BOBS / TORNADO roller coaster CONEY ISLAND, NY

[jimamia77]

I don't know any of these rides but I have taken plenty of expensive rides on the Cyclone and the Wonder Wheel. Six Flags is my Coney! I hope to have grandchildren to brag about my experiences there! My parents generation ditched the city and Coney for the suburbs and built the almighty Six Flags! Kingda Ka rules!!

[zoetmb]

In the early 1970s, Coney Island still had three wooden roller coasters: The Cyclone (Surf & west 10th street), The Tornado (Stillwell Avenue and the Bowery) and the Thunderbolt (about West 15th Street and the Bowery). Only the Cyclone survives. IIRC, the Thunderbolt was illegally destroyed by the City.

[nieceyboo81292]

i wish they still had this coaster there :(

[Zookzookzook13]

Always loved the Tornado - rode it many times in the mid-70's before it closed. It was tamer than the Cyclone, but fun just the same. Not a big drop at all at the top, but the tracks banked slightly, and it made for an unusual coaster ride. Thanks for posting!

[chimayai]

I couldnt help noticing that the music sounds a lot like Joplin's "Maple Leaf Rag", but it's not quite right. If you need an mp3 of that tune, let me know: i have recorded a few of Joplin's Rags. Great video!!

[US51351142]

The Cyclone was just down the street, northerly from the Toronado. It was bigger and very, very rough. No finesse like this one. Rebuild it.

[US51351142]

This is the Tornado.  I saw it as a kid in the late '40s and it looked so fantastic with severe banking throughout. Why did they ever tear it down. It was so beautiful to look at.

[ecrocker1]

@TheChronaholic The rolloer coaster Woody Allen used in Annie hall was the Thunderbolt not the Cyclone

[BeMyBigHero]

@TheChronaholic There were many, many coasters at Coney Island over the years. The CYCLONE right at Surf Ave & W. 8th St. has always been the CYCLONE since it opened in 1927.

Do a Google search on Coney Island Rollercoasters, and you'll find LOTS & LOTS of fun things about it all there!!

Have fun!

[abbeykroeter]

@BeMyBigHero Glad to read that confirmation of what I suspected over the years from old photos; that there were many coasters (and other rides/physical amusements) on Coney Island that just makes me drool. I am definitely going to look up what you wrote. I am one of those strange folks that feels ripped off for not being able to experience Coney Island during it's several peak times. The old footage and photos are tantalizing; original designs everywhere! Not soulless corporate crap like today

[Viseguy2]

I rode all the coasters in Coney Island when I was a kid in the '50s and '60s.

The Tornado (this video) was right up there with the Cyclone and the Thunderbolt for thrills. The others were the Bobsled, the Wild Mouse, and the roller coaster at George C. Tilyou's Steeplechase Park, not to mention the Steeplechase ride itself, which was a kind of roller coaster except that the "cars" were painted wooden racehorses and you raced against the other riders. They don't make rides like that anymore!

[woodcoasterdude]

wasnt there a coaster called the Bobs at Riverview in Chicago that closed in the 60's?

[jukingeo]

@woodcoasterdude Yes, that is correct. The Bob's, designed by Prior & Church, was one of the Riverview Park coasters and it was one of the most famous coasters in the US in it's time. It was a rare 'waterwing' design coaster in which the wings weaved in and out of a central hub. Another famous coaster, The Rye Airplane, was Prior and Church's next project which basically upped the atne on the on this design concept and was made much more intense. ...a tragedy both are lost to us forever.

[MrB17FlyingFortress]

This is the Tornado. I went on it plenty of times and this was the one in the Woody Allen movie not the Thunderbolt.

[BeMyBigHero]

@MrB17FlyingFortress NOT NOT NOT . . . Thunderbolt was the Woody Allen Coaster in the Movie, "Annie Hall".

It was on Kensington Walk. Try a google search for "coney coaster hotel" and read all about it . . .

It's fun!!

[gillmore718]

its the thunder bolt now keyspan park

[swampfoxer]

@TheChronaholic - This was not the Cyclone coaster. The Thunderbolt coaster was the Annie Hall coaster. This is a completely different coaster.

[leadiceman22]

@swampfoxer they took that one down?

