"They needed more thrill"

[29yrswithaGApass]

Source: mlive.com

 

"They needed more thrill"-- Looking back at 25th anniversary of Flint legend, AutoWorld

by Ron Fonger | The Flint Journal

Friday July 03, 2009, 1:00 PM

 

FLINT, Michigan -- On Independence Day 25 years ago, minutes after dignitaries used a giant car key to "turn on" Six Flags AutoWorld, Clyde Howd and his family became the attraction's first opening day visitors.

 

Despite all the balloons, marching bands and hyperbole from politicians, Howd still remembers wondering how long the indoor theme park could possibly survive with its odd mix of low-thrill rides and a heavy dose of Flint history.

 

Six months later, he got his answer as a Rockville, Md., investment firm bailed out on AutoWorld, shutting it down because of poor attendance. The park would go down as a colossal economic development and entertainment bust and an embarassing symbol that has dogged Flint since.

 

"We got up there early. We bought tickets in advance," said Dowd, a Delphi Flint East retiree who's now 60. "The rides and things they had were all low-key. You could tell it was just something that wasn't going to make it. They needed more thrill."

 

Saturday marks the 25th anniversary of the grand opening of AutoWorld, the day former Gov. James J. Blanchard predicted would trigger "the rebirth of the great city of Flint." Those who were there agreed that the opening ceremony turned out better than the theme park itself.

 

Plagued with operating problems and static attractions such as a three-story, V-6 engine, the $80-million theme park closed its doors in January 1985, later reopening for holidays and other special occasions before finally being demolished in 1997.

 

The complex was located immediately north of downtown on the Flint River in part of the old IMA Auditorium. The site is now part of the University of Michigan-Flint.

 

Former U.S. Sen. and Flint native Donald Riegle said AutoWorld came along at a time when Flint leaders were "doing anything and everything we could think of" to diversify the area's economy.

 

"Everybody set out with very high hopes (but) for a lot of reasons it was destined not to succeed," Riegle said. "It wasn't a place that could attract enough visitors on its own. It wasn't like Cedar Point or even Greenfield Village. ... There wasn't enough regular traffic to make it sustainable.

 

"It was a profound disappointment to everybody who worked at" making it a reality, Riegle said.

 

That included the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, which lost more than $50 million on AutoWorld.

 

Foundation President William S. White said even before construction started, long before the grand opening, he "had a bad feeling" about what the theme park was growing into and he wasn't alone.

 

"A lot of people blame (former GM Chairman) Roger Smith for this," White told The Journal. "(But) he sat in my office and said, 'It's not going to work. What can I do to stop it?'''

 

White said in the end, the project couldn't be stopped because civic and business leaders were so committed to bringing the idea to life.

 

"It had a life of its own," said White, who became a de facto spokesman for AutoWorld because private investors were scattered all over the country. "People were just sold on this dream.''

 

In addition to an initial $31.6-million investment into the theme park, White said the foundation also covered investments made by the city of Flint. He blamed the facility's failure on a lack of flexibility by operators, disconnected ownership, the wrong management and too much debt.

 

Inside the park, even the high school student who portrayed Dusty Hudson, the fictional mayor of Flint, knew there were other day-to-day problems.

 

"To me, it just didn't seem feasible," said Tom Colton of Swartz Creek, who worked as a street entertainer during the grand opening at AutoWorld.

 

Colton portrayed Hudson, Backfire the Clown and other characters, wandering the grounds and interacting with visitors.

 

"How many times can you come to the (same) museum?" Colton asked. "How many times can you see the same thing?"

 

Nick Hoffman, who worked as merchandising supervisor at AutoWorld, said the project could have survived if backers had stayed true to the initial concept of AutoWorld rather than bringing in Six Flags, which emphasized the attraction's few carnival rides.

 

"Our (original) mentality was community entertainment, great food and learning a little in the process," Hoffman said. "Six Flags and the Mott Foundation went back and forth on (what it was going to be).

 

"I kept saying, 'You guys are misleading the general public,''' said Hoffman, who went on to open Carriagetown Antique Center & Hoffman's Deco Deli & Cafe in downtown Flint.

 

Hoffman said television commercials promoting AutoWorld "led you to believe it was going to be a thrill ride. I was in these meetings kicking and screaming about it, saying this will never work," he recalled.

 

The reality was that rides at AutoWorld weren't very thrilling and sometimes didn't work. On just its second day, two rides -- the Humorous History of Automobility and The Great Race --Â were shut down and a 1916 carousel also had to be closed.

 

Six Flags brought in a four-member, mock gunfighting team that staged gunfights every hour or so. But the loud bangs of the guns frightened children and some adults complained that the guns created too much noise under the dome that made up part of the complex.

 

Bill Coale, director of the Motor City Band, said he remembered the excitement and optimism in Flint as the community celebrated the grand opening of AutoWorld.

 

The band played during the opening ceremony to a huge crowd outside AutoWorld, Coale remembered, but the excitement couldn't be sustained.

 

"I think one thing that was a drawback was there was no opportunity for a full-blown amusement park on site," Coale said.

 

In addition to speeches and music, the grand opening featured fireworks, a parade of flags and the release of 12,000 balloons.

 

Since the demolition of AutoWorld, the vacant 24 acres have been transferred to UM-Flint for campus expansion and is now the site of a building named after White.

 

Riegle said that's the positive that came out of the failure of AutoWorld.

 

"Are we better off if we had some version of AutoWorld still sitting over on that old IMA site or that great new education building named after Bill White?'' Reigle asked. "I think we're much better off with what we have now than what we tried then."