By The Vault: Back to the Future Marty & Griff Autographed Hoverboards
It’s time once again to open up my collection vault and share some unique and rare items with you all. Today is a special one as I share two of my favorite items in my entire collection – two Back to the Future 2 autographed hoverboards signed by Michael J Fox (Marty McFly) & Tom Wilson (Biff/Griff Tannen). The hoverboards are no doubt the most iconic collectible item from the film, instantly recognizable by any BTTF fan. If you would have told me as a kid that one day I would own replicas of both boards signed by both actors I wouldn’t have ever been able to believe it. This was a life long dream of mine that through patience and persistence have come true.
Previously I have gone into detail about the Marty McFly board – which you can find here at this link https://actionpakd.com/the-vault-back-to-the-future-autographed-hoverboard/. I was very lucky to meet Michael J Fox in person and get this board signed.
It’s an interesting and fun little story so do click above to check it out if you haven’t in the past. “Marty” signed the board with a nice clean signature at the bottom. I got this piece many years ago and ever since always thought if I got the chance to get a hoverboard signed by his arch nemesis Griff/Biff I wouldn’t pass it up. As fait would have it, years later that chance became reality.
You can check out the famous scene with both of these props right here:
I got the Griff board in-hand just a few weeks ago after a bit of an adventure that was 6 months in the making (not to mention something I thought about for years). After searching for a long time I finally came across a website back in July that was going to hold a signing with Tom Wilson in late November. The signing had options for customers to mail in an item to be autographed. When I saw this I knew I couldn’t pass it up and this could be my only chance to complete a grail set of collectibles for such a huge BTTF fan like myself.
I contacted a prop designer out of the US who creates screen accurate replicas of the boards and commissioned a Griff Tannen (you’ll remember that in BTTF part 2 we see Biffs son, Griff, in the future) Pit Bull hoverboard. This build took about 2 months to be completed. Once that was created I had it sent directly to the team that was handling the upcoming Tom Wilson signing event. They recieved the board around mid October. Finally, the signing event took place in late November and the board finally reached me in mid December.
The hoverboard is beautiful, it has the same gritty appearance similar to what we saw on screen with the character along with all the trademark elements. The black grip tape, Pit Bull logo, lock on straps – it’s all there. The board is personalized to me (To Bilal) and signed Tom Wilson with his added character name “Griff”. The icing on the cake is I also had him sign his now famous line from the scene where he uses the board – “Lock on – batter up!”
It was a long journey but well worth it. When it comes to grail items for myself these 2 pieces are in the elite top tier without question.
Both are now encased in acrylic and hang proudly in my collection room. Every time I look at them I think of myself as a kid watching the film for the first time and still find it hard to believe that these two items are in my possession and feel very blessed that this life long dream is now complete.
