans’ dreams come true by reconstructing the head and bringing it to conventions for the fans to see. His name is Tim Shockey. Below is an interview with Mr. Shockey about his journey restoring the famed Green Goblin Head.
LBoH: How and when did you find the Goblin Head?
Tim Shockey: In 1987 the truck was taken to Silent Rick’s junkyard in Wilmington, NC. A man saw the truck go past his house on its way to the junkyard. He knew the owner of Silent Rick’s and ask him for the head and they gave it to him. He cut it off of the truck and took it home. A couple of months later he was going to have to move to an apartment and wouldn’t have room to keep it so he ran an ad in the local newspaper.
All of my family lives in that area and one of my brothers called me up and said I might want this to put in my video store. I called the man up and we worked out a deal and I left that night to go get it. We had it in the video store till we sold the business. After that it went to my back yard where it lay for many years.
LBoH: Not having previously seen Maximum Overdrive, what made you decide to purchase the head?
Tim Shockey: I owned a large video store at that time and thought it would be great to have it for fans to see. It was great advertising!
LBoH: What condition was the Goblin Head in when you purchased it?
Tim: The head was in horrible condition. The whole jaw was missing along with the tongue and tops of the ears. Eyes were gone and the whole thing was burnt.
LBoH: Can you explain a little bit about the restoration process?
Tim Shockey: I own a sign company and use our software with DVD stills to bring the head life size on the screen. I then hand traced the jaw line and front side of the chin on screen. I had the plotter print out these pieces life-size and then cut them out of a corrugated plastic called coroplast. I then taped these pieces together and constructed a 3-D jaw which I screwed into the original piece of the head. Many measurements were taken from the screen and checked on the head to make sure everything was in place correctly. I then started laying several layers of fiberglass on the plastic. After it was thick enough I came in from the back side and removed the coroplast leaving on the fiberglass in place. Then I just continued adding fiberglass to thicken it up.
LBoH: At which convention did you debut your work on the Goblin Head?
Tim Shockey: We finished painting the Green Goblin head on March 16, 2013 and the following Friday we took it to HorrorHound Weekend in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was the first convention for me and the Green Goblin head! We had a blast!!
LBoH: What are some of your more memorable reactions from fans?
Tim Shockey: Wow there is so many great reactions for the fans! We’ve had people come up and show us a tattoo of the Green Goblin head, most people want to shake my hand and thank me for restoring a great piece of movie memorabilia. One fan drove for 3 hours to a convention just to see the head. They talked for a little, got their picture taken with it and then headed home!!
LBoH: Would you ever like to see the Goblin Head mounted on a truck similar to the ‘Happy Toyz’ truck from the film?
Tim Shockey: Not really and for several reasons. I can’t stand the thought of it being on a truck and rocks, bugs, etc. from the road hit 
it and mess it up. Also, there are so many places I take it to that it wouldn’t be able to fit inside if it were mounted on a truck. And it keeps my expenses down to transport it in the trailer then to have it on a truck.
LBoH: Aside from the Goblin Head, what other movie memorabilia do you have in your collection?
Tim Shockey: I actually have over 600 authentic prop and wardrobe items in my collection. I have Adam Sandler’s “HERO” football from The Longest Yard. I have a “screen used” mask from Scream 4 that Wes Craven signed and gave to a woman that worked with him on the set. I have a sweater sleeve that was used in making the trailer for Nightmare on Elm Street 5. In the past few weeks I got it signed by Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp, and Amanda Wyss! I also have a 17’ alligator that Jim Carrey pulled into the water by its tail in Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls!
LBoH: What type of memorabilia can fans purchase from you, whether it be set used props or Goblin Head memorabilia?
Tim Shockey: We have 100’s of items on our website from many different movies. We also have bottles of “Goblin Dust” which is dust from where we sanded on the Green Goblin head while restoring it. We also have some ½” x ½” pieces are painted red, and a few black. After painting the head we noticed that the top back of the head was cut crooked so we cut it straight which gave us a strip that we cut into pieces. All bottle of Goblin Dust and pieces come with a C.O.A. of Authenticity. We also are selling our 2013 tour t-shirts. These are really awesome! On the front they say “The Goblin Project” and has a picture of the Green Goblin head and on the back side it is like a concert tour shirt. It lists all of the shows we are doing this year along with the cities and dates. Really cool shirts! All of this can be purchased at our site www.hollywoodpropcollector.com
LBoH: With countless horror/scifi conventions out there, at which conventions will you and Goblin Head be making an appearance?
Tim Shockey: This year we have 2 more shows left. Spooky Empire in Orlando, FL October 25 – 27 and Coast City Comic Con in S. Portland, Maine November 9 & 10. We are still working on next years list. So far we Have a show in Pensacola, FL in February, A show in Niagara Falls, Canada in June, and possibly a show in the UK. We are contacting all the shows we can in hopes of having 3-4 shows a month in 2014!
LBoH: What are your future plans for the Goblin Head and the other memorabilia you own?
Tim Shockey: Some day we hope to open a museum to put all of our memorabilia in and hope to keep adding to it. We really enjoy sharing
it with fans everywhere!
The next time you see Tim Shockey at a convention, be sure to shake his hand and thank him for restoring such an incredible piece of film history.
To keep up with the Goblin Head and where you can see Tim and his fantastic work, like the Green Goblin Head Facebook page and visit the The Goblin Project website. To view and purchase more movie memorabilia, visit the Hollywood Prop Collector website. You can also follow Tim on twitter @tshockey, @HPCPropmaster and of course @GreenGoblinHead (all of these links are on the right sidebar of the page or you can click on the links here).
*All photos credit to the Green Goblin Head Facebook page and Tim Shockey*
*All links in this article are functional and lead to their described websites*
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