[JonJll]

my family owned Willies custard stand across from the Tornado, next to the Worldi in Wax

[Kell1295]

Rebuild the Thunderbolt! <3

[gillmore718]

i think in 1983 it was called the thunderbird there was a little white house near it

[LadyJay114]

Great video. What gets me is that everyone is dressed up! Guys were in hats and coats and ladies were wearing dresses. And this was to go to the amusement park. Wow

[enmaxus]

@LadyJay114 Well back in those days people dressed up when going out. My mother who is almost 80, told me how people of her generation always dressed nicely when going out even if that meant going to the grocery store or shopping in general, you always looked your best. People wearing sweats, jeans, looking sloppy was unheard of when she was a young woman. People took pride in how they look when they left their homes.

[Kurtb2006]

This video is amazing, but I recently seen a video of this ride as a POV in color on YoutTube. Does anyone happen to know where is video is, my father used to work on the Tornado and I wanted to show him that footage.

[zurloj]

If you want to know about the real coney island don't bother with these coney island wannabes, I grew up had my first job blowing up balloons and lived in coney island all of my life. The mayor of coney island what a joke. The real mayor is my sister.

[sammydenyc]

its cool to know that cyclone still survives today at coney island...

[ZachManN64]

what part of coney island was it located?

[iitzcash]

brooklyn.ny

[TigerRocket]

The Tornado, originally known as the 'Bobs,' was on the lot located at Stillwell and Surf Avenues where Nathan's Famous still resides. Also at the intersection were two theaters, the Lowes and Henderson's, just across from the Stillwell Avenue Subway Terminal.

During the 70s when the Bobs was still operational there used to be a tape loop which blared through the noise of the rides and crowds, "Ride the Tornado. Seventy five miles an hour. Oh boy, oh boy, what a ride!"

[BowlingDiseased]

Great video thanks for posting. I was 4 in 1977 and don't remember ever seeing this ride. I do remember the Thunderbolt running and it's spooky decline in the 90's. I was sad to see the Thunderbolt demolished. I hoped they would someday reopen the coaster. So sad what happened to Coney Island. My father has amazing stories of Steeplechase.

[Ems2Skittles]

lol hmmm someone should rebuild it i know there is one in coney island its called the cyclone what a cowinky dink lol and it looks kinda like but has different turns and some of the same LMAO

[alterman156]

The "Bobs" later the "Tornado" was one of the great esigns of PRior & Church. The "Dragon Coaster" at Rye Playland is one remaining example of their roller coasters. Unfortunately the wooden trains on that coaster were replaced with fiberglass bodied trains after the 1987 season.

[Wnoronz]

What a great ride this was - and that's only seeing it on this early film. Clearly it displays the ancestry to the great Fred Church Bobs Coaster we had here in Manchester England 1929-1970.

The well-maintained Manchester Bobs could have lasted many more years had not the crassness of the management at Belle Vue park where Bobs was sited decreed its hasty demolition. The destruction of Bobs only achieved one thing - the rapid run-down and ultimate closure of Belle Vue itself! - George.

[the3jake2]

Hey Swampfoxer, have you ever heard of a video called Roller Coaster Weekend. It was made in 1990 and 1991 by Roy Brashears. There is WONDERFUL footage of old coasters in that video.

[DrBelser12]

Not much of it burned in 77. The legend goes that Andy Badalamenti, the ride's operator, stood atop the ride on the night of the fire, shouting: "THE TORNADO WILL BE BACK!" Unfortunately, though, it was soon demolished. What about the Thunderbolt? The Thunderbolt's original owners sold it to a new owner in 1983, and the new owner didn't take care of it well, so it was shut down and eventually destroyed by the city in 2000. Read more about it in "Wild Ride" by Charles Denson.

[musikview]

When I see or remember the first descent on this wonderful coaster, all I can see is "WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE­EEEEEE!!!!!"

[LadyJay114]

What was the exact location of this roller coaster at Coney Island??

[bonniefranklin]

There were only wooden coasters in those times.

[staunchcharacter]

Amazing. A good friend of mine worked on the crew of this monster for some years - he will be THRILLED to see this footage. Thanks again for all you do, Swampfoxer!!!

[fncz]

I rode this coaster from 67-77 and LOVED it!! It was retracked for the '77 summer!!

Thanks

[PrinceAndrew100]

Thanks again Swampfoxer but what about footage of the Thunderbolt at Coney Isalnd?