AutoWorld was an indoor theme park in Flint

Flint, Michigan

Flint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...

, Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, USA, built to make the town attractive to tourists. The theme park opened in July 1984 and closed during its first year. It was originally set up as a Six Flags

Six Flags

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. is the world's largest amusement park corporation based on quantity of properties and the fifth most popular in terms of attendance. The company maintains 14 properties located throughout North America, including theme parks, thrill parks, water parks and family...

 amusement park venture.

After failed attempts at revival in the summer of 1985 and other attempts at making the complex viable (once even being opened as an indoor golf course), it went bankrupt

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

. The $80-million theme park finally closed its doors January 1985, later reopening for holidays and other special occasions before finally being demolished in 1997 at which point the land was sold to the University of Michigan-Flint

University of Michigan-Flint

The University of Michigan–Flint is a public university located in Flint, Michigan in the United States...

.

AutoWorld's first area was located inside a big dome, the insides of which were designed to look like long-ago Flint. The first display that one encountered was a small cabin, inside of which was a mannequin. When one pressed a red button on the outside of the cabin, a film was projected onto the mannequin's face. The mannequin was supposed to be Jacob Smith, founder of Flint. The mannequin/film would welcome the visitor to AutoWorld and talk about the beginning of Flint. In the center of the dome was a Ferris wheel

Ferris wheel

A Ferris wheel is a nonbuilding structure consisting of a rotating upright wheel with passenger cars attached to the rim in such a way that as the wheel turns, the cars are kept upright, usually by gravity.Some of the largest and most modern Ferris wheels have cars mounted on...

, and nearby were a carousel

Carousel

A carousel , or merry-go-round, is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating circular platform with seats for riders...

 and other attractions.

On the grand opening of AutoWorld, then-Governor James J. Blanchard predicted it would trigger "the rebirth of the great city of Flint."[2]

Outside the dome was an area with a giant car engine, a wall with a rotating display of old brand shields, and an attraction depicting the past, present, and future of automobile assembly. The Industrial Mutual Association Auditorium section had rides that featured robot

Robot

A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...

ic puppet

Puppet

A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, a play or a presentation that is a very ancient form of theatre....

s, an IMAX

IMAX

IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...

 theater, and a two-story ramp that exhibited a history of the effect of automobiles in popular culture.

AutoWorld was featured in the 1989 movie

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 Roger & Me

Roger & Me

Roger & Me is a 1989 American documentary film directed by Michael Moore. Moore portrays the regional negative economic impact of General Motors CEO Roger Smith's summary action of closing several auto plants in Flint, Michigan, costing 30,000 people their jobs at the time and economically...

by Michael Moore

Michael Moore

Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...

. Footage of AutoWorld being demolished was shown in the 1997 film The Big One

The Big One (film)

The Big One is a movie filmed in 1996—and released in 1998 by Miramax Films—by Michael Moore during his promotion tour around the United States for his book Downsize This!...

, also by Moore. The site is now home to the University of Michigan-Flint

University of Michigan-Flint

The University of Michigan–Flint is a public university located in Flint, Michigan in the United States...

's William S. White Building, which houses the nursing program and School of Management.

External links

• Information On AutoWorld
• http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2009/07/they_needed_more_thrill_lookin.html

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