Flint, MI Sees The Passing Of The 25th Anniversary Of Auto World Fiasco

Hard to believe that it's been 25 years already. What a disaster that was. What's even worse is the Flint auto disaster, but more on that later. From The Detroit News: It's 25th anniversary of Flint's Auto World fizzle.

The city of Flint has long been a symbol of America's industrial decline. It also has never quite gotten over the self-inflicted black eye called AutoWorld.

The indoor theme park opened on Independence Day 1984 amid marching bands, speeches from politicians and fireworks. AutoWorld closed just six months later, far short of its attendance goals, and opened afterward only for holidays and special events.

It was demolished in 1997. The 24-acre site is mostly vacant except for a University of Michigan-Flint building named after William S. White, president of the Charles S. Mott Foundation -- which lost more than $50 million on AutoWorld.

White tells The Flint Journal he had doubts about the park's chances of success, but civic and business leaders pressed ahead because they were "sold on this dream."

Civic leaders, eh? And what dream was that? A celebration of failure? Yeah - that'll attract a lot of people. Here's the thing, though. Flint didn't have to remain a failed city. Toyota (and Nissan for that matter) wanted to build a plant in Flint, Michigan after the Buick plants were closed but were not allowed to by the UAW. The UAW wanted union control and drove both Toyota and Nissan out of town before they even established their presence. Had this been a right-to-work state, rather than the forced unionization type, Flint might not be a symbol of misery today. Thanks UAW! Commercials shown at Auto World:

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7