Golden Driller
Golden Driller is a 76-foot-tall oilman statue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, standing in front of the city’s exposition center. It is built on a steel frame covered with concrete and plaster and weighs 43,500 pounds. The sculpture is the seventh tallest statue in the United States. The first version was made in 1952 by Mid-Continent Supply Company as a temporary exhibit for an international oil exhibition. A later version was installed for the 1959 fair and eventually donated to the Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority, which redesigned it and placed it permanently in 1966. In 1979, Oklahoma designated it as a state monument.
March 2024 © G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0
March 2024 © G. Edward Johnson · CC BY 4.0
December 2022 © CDTwins2021 · CC BY-SA 4.0
1979 © John Margolies · Public domain
December 2022 © CDTwins2021 · CC BY-SA 4.0
Identification | |
| Title | Golden Driller |
| Original name | Золотой бурильщик |
| Type | statue |
Iconography and meaning | |
| Depicted subject | an oil worker |
| Base inscription | "The Golden Driller, a symbol of the International Petroleum Exposition. Dedicated to the men of the petroleum industry who by their vision and daring have created from God's abundance a better life for mankind." |
Physical characteristics | |
| Height | 76 feet (23 m) |
| Weight | 43,500 pounds (19,700 kg) |
| Belt circumference | 48 feet |
| Shoe size | 393DDD |
| Hat size | 112 hard hat |
Materials | |
| Construction | steel frame covered with concrete and plaster |
Location and ownership | |
| Location | in front of the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States |
History and restoration | |
| Permanent installation | in front of the Tulsa Expo Center for the 1966 International Petroleum Exposition |
| 2020 modification purpose | to create a caricature of Elon Musk |
| 2020 modification context | part of Tulsa's bid for Tesla's Gigafactory 5 near Austin, Texas |
| 2020 modification significance | first time an advertising wrap had been applied to the statue |
| 2020 modification date | May 20, 2020 |
| Original purpose | temporary feature for the International Petroleum Exposition |
| Permanent reconstruction | 1966 |
| Donated to | Tulsa County Fairgrounds Trust Authority |
| 2020 modification location | Tulsa |
| Re-erected | 1959 |
| Belt text | originally MID-CONTINENT; changed to TULSA in 1979 |
| Original builder | Mid-Continent Supply Company of Fort Worth |
| First built | 1952 |
| 2020 modification | vinyl advertising wrap applied; face covered with vinyl film; Tesla "T" logo placed on the chest; "Tulsa" on the belt buckle replaced with "Tesla" |
Appearance | |
| Posture redesign | anatomically redesigned before permanent installation |
| Right hand placement | resting on an oil derrick |
| 1959 appearance | climbing a derrick |
Discovery and provenance | |
| Oil derrick source | moved from a depleted oil field in Seminole, Oklahoma |
Significance | |
| Contest organizer | Kimberly-Clark |
| Contest date | October 2006 |
| Contest prize | a $90,000 international vacation for two |
| Contest recognition | one of the top ten quirkiest destinations in the United States |
| Designation year | 1979 |
| Designation authority | Oklahoma Legislature |
| State monument designation | Oklahoma state monument |
Other | |
| Later homage | In 2017, the French amusement park Fraispertuis-City inaugurated a drop tower named Golden Driller in homage; a replica of the statue was installed at the attraction entrance and inaugurated in the presence of a delegation from Tulsa |