It's 25th anniversary of Flint's Auto World fizzle

FLINT, Mich. - The city of Flint has long been a symbol of America's industrial decline. It also has never quite gotten over the self-inflicted black eye called AutoWorld.

This year's Fourth of July marked what would have been the 25th anniversary of the $80 million indoor theme park, which opened on Independence Day 1984 amid marching bands, speeches from politicians and fireworks. AutoWorld closed just six months later, far short of its attendance goals, and was opened afterward only for holidays and special events.

It was demolished in 1997. The 24-acre site is mostly vacant except for a University of Michigan-Flint building named after William S. White, president of the Charles S. Mott Foundation — which lost more than $50 million on AutoWorld.

White tells The Flint Journal both he and then-General Motors Corp. Chairman Roger Smith had doubts about the park's chances of success, but civic and business leaders pressed ahead because they were "sold on this dream."

The vision for AutoWorld, however, was flawed.

On one side was Six Flags Theme Parks Inc., which emphasized the attraction's few carnival rides over its static exhibits and displays of Flint history. On the other were the Mott Foundation and other investors who wanted to emphasize community entertainment and education with features such as a three-story model of a V-6 engine.

"You could tell it was just something that wasn't going to make it," said Clyde Howd, a GM retiree who was there for AutoWorld's opening with his family. "They needed more thrill."

Indeed, the rides weren't thrilling and sometimes didn't work — literally. Two rides, the Humorous History of Automobility and The Great Race, shut down on AutoWorld's second day because of malfunctions.

Former U.S. Sen. and Flint native Donald Riegle said AutoWorld was doomed because Flint itself, unlike cedar Point or Greenfield Village, wasn't a destination for visitors and couldn't attract enough regular traffic to make it sustainable.

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Information from: The Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/flint

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