The Tulsa Forum by TulsaNow

http://www.newson6.com/Global/story.asp?S=13818460

Sad, but not shocking.

Here's the listing, sounds like Robbie is losing his storage location.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Wood-Roller-Coaster-Sale-400-000-Best-Offer-/280614399329?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4155ebed61#ht_813wt_795

He was on the radio saying he was selling Zingo so he could build a new Bells

So.. he's selling his card table to pay the ante?

Yes.

Saw this on the news.  I believe there was a second listing for $250K worth of #1 white pine lumber.  After I saw that pile of rubble, I had a feeling Zingo would never be rebuilt.

In the story he says he won't give the buyer the plans to the ride, that the plans are the most valuable part. What a load of crap. I'll take your 400k but won't tell you how to build it? That's just plain stupid. He's lying.

And the listing sounds very desperate, it's basically "we will take anything so long as you haul it off" like a beat up barcalounger left on the curb.

Bahahahaha!

ZING!

Build the new Bells at the site of the Admiral Twin, along with a new screen, and you gotta deal...

You guys are great. After I saw him on Fox 23 last night. My thoughts were right along with yours.
Zingo is trademarked and he is not selling that. RRRighttt...nudge,nudge,wink,wink.
And how much is 40+ year old #1 white pine lumber worth ?
sgrizz. Great comparison.  :D

Here at four month roller coaster sales it's gotta gotta gotta go!!

(http://tulsatvmemories.com/imag2001/4day.gif)

I thought he said last night on KOTV that what indicated were core components would not be sold. Gears, chain, etc. The listing seems to indicate the wood is lot 1 and the rest of it is lot 2.

Strange.
Even stranger that no one could find a way to get an amusempark going in a metro area of a million.

Will any local or state building codes let you build a coaster, or any other major public structure out of 40+ year old wood that has been exposed for that long?

This doesn't make it sound like anything is going to be left:

I say we see about getting it erected in Bluedome, over, around and inbetween the buildings and lots.  Rename it the Bludedome Zinger!

Man, you are on the gas today!

Robbie was explaining on the news this morning that there were rides far more critical to their business than Zingo and that they could always replace the coaster eventually.  He said the car, chain, track etc. was where the real value was although sounds like they assigned a value of about $250K to the lumber.

I have to give him credit, he's an eternal optimist.  Looks like a good day to break out that copy of his business plan I managed to pull out from under Randi Miller's pillow

(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q55/71conan/TN/bidnessplan.jpg)

Why were you in Randi Miller's bed?

Getting a case of open sores.

I went there to clean her pipes pool

The word that I got today is that he doesn't really expect it to sell, and doesn't want to sell it, but is using this as a ruse to get the investors to step up.

I don't know about codes, but the wood is probably fine, especially if stored correctly. Its practically pickled, having been pressure treated with chemicals. It also has a tendency to harden with age. If it is clear grade and from older forest growth I suspect it has some value. That much value I doubt.

But really, the part that amuses me is that he didn't recognize that Zingo WAS THE most important ride he had! What was more important? Phantasmagoria? Log Flume? Cable cars? Zingo was the thing people knew them by.

Now that is the best idea I have heard in a while. 

The only investors are the Bells.  I don't think there's anyone who wants a piece of the action.  Sounds like the Price family is ready to get shed of them as well.  As soon as the FB booted them off Expo Square, they killed Bell's for good.  I didn't believe it at the time as I think there was any number of people willing to help.  With the passing of time, Bell's is yet one more fond fading memory of Tulsa.  No one is quite as sentimental as they are when an icon like that is torn down, then time kind of seals over the memory.  As well, the Bell family has become sort of a characature in recent times.

I simply don't think there's a municipality within a 100 mile radius of Tulsa who will loan them the kind of money they need to do this.  There certainly aren't any banks lining up or they would have been back in business already.  It's not about finding suitable land, it's about finding very cheap, free, or even land they'd pay you to locate on at this point.  They may have spent millions on ride equipment over the years, but it's got very, very little collateral value since not everyone is looking for a wooden roller coaster, a Himilaya, or log flume cars.

They certainly are being stored carefully in that field in Gunboat Park

Who's up for a 400k bonfire in may?

No sense in burning the track, cars, chain etc.

I think he said he'd let the wood go for a mere $250K.

The structural wood was outdoors the entire time it was assembled as a roller coaster though.  So long as it's not resting on the dirt, I doubt it's deteriorated a whole lot.  I simply question the salvage value of all that used  lumber as being $250K. 

Robbie's mother is the head of the Republican party here isn't she?

Maybe she can have them build a huge grandstand out of it.

Zing(o)!

I spoke with a couple of managers in our building code and engineering department, and the only way they  would approve it is if it was dismantled moved and reassembled. With the wood having been in storage for 4+ years and not know how it had been stored, they would not approve the use of the wood.

Update: I drove through Gunboat Park today and there's not a stick of Zingo wood I could see outside, mainly stanchios from various rides, some ticket booths, some of the rides, ride cars, etc.  Curious where they piled all that up, it was a lot of wood.

