As many of you know the Afterburner, Zyklon, Troika and Bayern Kurve were on the auction block. The auction was Monday 4/23 and none of the bids reached the sellers asking price. So, all of the rides are still in the park.
A lot of work was put into the rides and as a result the Zyklon and Afterburner are running better than they have in years. Work still needs to be done on the Troika and Bayern Kurve, but hopefully they will be operating when the park opens Memorial Day weekend!
Scott
I suppose it would be too much to ask for "a lot of work" to include removing those idiotic shoulder bar assemblies from the Zyklon cars...
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
It doesn't surprise me that the big items didn't sell. There is a glut of pig iron on the market right now.
That, and they were probably asking for more than the rides are worth. The Troika and Bayern Kurve both came from Old Indiana and to the best of my knowledge never operated at Fun Spot (this seems to be a recurring theme for rides purchased from the Old Indiana auction); the Afterburner was running well but was in sad shape when I rode it in '99; the Zyklon was easaily one of the worst coasters I've ever ridden, and on top of that one of the bumpers literally fell off of one of the cars while I was waiting for it. Yeah, it was a non-critical part...but if the non-critical parts are falling off, what kind of shape are the critical parts in??
--Dave Althoff, Jr.
Interesting that there was reserves on these pieces. Most of the auctions (but not all) that Norton holds are to the highest bidder, period. Obviously the owners got burned on this stuff and wanted to get back out of it at least what they paid for it. Which was too much to begin with.
I think the owners want to get their money out of it and try to make a profit to pay debt or buy new rides. What shape is the park in anyways? I live in indiana but am about an hour or so away and have never tried to get my parent to take me up there since they have no major attractions that i am aware of
