Anyone know anything about Heintz Fahtze?
LONNOL
were the Twister (Haymaker) and Enterprise (Silver Bullet) by Heintz
Fahtze of West Germany. The Twister is a paratrooper-like ride:
http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/fahtzetwister.html
and the Enterprise is like a smaller take on Huss's version (even with
similar cars, main hub and door):
http://www.flatrides.com/Ride%20Index%20Pages/fahtzeenterprise.html
Does anyone know anything about the company? Both rides were probably
copied from the Huss concept, at least from the point of the lifting
arm. In addition, are there any more of this company's rides in North
America? I heard that the Enterprise at SFA might be thier's, but
that's all I have heard.
Adam
David Burton
HUSS never made any paratrooper units, and the Fahtz Enterprise looks
very similar to the Schwartzkopf original, pre-HUSS.
Victor Canfield... what can you tell us?
curvefan
near the Skyliner (where the slick-track go-carts are currently). It was in
fair operating condition for most of the time that it was there, but only
lasted a few seasons. I'm not sure where it came from or where it ended up
at.
LONNOL <afrs...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:a6794c3b.03080...@posting.google.com...
Victor Canfield
Not much. All I have is a listing in the 1984 AB Buyers Guide, and I
didn't note many of the details. Rides listed were Enterprise and
Roundup 36.
JnAnthony
afrs...@yahoo.com (LONNOL) writes:
The only information I have is from the plate that's on the Enterprise ride...
D-6294 Edelsberg
telefon 06471/4766
telex 484247
Keep in mind, this plate (and the ride of course) is over 20 years old, so
chances are the info is no longer good.
John
Victor Canfield
A few more items about Fähtz:
1. From an ad on the Renoldi site (www.renoldi.com): 1973 Round-Up.
2. From ads on usedrides.com and www.romyrides.com: 1983 Fliegender
Teppich (Flying Carpet).
3. germandcoaster.de (cached page found by google, but currently blank)
lists Allround, Hollywood Star, Musik Express, Schlittenfahrt, and
Twister.
4. Heidepark: 1983 Round Up
5. There is a forum on Fähtz rides at www.ride-n-rumors.com.
6. Not sure where the information came from, but there was a note
somewhere about a ride called a Passat (themed Space Station Alpha). The
ride motion is similar to that of an enterprise, but with the ride hub
following an arc-shaped structure. Supposedly this was built about 1995.
Thorsten Janke
I checked back on my collection of German fanmagazine "Kirmes Revue".
They published an article about the Fäthz-company back in 1997.
To be more exact the autohr is Peter Reuther: Firma Fähtz, in: Kirmes
Revue 5/1997, p. 32-35. Actually it is marked as part I of a series
thus there should be some more in the following edition. I will check
later on that one.
The text says that the Fähtz-men used to be showmen before becoming
manufactors of rides. They started by designing their own trucks
before turning to only construct trucks and later turning to rides.
In 1963 father and son gave up travelling fairs and started on
manufacturing only.
But let's go way back. On Mai 7th, 1928 Heinz Fähtz was born. After
WW2 he married a Mrs. Koch, who also brought her son Heinz Koch from
her first marriage into the new marriage. He made an apprenticeship
with his new father in order to become a waggon builder. In 1963 he
and his father started on construction waggons only.
In 1969 they produced their firt ride: it was a dodgem. They sold 15
of them until 1979.
In 1973 they two men produced their own versions of "Twister" and
"Round Up" for the first time. The Twister became a hit and was sold
under the Logo of Fähtz for about 50 times. The Twister had two
different gondola types: the Butterfly- and the Hollywood-Swing-type.
In opposition to the Dutch versions of the Round Up the Fähtz ones
were put in motion via a motor in the middle of the carousel, while
the Dutch ones used friction wheels underneath the circular borderline
of the ride.
In 1975 Fähtz produced the "Hollywood Star" for the first time. The
last one of that production was sold in 1980 to an amusement park in
Mexico.
Also in 1975 the Fähtz company got hold of the licences to build the
"Allround" which had been produced by the manufactor "Klaus", before
the company gave up production. The Fähtz company built four more
"Allround" rides.
And that's the end of part one.
Victor Canfield
<snipped most of reply>
> Also in 1975 the Fähtz company got hold of the licences to build the
> "Allround" which had been produced by the manufactor "Klaus", before
> the company gave up production. The Fähtz company built four more
> "Allround" rides.
Does the Allround correspond to the Klaus patent DE1288494? The patent
depicts a Twister-type ride with a double-acting lift mechanism.
Thorsten Janke
First of all, as I made the mistake myself: the name is Heinz Fähtz
Reuther, Peter: Firma Fähtz - Entwicklungsprofil Teil 2, in: Kirmes
Revue 6/1997, p. 30-33.
In the mid-70s Fähtz company had grown to a number of 80 employees. It
was in those years that the company started producing rides like the
Musik-Express, Condor 2001 and 2002, a Matterhorn-style-ride and a
unique Flying carpet in addition to those mentioned above. Excluding
the "Allround" which was manufactured after being granted the liscence
of the company "Klaus", all Fähtz rides were being planned and
produced just by the company itself.
Between 1975 and 1982:
9 x Musikexpress
1 x Zugspitzbahn (Matterhorn/Himalaya-style ride)
5 x Condor 2001 (Enterprise with 16 gondolas) (one went to Australia,
four were sold to the U.S.)
1 x Condor 2002 (1981) (Enterprise with 22 gondolas) (was sold to
Japan as a permanent installation)
1 x Fliegender Teppich (Flying Carpet with two arms)
All the rides were planned together with the bureau of Werner Stengel
and were approved by the TÜV München.
In the winter of 1982/83 the company put an end to their manufacturing
not because of missing orders but because of difficulties in getting
the financial background for showmen and parks to order the expensive
rides.
Heinz Fähtz returned to travelling fairs with a selfproduced Twister
until he retired in 1985.
Victor Canfield
> In 1973 they two men produced their own versions of "Twister" and
> "Round Up" for the first time. The Twister became a hit and was sold
> under the Logo of Fähtz for about 50 times. The Twister had two
> different gondola types: the Butterfly- and the Hollywood-Swing-type.
I don't know if this ride was made by Fähtz, but pictures of a twister
called "Disko Swingi" with butterfly-shaped canopies can be seen at
LONNOL
got mine from the information plate put in by the park, so it is no
suprise that it was wrong. In addition, in a 1970's edition of
Amusement Business (I can't remember what year) there was an ad from
N.A.D. or I.A.D. where they were promoting the fact that they repped.
Fahtz in the U.S.
Adam
***************
Adam Sandy
Webmaster: http://history.amusement-parks.com/
Webmaster: http://www.flatrides.com
Historian: http://www.ultimaterollercoaster.com
"Times are hard for dreamers." Amelie
***************
Stan Barker
Going by the NAD/IADI records in the NAPHA Archives, I doubt that NAD
was repping Fahtz... one reason for the name change to International
Amusement Devices (when NAD was sold) was to announce that the new
company would rep overseas ride manufacturers.
I don't know how early IADI started repping Fahtz, but as late as the
1982 IAPPA Convention, a "New For 1983" IADI Newsletter featured Fahtz
rides. The newsletter notes that in 1982, IADI had sold a Fahtz All
Round, Round Up and Enterprise 16 to Wild World, and a Fahtz Hollywood
Star to Reino Aventura.
Fahtz rides available included the Twister, the Hollywood Star
(Twister with Enterprise-type gondolas), an Enterprise 16 (16
gondolas) an Enterprise 22 (22 gondolas), a Round Up, a Flying Bobs, a
Disco Express, and the Rainbow (the "Enterprise-on-an-Arch" ride
referred to elsewhere in this thread as a Passat).
New from Fahtz for 1983 were the Hollywood Swing (a standard-looking
German swing ride supposedly using the center section of the
Twister/Hollywood Star ride) and the Flying Cloud, billed as "the
Fahtz version of the Flying Carpet".
Stan Barker
NAPHA Archivist
afrs...@yahoo.com (LONNOL) wrote in message news:<a6794c3b.0308...@posting.google.com>...
Stan Barker
the Fahtz rides at SFDL, which started this whole thread...
In February, 1980, Amusement Business reported that Darian [sic} Lake
Park, a then-"new project outside of Buffalo, NY" was "going to mean
about $4 million to IAD."
Lace Dillion, a marketing VP for IAD told AB: "Darian [sic} Lake is a
campground outside Buffalo that has operated waterslides and the like
and have now decided to develop a full-fledged amusement park. They
(the project is being headed by Stan Bileschi, formerly with Taft)
awarded us a contract to provide a package of eight rides and to do
consulting and design work on the park. They have purchased an
Enterprise, Twister, Wave Swinger, Carousel, two kiddie rides and a
36-gauge locomotive. The park is also going with a Robot Wars game."
These would be the Fahtz Enterprise and Twister you located there.
I'm not sure if the Wave Swinger was also from Fahtz, as IAD
advertised Fahtz's Hollywood Swing Wave Swinger as "new" three years
later (1983). The carousel, kiddie rides and 36-inch gauge locomotive
would have been IAD manufactured. I don't know if any of these other
rides are still at SFDL today.
Robot Wars was IAD's big item for 1980, a game featuring 10
cylindrical remote controlled robots. Object was for you to fire your
robot's strobe light, and hit and decommision the other players'
robots without getting hit yourself. Besides the one sold to DL,
Geoffrey Thompson purchased one that year for Blackpool Pleasure
Beach.
Stan Barker
NAPHA Archivist
Stan...@aol.com (Stan Barker) wrote in message news:<1cd72596.03081...@posting.google.com>...