Also, as far as large wood structures: they are almost impossible to insure.  A good recent example is the Admiral Twin screen.

I'm very surprised at the "hate on Bells" theme here. I expected at least a little support for the Bell family or at least for Robbie. I have known the family for over 30 years.
While I have lost contact with Robbie, I still consider him a friend. That may make me a little biased.  ???

As for the lumber, all the structural members are center cut. Strong stuff!

I don't think there is a real hate of Robbie...but there also isn't just a love of him because his family owned an amusement park.

I grew up at Bell's and probably spent 20 nights a year there for fifteen years of my youth. The business his father ran was quite different than what it turned into the last few years.

Frankly, it wasn't safe for my family anymore. The cops were there breaking up at least a couple of big crowd fights each year. It also had more closed and broken areas than open and running rides. The best example was the miniature golf course. It was the visible part that fronted the street and had been closed and decrepit for years. How hard is it to keep a miniature golf course open?     

I think the county handled it terribly, but everywhere else had new barns and fresh paint and Bell's showed it's age. I think it also suffered by being midtown. Almost every other amusement park I can think of is on the outside of town on the highway (think Six Flags, Frontier City, Silver Dollar City, etc.).

While I hate the way Randi Miller and the 'fare board' treated the park, Robbie's no angel.  I had several run-ins with him as I was growing up (and he was a manager out at Bells).  Once instance required me popping him in the mouth for making advances to my then-girlfriend while at the park.  The other following instances were likely related to this original incident.   ;D

I went to high school with Robbie and I've been a defender of theirs ever since this all started with the county.  I simply think as long as it's taken to cash in on the promise of Bell's returning in another community, it's created doubt and cynicism whenever something else comes up about them relocating or being close to a deal, especially after the embarrassment they caused the Wagoner county commissioners.  Driving by the hulking piles of rusting ride equipment in Gun Boat Park is yet one more thing to create doubt.

Yes, there were a few deals that fell through. I was hopeful about something East of town but that fell through as well.
Hoss, I'll bet I know you! I vaguely remember that incident. :)

Summer of 1986 through about the summer 1988?

Man, that sounds about right but the memory isn't what it used to be. Heck, it never was that good to begin with!
 I may just be remembering the story and not the incident. Happens with age and mileage.
 There were many memorable incidents involving friends and that place. I used to have a great picture of the park with snow covering everything but it's been lost to time.

First incident happened in the middle of the park, in the walkway between the logride and the skeeball/arcade where it starts to really grade downhill towards the Himalaya.  He came up while I was standing there with my g/f (she was a senior at Jenks; I was one year removed from HS and she was a looker..had hair long as Crystal Gayle) and he came up and gave her a pat on the tush.  He got a crack in the mouth, so I hoped he was cupping to get the best possible value as the next strike would have been a kick that raised his voice an octave.  I got kicked out of the park, and I thought she was going to stomp a mudhole in him.  My friends got quite the kick out of that incident.

Thanks for the laugh!

Oh, to be nineteen again...I was quite a troublemaker in my day for sure.

Yea - to replace the one the Allies blew up!

(http://www.kubiss.de/kulturreferat/reichsparteitagsgelaende/bilder/zeppelintribuene_2,.jpg)

Was that supposed to be funny?

Probably eye of the beholder type stuff.  I don't really consider the Zeppelintribune to be grandstands.

Wahwahwah. The Bells are a group of idiots, I don't care if you are "friends" with them. And Sally Bell does deserve the comment, she's a tool of the highest degree.

That part of the Zeppelin Field would be considered the grandstands, though admittedly they did build some temporary ones on either side when needed.

Sounds like someone got banned from the park or fired and can't get over it.

Listen to Recyclemike. We were all pretty disgusted that the park was no longer a safe place to take the family or send your teen. It was poorly maintained and an attractive nuisance for bangers. Not all their fault but they made some serious mistakes in running the place. IIRC towards the end they were selling margaritas on the grounds. Dumb idea.

It was more memories than reality.

And it sounds like you hadn't been to the park since 1979. The Bell's ran it into the ground and deserve the grief they get. I don't even blame Randi Miller or the fairgrounds for kicking them out in the slightest - who would want them as tenants? The Bell's family took a Tulsa icon and destroyed it and then (and now) just whine about how it's everyone's fault but their own. Not once since they've shut down have they taken one small bit of responsibility for anything. They lie on a weekly basis about imaginary banks who want to give them loans and imaginary investors who are clamoring to help them. Face it - selling the Zingo for firewood is just the final nail in the coffin (but remember - that's not what they're doing!! It's to "finance" the new Bell's!) Heck - Sally Bell couldn't even muster up a shred of dignity and instead decided to take vengeance on Randi Miller instead (admittedly, no harm done there). Now, they (especially Sally - the head of the Tulsa County GOP) want local city governments to pay for a new Bells (this after Sally ran on the "no new taxes and no government money for private projects" platform). I was going to say that if they truly wanted Bell's to reopen, they would sell the rights to someone who actually knows how to run a business - however I just checked and it would appear they don't actually have the trademark on the names "Zingo" or "Bell's" - just more lies from Robbie.

That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection.