CCI Auction, The Novel
I arrived about 8:30am to find a few people milling about the grounds of the former Custom Coasters Complex.
I had previously only seen the place from the street and thought it looked much smaller than it actually was. The Pole Buildings are huge and the layout of it makes it look smaller than it actually is. Nuff with the small stuff though and onto the actual items they had for sale and what the buildings and yards contained.
The building to the left contained a small lobby with magazine rack full of Park World magazines and other amusement magazines to the left of the entrance, A permenent reception table and shelving in the middle and a grand wooden staircase to the right. Leading behind the lobby was a hallway with offices to the left with nice office furniture and a utility closet of office supplys. A small basement at the end with old records from as far back as Dinn Corperation that was not for auction. The main attraction to us was the hallway itself that had every CCI Logo painted on the plaster wall! To the right of the lobby contained all the designer offices with terrific office furniture that had a horseshoe layout for viewing blueprints. Several cabinets made for blueprints were in each office and a few racks full of almost every CCI coaster blueprints and diagrams. The end office had a blueprint sized (About 4ft long) Copier. The upstairs had a couple offices, A file room, A nice break/kitchen area and a full bedroom and bath. The building also contained about a 50X100 work area that contained most of their display boards for shows and a few other odds and ends. Also of highlight in this building was a second floor meeting room that had about a 30ft long conference table with lavish chairs. A display case complete with movie/slide screen and large cabinet center that matched everything.
The Work/Parts building was a L shaped building that had drive through huge garage doors that a loaded flatbed truck could easily fit through on all ends and also leading out to the lumber yard. The right side of the building contained all machine tools including a CNC Drill press and many other large tools for cutting/grinding and drilling metal. Also in this area was several welding machines and a welding area for construction of structure and cars for coaster projects This frontal area was probably 75ftX75ft if not more.
The back part of the work/parts building was probably 500ftX75ft And featured tables and shelving full of tools, Track pins, Coaster wheels, bearings and connectors and about every bolt and nut you could ever need for a construction project. Large shelfs full of lubricants and paints, saftey harnesses, extention cords ect were also in this building and the Rail Bender was also here. In the frontage area of this building was also a lockeroom/breakroom, A trashed office and office closet and then the SHOWROOM which contained a pretty nice office setup. In the showroom was the prizes of the auction for enthusiast, A PTC looking but custom made display car with running gear but no restraints that had the Custom Coasters Int. Logo on the front used for trade shows sat in the middle. Another Car that had everything but running gear and was a three bench car sat to the right and was very nice looking sat to the right of it. A two bench shell car that had no seats. no chassis and no restraints sat to the left of the display car. Behind the cars was a Dinn Corperation sign (1 of 2 in the auction) On the back wall behind the shell car was a double sided neon Custom Coaster sign.
The Backlot/Lumberyard.
Along the back of the 500ft long building set bins of track pins, nuts and bolts, storage bins, stone and lumber The back area had several large stacks of treated lumber, A crane winch. A PTC jr nose car that looks fully functional from Kennywoods old Dipper coaster, A NAD CENTURY FLYER NOSE CAR with the spaceship nose and headlights that was cut in-half on the frame but could be restored. Two or three Worksite trailers were also back here and its obvious that one of thems last project was LOCOSUMO.
Out front of the buildings in the parking lot was two flatbed trailers, A Hyster forklift and a 4WD Tractor that had 16hrs on it.
Enough with the descriptions and onto some auction highlights and prices paid for what.
Several welders, (Some the big industrial ones went for 1 to 3 thousand. Buyers unknown.
Tons of drills, grinders, chainsaws went for darn near steal prices and I do mean bargains like Makita Drills for $20.
$600 air compressors went for $200
The RAILBENDER went for $23,000 bucks. I was told Charlie Dinn built it hiself back in 1982 and that there are only about 5 railbenders in North America.
Huge stacks of treated lumber went for $250 bucks
Coaster Cars. CCI Diplay car (Center of showroom) Sold for $1,800. The display car to the right sold for $800 and the two bench tub sold for $125 which was bought by yours trully!
Signage, Two Dinn Corp Signs sold for $125 each. A lot that contained a Custom Coasters Deleveries sign sold for $120 but contained two shelfs full of parts items that were use specific. The neon Custom Coasters sign was sold for over a hundred but I don't know the exact price.
Blueprints: Blueprints sold in cabinets and hanging racks sold for between $300 and $1300 and I will not mention the buyer unless they choose to disclose it because lets just say they are in safe keeping for future use and display in a Coaster Museum :) Almost all were purchaced for this purpose but some were bought by other parties.
The HUGE meeting room table, display/slideshow cabinet and cabinetry sold for $2,700 and was probably worth $20,000 with chairs estimated at $200 plus each X about 25.
A lot with a Triangular Custom Coasters three sided hanging sign sold for a hundred but contained lumber and other useless stuff .
A wall sized Custom Coaster sign sold for $125.
TV/VCR for $50
Bedroom: Bed, Dresser and a corner office table sold for $150 which Im still kicking myself for not buying!
