A Look Inside Autoworld
by Matt Collins
I'm convinced that there's a little something extra in the water supply in Flint. There's really no other way to explain the similarities that all Flintites/Flintstones share. Even the youngest Flint kids know:
- You never put ketchup on a coney
- The "real" way to play Euchre (not your crazy house rules)
- At least one joke where Autoworld is the punch line
While many folks have been trying hard to forget that Autoworld ever existed, I've been spending a fair amount of time lately trying to remember. I just went back home to have a couple of coneys and to learn more about this part my childhood. I was 10 when Autoworld opened, and I visited the park a handful of times over its short life.
The Autoworld complex was the cornerstone of a downtown revitalization project that also included the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Water Street Pavilion, Windmill Place, University of Michigan–Flint, Riverbank Park, and several other developments. Hundreds of millions of dollars were invested into the downtown area by people who remembered the Flint of the past and hoped for a better future.
During this time downtown was sort of clean. You could go to Riverbank Park and see a free concert or go ice skating at Water Street. Call me crazy, but downtown was actually kind of nice.
Opening Day
On July 4th, 1984, after years of preparation and construction, Autoworld opened to the public. There was a ceremony with more pomp and circumstance than you could shake two sticks at. Patriotic music was provided by the bands from the Flint Academy and Southwestern High School. 12,000 balloons were released and the politicians waxed philosophic about Autoworld. Then-Governor James Blanchard was quoted as saying that he felt as though he were observing a "great Flint love-in."
Then, with the symbolic turning of an oversized key in an equally impressive ignition, Autoworld was open for business. For the bargain ticket price of $8.95, the 7,200 visitors to the park that day experienced all that Autoworld had to offer.
What everyone seems to remember best is the dome. The seven-story tall dome was sheeted in copper and covered with 68 triangular skylights. Journalists trying to describe the look compared the dome to an armadillo and a stegosaurus. I always thought that it looked like EPCOT Center buried most of the way into the ground.
Under the Dome
Inside the dome was a theme-park version of Flint that remained a pleasant 70 degrees all year. In addition to the lush landscaping including trees, plants, and shrubs, Autoworld also had a purified sliver of the Flint River running through it. It was an odd sensation to be outside-- while inside a building, but that's really what it was like.
Everywhere you turned on the path through the dome was a nod to Flint's rich history. You really couldn't help but learn a thing or two while you were there.
The first stop was the rustic cabin of Jacob Smith, Flint's first settler. Inside of the cabin was a mannequin in trapper's clothes with a featureless face. As if by magic (or by pushing a big red button), a film loop was projected onto the face. Jacob Smith would 'wake up', yawn a couple of times, then welcome you to Autoworld. He'd tell you how Flint was in his day, and even give you his thoughts on those new-fangled automobiles, before going back into his slumber.
Following the path over short bridge guided you further ahead in time, and included Todd's Tavern (a local landmark where author Alex de Tocqueville once spent the night in 1831), and a sawmill (a nod to Flint's lumber years). Across the river you could even see an Indian village.
Where you went next was up to you. Did you want to amble down the brick covered streets of turn of the century Flint (replete with the Flint Vehicle City signs) and stop in one of the storefronts for your very own um…Autoworld mug? Or perhaps, step into the Opera House, modeled after Flint's old City Hall, to see a short film on auto advertising.
Another attraction under the dome was another Flint native, the Lakeside Carousel, which was originally built for the Lakeside Amusement Park that operated in Flint in the early 1900's. This unique piece of history was carefully restored especially for its return and was loaned to Autoworld.
There are some other attractions that I should talk about: the dark rides. These rides; The Humorous History of Automobility and The Great Race were my least favorite parts of the park. In each, you sat in a car that wound through different darkened rooms on a jerky track, while different corny animatronic scenes played out. The problem was that they were pretty dull, even for a kid that didn't mind accidentally learning stuff.
Directly off the dome was the rotunda, which held an item that I remember vividly: the giant engine. This jumbo version of a V-6 was displayed in the center of a rotunda, and spun around slowly on a 10 foot high dais. Around the base were interactive displays that taught you more about the secret life of engines.
IMAX
The other standout feature of my trips to Autoworld was the IMAX theater, which wasn't housed in the dome, but in the old IMA building. A short ride up an escalator and you were in the 500 seat IMAX theater with a six-story high screen. IMAX theaters are much more common now, but back then, I had never seen one before. Between the screen size and the surround sound, the immersion was so complete that it made some folks queasy.
A film called Speed was created especially for Autoworld and fully exploited the IMAX experience, by using a fair amount of point of view shots. This short film traced how our perceptions of speed have changed over time.
What Happened?
Sadly, much like the Stegosaurus that it resembled, Autoworld was destined for extinction, after only operating for about three seasons. There were several different problems, that when taken together caused the park to fail.
The attendance figures never quite met the projections, and people that visited once never really felt the need to go back (except for me, I suppose). The group of owner/investors had little or no experience operating a theme park, and had no ties to Flint.
Autoworld was managed by Six Flags, who at the time were known more for thrilling amusement parks like Cedar Point, and not for conceptual theme parks. This confused people, who were perhaps expecting The Fisher Body Drop or an assembly line roller coaster, but instead got The Humorous History of Automobility.
Another problem was the location. At the very least, Autoworld was located off of I-475, a business loop, instead of being located off one of the main thoroughfares for the state; I-75 or I-69.
In 1997, the long closed Autoworld was razed to make room for a more successful part of the downtown revitalization project—the expanding U of M campus. Not a trace of Autoworld remains, except for the memories and the punch lines.
© 2005 Matt Collins. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission.
 Matt Collins was born and raised in Flint. As a child he visited Autoworld as often as possible. He is currently a technical writer in Dallas, Texas.
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