Owner-operator Jackie Baggett’s 1999 Western Star is more than just a work truck. It played a key role in his marriage to his wife, Bonnie.
The rig is themed after the Stephen King-written and -directed "Maximum Overdrive" horror movie from 1986, set mostly in a truck stop whose customers have been taken hostage by trucks that develop minds of their own.
Baggett showed the unit at the 2021 Guilty by Association Truck Show in Joplin, Missouri, where Bonnie first saw the truck "before we got together,” Baggett said. “And then she found me on TikTok,” where the pair started chatting. Baggett then “went and picked her up from Erie, Pennsylvania,” and the rest is history.
The couple got married in late 2023. “We actually left our wedding in the truck,” Baggett noted, as pictured here.
“We got sentimental value, work value, and just, you know, it’s different. Nobody usually does anything with Western Stars,” he added.
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Not only that, but there’s many a truck modeled after the "Smokey and the Bandit" Kenworth W900 or the R-model Mack from "Convoy." It’s not often you see a truck with a "Maximum Overdrive" theme.
“I grew up liking the movie and throught it was a cool trucking movie,” Baggett said. “Everybody’s doing the 'Smokey and the Bandit' truck and the 'Convoy' truck, and I wanted to do something different."
Owner-operator Baggett specializes in oversize freight for Ace Doran, part of the Bennett Family of Companies. “We do normal freight, drive-on freight, set-on. If it’s too big to ship, we still ship it,” he said.
Baggett was on hand for the 2025 Large Cars & Guitars truck show and music festival in Bristol, Tennessee, back in May with his ’99 Western Star 4964EX and 2025 Reitnouer 53-foot step deck on display.
The Western Star boasts a 317-inch wheelbase. When coupled with the 53-foot trailer, the full unit's around 81 feet long. It can make finding parking a challenge, and Baggett tries to avoid truck stops to mitigate the chance his truck gets damaged, since it sticks out about 15 feet further in a parking spot than other combos.
Under the hood is a 12.7-liter Series 60 Detroit with a 10-speed and 3.55 rears. He’s added a Full Tilt manifold and tuned cam injector, in addition to other other engine work.
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Exterior features include Talladega Fiberglass fenders, 8-inch Lincoln Chrome stacks and the "Happy Toyz" goblin from the movie illustrated on the hood and rear of the sleeper.
Plenty lights all around, too.
“Pretty much everything that’s done to the truck has been done by me and my wife, and our hands only,” he said, over the "last four years that we've had it. We’ve put a lot of heartache and soul into the truck.”
Baggett noted that the interior is next on his to-do list. At the time of Large Cars & Guitars in May, he said he was hopeful to have a new interior in the unit by the end of the year. "I have to pull the bunk apart and reseal the bunk to the cab" because it's leaking some water, he noted, "so I'm ripping everything out."
The truck is fittingly named “Green Goblin,” and Baggett said the rig holds true to the movie it’s themed after. “We couldn’t have named it nothing no better because it’s got a mind of its own,” he said. “If we tell it we’re going to a truck show or we’re making money with it, it tears up something else.”
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Jackie Baggett: Well, it ain't really worth nothin', but to me, the truck's worth something because I built it. Me and my wife actually got together because of the truck. We got married and took it to our wedding. We actually left our wedding in the truck, so we got sentimental value, work value, and just, you know, it's different. Nobody usually does anything with Western Stars.
All right. My name is Jackie Baggett. My wife's Bonnie Baggett. We got the Green Goblin Trucking and Pilot Car. The truck's an oversize carrier for Ace Doran, which is a Bennett Family of Companies truck. We do normal freight, drive-on freight, set-on. If it's too big to ship, we still ship it. We do some windmill parts. We've done military moves. We can haul backhoes, track hoes, big water tank trucks.
You got to be careful where you go. People try to steal the stuff off the trailer, so you don't want to stop at certain truck stops because of problems like the Dallas and Houston area. I try to avoid that. As long as a truck is on 317 wheel base with a 53-foot trailer, that puts me about 81 feet without anything on it. So, I try to park in long pull out areas, rest areas, and try to stay away from truck stops because they like to tear your hood off because I stick out about 15 feet in front of the other trucks.
It's a '99 Western Star 4964EX. It's got a 12.7-liter 60 Series Detroit, 10-speed metric transmission, 3.55 rears.
It's got a tuned cam injector. I've done a little bit of work to the engine. Full tilt manifold on it. I've got Lincoln exhaust pipes, eight inch. I've got custom fenders from Talladega Fiberglass. That's a 2025 model Reitnouer 53-foot step deck low-pro with double loading ramps and a sliding rear axle. And I've done about four days of sand and then polishing on it to get it polished out.
And pretty much everything that's done to the truck has been done by me and my wife and our hands only. So we've built the truck the last four years we've had it. We've put a lot of heartache and soul into the truck.
Well, I grew up liking the movie and thought it was a cool trucking movie, and everybody's doing the "Smokey and the Bandit" truck and the "Convoy" truck, and I wanted to do something different. So I just come up with a theme for Maximum Overdrive on it.
Lawson Rudisill: You said you got married because of the truck?
Jackie Baggett: Yeah, we was at the Joplin truck show, the '21 truck show. My wife seen the truck before we got together, and then she found me on TikTok. So actually, Tik ok, we started talking, and then I went and picked her up from Erie, Pennsylvania.
And sometimes, you know, things work for a reason, and that was just sort of put together. And it all fell together just like clockwork.
