I wouldn’t necessarily say I’m a big amusement park guy; when I lived in LA we had a Disney locals pass of some kind and we’d take the kiddo there on like a Wednesday evening when it was all nice and empty and that was fun, but beyond that I don’t usually seek out amusement parks as places I want to go. That said, I did happen to see an ad for a roller coaster the other day that grabbed my attention like a set of strong fingers wrapped around testicles, but that was because of a glimpse of a car.
And not just any car. A Skoda. A classic rear-engined Skoda, a 1000MB, which is just not a car I generally see around unless I really seek one out. For a Skoda to just appear in an ad on American market television (is a streaming service still considered “television” that way?) is a pretty unusual happening.
After a good bit of searching, I found the ad:
See that? The hero car in there is a Skoda 1000MB, just like I said! And it looks amazing, tearing along through that en-creepified Black Forest road, full of gnomes and witches and trolls and maybe rule-stickler Germans!
I wasn’t exactly paying attention to the full ad, so the first shot I saw was a fleeting glimpse of the rear, but it’s a pretty unmistakable car-butt, with that wide air-exhaust grille:
I also don’t think I fully realized the 1000MB had that central roof crest before; it’s sort of like the sagittal crest you’d find on an ape skull, used to anchor the strong jaw muscles. But it also makes sense in a Czech context, as the other famous Czech carmaker, Tatra, definitely appreciated dorsal fins and similar roof crests. The one on the 1000MB adds a nice touch, and continues onto the engine lid:
Anyway, I got excited at the idea that an amusement park here in America might be using roller coaster cars made up to look like rear-engined Skodas! So I looked into it, and was a little disappointed with what I found. The roller coaster cars, while very nicely done, were not made to resemble Skodas:
Instead, Busch Gardens seems to have made roller coaster cars that most resemble a Ferrari 250 California:
It’s not exact exact, but I think the main visual cues are there: the recessed headlights with the smaller driving lamps in the lower grille, the rectangular hood scoop, chrome windshield surround, wire wheels, thin bumper blade, general overall shape, and so on. And, really, a Ferrari is probably a better choice for a mainstream, amusement park-going audience. A Skoda is a pretty deep cut.
Here’s one of the designers of the ride talking about the new cars, and showing more variations and details:
I get it. Ours is a world where roller coasters are far more likely to feature Ferraris than Skodas. I know that. But why the tease? Why did they feature a Skoda in that ad so prominently? So geeks like me would get excited and write posts like this?
Huh.
Well done, Busch Gardens. You’re a worthy adversary.
Everyone knows how militant Skoda is with their name and likeness – its been the source of thousands of lawsuits. Busch Gardens lawyers decided it was easier to go with someone carefree like Ferrari this time.
Counterpoint: My first thought was they looked more like a Mini Marcos, probably due to the overall size and not-quite-oval headlights. And swapping a Skoda for a Mini Marcos is more of a lateral move.
Please construct a story that puts a Skoda MB1000 during it’s production time into West Germany. This will be entertaining…(verbolten anyone?)
But you get “Real German Tires!”
False advertising! Ha ha
So if I read your missive correctly the marketing department says it is Ferrari, highly unlikely because Ferrari makes a big deal about copies, unless they get paid. But you trust the marketing department over your own judgement, the guy who knows everything about tail lights, I’m thinking you need to Trust yourself, see treat yourself a Parks and Recreation meme.
Of course they can’t use Ferrari.
I think the marketing people chose a vehicle they wouldn’t have to disguise (like that Izervay Mustang) because no one in America would recognize it anyway. Either that or they asked AI to choose a car that looked like a Ferrari but wasn’t a Ferrari and this was the result. Either way, they didn’t account for Torch’s eagle eye.
Busch Gardens nemesis origin story…
Nice license plate for a roller coaster on that Skoda: YL B DROPN
Quite the opposite, I think the marketing department just specified an “old European car; red” for the ad and doesn’t know or care what the difference is between a Skoda and a “ferrari” is.
This. And the production team being like “here’s the cheapest 3D model of an old car on TurboSquid. Go!”
It’s been forever and a day since I have been to Busch Gardens Williamsburg, but I have fond memories of the place. The bait & switch on the cars is kinda weird – maybe the ride company is based in Europe and the production team shot the video there. Torch is the only person I can imagine that would recognize this car and be upset that it was swapped for an imitation California.
