Would love to see Greezed Lightnin'/Tidal Wave at Holiday World!

^I'm pretty sure you are correct, phoenixphan, from what I have heard over the years. Werner Stengel is the engineer, as I understood. For some reason, I think Anton S. was the contractor, but I think he may have also come up with concepts. And I'm sure Intamin manufactured them all.

I think a classic shuttle loop would be GREAT at Indiana Beach or Knoebel's. I've thought many times how nice it would be along the water at IB.

Intamin was just a ride broker back then, they didn't manufacturer anything. They used various manufacturers for their rides including Schwarzkopf Industries which had a factory in Munsterhausen, Bavaria, Germany and Giovanola out of Monthey, Switzerland.

Anton was also an engineer but corroborated with Stengal on the ride dynamics. Intamin marketed and sold the rides.

Intamin now has their own manufacturing facility, Intamin Bahntechnik in Germany, but I'm not sure when that opened--most likely in the late '90s.

I should also mention that the flywheel launch system on Greezed Lightnin' (Astroworld's not Kentucky Kingdom's) was the brainchild of Reinhold Spieldiener, who was one of the founders of Intamin.

The Intamin brand name is an abbreviation for: INTernational AMusement INdustries.

Their crumbcakes are yummy too!

^Hehehehehe! They sure are! I used to love when my mom got those assorted cakes - I would always think how close the name was to the ride company :)

So Intamin didn't manufacture Greezy's train, right? And Anton designed the coaster, but Herr Stengel fine tuned it for better dynamics, right? And Intamin's only role in the ride was selling it to Astroworld, right?

Not exactly. Anton Schwarzkopf and Werner Stengel worked very closely together, so it's hard to say who actually designed the coaster, it was most likely a group effort. And since the flywheel launch mechanism was designed by Spieldiener, obviously Intamin had input into the design as well. All the manufacturing, including the train, was done at the Schwarzkopf factory, the steel was supplied by BHS. Back then Intamin had no manufacturing facilities of their own--but they did more than just sell the rides, they also came up with some of the ideas and designs. Then they would find suitable manufacturers to build them.

To the best of my knowledge, the first "real" Intamin coasters were the Tower of Terror and Superman The Escape freefall coasters of 1996/97, followed by Linear Gale and Volcano in 1998. Since then, pretty much every coaster sold under the Intamin brand name was manufactured at the Intamin Bahntechnik factory.

3 parks that could really use Anton shuttle loops: CGA, SFGAm, and SFoG.

ApolloAndy said:
3 parks that could really use Anton shuttle loops: CGA, SFGAm, and SFoG.

Yes, Andy, we want our shuttle back at SFGAm!!! The Tidal Wave 'theme' rusty anchor is over near V2, I believe ;) Nothing will ever be able to be as fun and cool as the Tidal Wave (or another one identical, including the 70's seats - which feel like a roller coaster!)

The Tidal Wave lights were white and blue, then they would turn solid blue, and when the train reversed direction they would turn solid white. Various forms of flashing/tracing, I'm sure someone out there knows the exact pattern. It was a beautiful site!

I've said this in the past: Greased Lightning placed in Holiday World's Thanksgiving section would make for a great ride named 'Plymouth Rocket'. Be nice if it happened, but Im still wishing for my giant wheel and swinging ship.

Since when did the Pilgrims have rockets?

^I think that would be a pun name :) Sounds great to me, just get it there! A wheel and swinging ship would be great also. And a skyride! But a loop coaster is imminent (!?).

Pilgrims have had rockets ever since they started plunging.

That darn untrustworthy Pilgrim rocket technology.....

^aka Intamin

The Tidal Wave lights were white and blue, then they would turn solid blue, and when the train reversed direction they would turn solid white. Various forms of flashing/tracing, I'm sure someone out there knows the exact pattern. It was a beautiful site!

That sounds about right. I used to watch the one in Santa Clara from the East Bay hills at night. Very cool. That one had the counterweight launch. The cable broke once and it made a small eathquake at the park. I loved watching it winch back up after the launch. I love the scream of the metal and very noisy brakes. The noises really added to the ride.

janfrederick said: The noises really added to the ride.

That's what she said! ;)

janfrederick said:
after the launch. I love the scream of the metal and very noisy brakes. The noises really added to the ride.

Totally! Whenever the ride went down, we always knew when it was back up b/c you could hear it all over the park. A rollercoaster should make noise.