Twisted Timbers Draws Inspiration from Classic Pickup Trucks for Its Ride Vehicles
The latest roller coaster from Kings Dominion has ride trains that resemble a 1938 Ford pickup truck model
Kings Dominion appears to have put an automotive “twist” on its latest coaster
Photo:Kings Dominion
During the 2017 spring season, Kings Island, an amusement park located just outside Cincinnati, Ohio, opened its newest roller coaster: Mystic Timbers. As the park’s fourth wooden roller coaster, Mystic Timbers helped make Kings Island the amusement park with the most wooden roller coasters in the world.
The backstory of the coaster involves mysterious occurrences that shut down the nearby Miami River Lumber Company. In addition to its lumber factory theming, Mystic Timbers also has some automotive influences.
Mystic Timbers at Kings Island
Photo: Kings Island
The ride vehicles used by Mystic Timbers resemble a Chevrolet C-10/GMC 1000 Series pickup truck. There’s even a GMC truck located right outside the ride’s queue.
Kings Island didn’t receive a new roller coaster for the 2018 season. However, its sister park Kings Dominion, which is located in Doswell, Virginia, did.
The new Kings Dominion coaster is named Twisted Timbers, and, as the name suggests, it has quite a bit in common with Mystic Timbers. Are its ride vehicles also based on a classic automotive model? A closer look at Twisted Timbers might just reveal a classic truck connection.
Review: Mystic Timbers at Kings Island
Twisted Timbers opened on March 24, replacing another Kings Dominion roller coaster named the Hurler, which was a traditional wooden coaster. Instead of outright building a brand-new coaster, Kings Dominion decided to reuse some of the Hurler’s previous layout.
To accomplish this, the park turned to Rocky Mountain Construction, a company with a lot of experience converting old wooden roller coasters into modern steel-wooden hybrid models. Mystic Timbers, on the other hand, was built by Great Coasters International and is a classic wooden coaster.
The hybrid design of Twisted Timbers allows for three inversions. The coaster was also gifted with a new maximum height of 111 feet, a significant increase over the Hurler’s height of 83 feet.
For a virtual ride on Twisted Timbers, check out the video below:
Despite being two different classes of coasters, Mystic Timbers and Twisted Timbers share a lot in common when it comes to their backstories. Twisted Timbers takes place at an apple grove that was abandoned following supernatural phenomena, similar to the story behind Mystic Timbers.
Additionally, both coasters seem to utilize ride vehicles that resemble classic pickup trucks. While the inspiration behind the Mystic Timbers ride trains was easy to identify due to the iconic look of the Chevy C-10, the vehicular origins of the Twisted Timbers ride vehicles are harder to pin down.
“On the outskirts of Candy Apple Grove sits the remains of the once thriving Hanover Hill Orchard.” Lots of #TwistedTimbers theming work happening today. ?? pic.twitter.com/wBR8pAtMBa
— Kings Dominion (@KingsDominionVA) February 27, 2018
As the above tweet shows, there is a GMC truck model included in the queue for Twisted Timbers. Yet, it doesn’t resemble the ride vehicles very much, with a dynamically different grille and headlight configuration.
There are a few tractors scattered about the line as well. Unfortunately, these models don’t seem to resemble the ride trains, either.
Nevertheless, there is a vehicle the looks a lot like the Twisted Timbers trains: a 1938 Ford pickup truck.
Photo:Pat Durkin
As you can see, the Ford truck and the Twisted Timbers train share a similar oval-shaped grille with horizontal lines running down it. Both vehicles also have a similar placement for the headlights and a near-identical hood ornament located just above the grille.
Even though the apple grove where Twisted Timbers stands is said to have been abandoned back in the 1950s, the late 1930s-era design makes sense for the truck. After all, the logging company for Mystic Timbers was reportedly abandoned in the 1980s, yet the truck that inspired its ride vehicles was from the 1960s, making the time difference of 20 years nearly identical.
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Many of the pickup trucks produced during this era share similar design cues. Still, the look of the 1938-1939 Ford pickup truck model seems to match the design of the Twisted Timbers ride trains better than any of those other trucks, and the designs seem too much alike to be coincidental.
Before the summer season draws to a close, you might want to make your way to Kings Dominion for one last summer trip. While riding Twisted Timbers, you’ll be sure to experience thrills, while perhaps even observing an homage to a classic automobile.
Zachary Berry currently resides in the Dayton, Ohio area. However, he enjoys traveling from place to place, as he was born in Oklahoma City and has also lived in Albuquerque and Orlando (such is the life of a military brat). Zachary graduated from Ohio University with a major in Strategic Communication, which is fancy talk for advertising and public relations. Beginning his career at The News Wheel as a lowly intern, he was able to climb his way to the top, eventually claiming his place within the last cubicle on the left. Other jobs that Zachary has held include driving around a safari truck at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. When he’s not putting his nose to the grindstone, Zachary enjoys watching and critiquing movies and television. See more articles by Zachary.