Track pins (About 5,000) were sold for $75 and if bought individually would probably cost $25,000! These were probably bought for scrap iron value :( Parks were notified of the auction but none showed :(
The blueprint sized copier that probably has a value over $20,000 dollars sold for $1,500
Many of the offices were sold with everything in them for $1,000 to $5,000 but some were broken up when asked to do so.
Everything at the auction had a 10% auction fee and state sales tax for a mark up of 17% of purchase price.
Notes and movers and shakers at Auction.
Denise Dinn and a group from S&S.
Upon talking to a S&S guy, He said that they were doing really well and are about to launch Timberhawk their first Wooden Coaster. He also said that the FOURTH DIMENSION Coaster is still in development mainly making the trains stronger and lighter following Arrows prototype.
Randy Larrick who just wanted to buy some of his old equipment back!
Some ACE Reps who will go Unnamed.
A Gravity Group designer who will go unnamed but says that TGG is well and healthy with numerous projects not necessaraly related to coasters but design and engineering :)
Jungle Jim of Jungle Jims International Market who seemed particually interested in the lumber and nuts and bolts area in the lumberyard. (Note Jungle Jims is doubling in size again) They were the purchacers of the former PKI Monarail, Former Lesourdsville Lake Bernstine Bears and other amusement type attractions.
Dan Larrick purchaced the old lifthill mockup that was built with bents.
There was about everything except for a complete train to build a coaster at this auction from the angle iron, lumber, nuts and bolts and even a lifthill motor and some liftchain. Full design offices ect.
It is a sad thing that this no longer exist in Cincinnati! I guess the good part of it is that three companies have been formed from the closure and two of them are directly linked to the wooden coaster industry while the third will build and maintain wood coasters as part of their buissness.
One last thing. I bought the two bench tub that was the Prototype Car for THE UNDERGROUND. Randy said it is one of the first steel train tubs they ever built. It has all the holes and everything ready for restraints, seats and a chassis (PTC style restraints, chassis and seats would fit) but is basically the solid shell seating area of a two bench wood coaster train. This thing weighs a ton. Litterally I bet it weighs about 500 pds and I drug it out of the office and put it in my van myself thanks to the auctioneers not opening the double side door of the showroom I had to tilt it on its side and slide it out of a doorway!
Upon taking it to my brothers for storage we found that it was even harder to move through grass :( Now comes the fun part! While we were moving it about 15 ft per lift, We got it to the middle of his backyard and stopped. What followed was hilarious antics of photography with us faking airtime, Flying from the back of the train while hanging on to the seat tops ect. A delayed shot even got us both sitting in the non padded coaster seats together :)
I suggested we put it in his yard as a flower bed planter. He said he can make it into a porch glider using existing holes and wouldnt even damage it in the process!
Please be aware that it is not for sale and is in safe covered storage to most likely be donated to the ACE Museum unless we can make a chassis for it then we will build our own BACKYARD WOODIE!
Charles Nungester, who hopes you enjoyed reading this and will forgive the errors in it.
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Charles Nungester.
It is my personal belief that Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003. I'll let you know if anything is announced.
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My website - Zero G Thrills
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
Are you gonna be posting pictures of the auction? I would like to see you guys doing that faking airtime stuff with the CCI car.
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Chris Knight
Be sure to download my latest NL Wooden Looping Coaster creation Dream Blast.
I'm surprised Denise showed her face. I don't doubt that there were a number of creditors there that will probably not get paid much of anything, thanks in part to her.
I still don't know what S&S was thinking by hiring her. Makes zero sense.
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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com - Sillynonsense.com
"The world rotates to The Ultra-Heavy Beat!" - KMFDM
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Charles Nungester.
It is my personal belief that Lesourdsville Lake is closed for 2003. I'll let you know if anything is announced.
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Please visit the small parks. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes
Woodencoaster.com
Jeff said:
I'm surprised Denise showed her face. I don't doubt that there were a number of creditors there that will probably not get paid much of anything, thanks in part to her.I am not surprised to hear this. It seems just like her from everything I have heard.
I have a good idea as to who picked up most of the blue prints, and if I am right, they are indeed in very good hands.
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"If you make it too smooth, it'll be like sitting in your living room."
-Bill Cobb - Designer, Texas Cyclone
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Joey Ciborek, Florida Coaster Club, Member
"WE RIDE ALL YEAR!!!" www.FloridaCoasterClub.com , www.CoasterJoe.com
"It's like an addiction" Me, The Discovery Channel, Ultimate Guide: Roller Coasters 5/27/02
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--George H
---Superman the ride...coming to a SF park near you soon...
Currency tracking experiment... http://www.wheresgeorge.com (Referring to The "George" on the $1 bill - Not Me)
P.S. Thanks Chuck...great to hear about the goings-on...wish I could've been there...
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Acronymphomania (n): the socially unacceptable love of heights, and acronyms
Thanks for the memories, #23....
*** This post was edited by rollergator 4/17/2003 10:47:06 AM ***
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