Enjoyed the one time we went there. I distinctly remember hot and loads of walking. The beer gardens also come to mind.
…where did they even find a Skoda to use? Especially in VA?
Clearly the Skoda scenes of the commercial were filmed either at United Parks and Resorts’ headquarters in Orlando or at their ad agency in NYC or LA, with no car-searching anywhere near Williamsburg. If I were looking for something like that for a shoot in Virginia or the Carolinas my first call would be to Torch!
Verbolten, good coaster but the pain of losing the first big bad wolf still hurts. The second BBW is not the same.
We’ll know they’re supposed to look like Ferraris when Busch Gardens receives a cease-and-desist order.
This was my first thought.
The ad is their proactive defense against the inevitable lawsuit.
“No, Your Honor, it’s not a Ferrari. See, the ad is clearly a Skoda.”
Come to think of it, that probably makes this article admissable evidence too. 😉
Reminds me of when I was considering buying a Ford Focus (which I did)…every time I had to rent a car, I’d select the Focus (Hertz was Ford heavy then), only to invariably be cheerfully at check-in “good news – we’re upgrading you to a Malibu!” or Charger or whatever large boat they had.
I’d be crushed. I wanted to spend some quality time with the little economobile.
Last time I rented it was visiting family in Florida (fun fact, when you plan to fly into Orlando the default “Recommended” sort has a Chrysler Pacifica).
The two lowest classes – represented by a Hyundai Venue and a Kia Soul respectively – were the same price so I went with a “Venue or similar” since I’d had a Kia Soul the year before.
I got a Soul.
I had a similar experience years ago when I reserved a Ford EcoSport. At the time I was traveling a lot for work and had made a bit of a hobby of renting the crappiest econoboxes I could, thrashing the bejeesus out of them, and then posting snarky reviews of them on r/cars. I esas really looking forward to seeing if the EcoSport lived up to its rather heinous reputation.
Imagine my disappointment when the rental agency’s poor inventory control led me to a free “upgrade” all the way to an Infiniti QX80. That was a comfortable and totally uninteresting whale of a car. Seriously the front end was shaped just like the snout of a beluga.
I had this same feeling when twice in a row they “upgraded” me from a midsize sedan to a Nissan Kicks.
They classify it as an SUV which apparently trumps all sedans.
I’d feel much safer if all the cars were styled after Volvos instead.
We’ll know that they’re deliberately baiting Torch when the ad shows 2CV and Karmann Ghia coaster cars and the simulated terrain is a plowed field.
and powered by salami
Or maybe the the motor to cog the cars up the slopes should be an enormous flat twin or flat four
Love the Skoda’s side intake strakes (and on a four-door, no less)! More Ferrari than one might think!
Torch is one of the few people disappointed when a Skoda is replaced by a Ferrari.
Just back from the land of Skoda, and the taxis there were Superb.
Had to look at the map for Bush Gardens Williamsburg to see where this was going. Glad to see the Alpengeist is still there. My brothers loved that coaster when we were there many many years ago. I spend the day sick after vomiting on the Pompei ride. It was a odd way to turn 16. Haven’t been back to a theme park since.
It’s been there for over a decade. Verbolten replaced the Big Bad Wolf back in 2012.
Ferris Wheel’s day off.
Oooooh yeeeaaaah…
Bawmp bawmp. Chik chikka-chikaaaah
Day-Bow-Bow?
That was my first thought, surely those are leftover from some Ferris Bueller-themed ride?
I get it that they want to vehicles to be topless for the roller coaster experience.
…and with the on-board video of each passenger being an option, for some ladies, I suspect going ‘topless’ on the ride will take on a whole new meaning.
Can’t wait to see the clips 🙂
Remember Flash Mountain?
I recall the snapshots. This one will offer video!
Wait… Verbolten, a coaster I’ve ridden and used to have VERY prominent Bavarian theming (it is located in their Bavarian “Germany” section) makes their cars look like Ferrari 250s now? The original ride literally had a fake crashed Porsche out front.
Yeah, a BMW 02 would make more sense or at least a VW Type 3.
It still does have a real crashed 911 outside the ride as it was built before air cooled cars with no drivetrain and substantial rust/body damage commanded new accord prices.
The trains have always been ferrari-esque, much to all of our collective dismay
Carnies be cheatin’.