Ad for a Chance Turbo ride in Zhejiang, China, which recently sold to an amusement park in Canada via usedrides.com. November 7, 2014
A surreal-looking amusement ride from the 1970’s called the Turbo has hundreds of devoted fans ready to schedule their vacations and travel to distant places for its comeback. Though only 23 Turbos were manufactured by Chance Rides from 1970 through 1976, and none are currently in operation, two are being lovingly restored in California and Australia. The 635 members of the Turbo Amusement Ride Fan Club, a private group on Facebook, are eagerly awaiting the chance to go for a retro spin.
A few days ago, when an ad for a Turbo for sale in Zhejiang, China appeared on usedrides.com, excitement ensued. The price: $49,000. No sooner were the pros and cons of a crowdfunding campaign to buy it being discussed than ATZ learned from the seller that the ride, which had been brought from Australia a decade ago, had sold to a park in Canada. “Playland in Vancouver,” seller Jack Su told ATZ via email. A call to the park seeking comment has yet to be returned.
UPDATE, November 14: ATZ just received confirmation from PNE Maintenance Supervisor Peter Tremblay that Playland Vancouver has indeed purchased the Turbo from China and expects it to debut in 2016. Will the PNE modify their plan to replace the iconic buckets as the overhaul of the ride moves forward? It is always controversial when a park announces updating an old ride with new cars: “Yes, we have purchased a Turbo ride. This Ride is coming from China and will be shipped directly to Chance rides in the States for a full make over in line with today’s strict safety standards. The Ride will also be receiving new open style tubs limiting 2 passengers per arm to make this ride more modern with today’s new rides. The ride will also be renamed. I can not tell you any more until the ride has undergone its new release and park marketing. I kindly ask for you to be patient into the future on further updates about this ride. However this is still very VERY early days, we have had to wait for Chance rides to fit this machine into their calender. I do urge you not to get too excited just yet, as ride is not expected to be open to public until early 2016.”
Vintage Postcard of Turbo at Wildwood, New Jersey in the 1970s.
What’s the enduring appeal of this nearly 45-year-old ride? ATZ asked Ohioans Mark Hackett and Derek Wise, who founded the Turbo group on Facebook in 2009. “The ones who have ridden it regard it as a legendary thrill ride,” says Hackett. “Those who haven’t ridden it yearn to experience the ride because it is so unique and alluring. It is a piece of amusement history that will eventually be a preservation success story.”
The Turbo is the creation of Jerry Barber, who is best known in the amusement industry as the inventor of the Free Fall ride. He has registered more than 38 U.S. patents in a variety of fields, 22 of which have been produced commercially. The Turbo was one of Barber’s earliest successes, patented when he was still in his 20s. Asked how he felt about the Turbo upon learning of efforts to restore and bring it back, Barber told ATZ, “I’m proud of it, it’s one of my many children.”
Patent drawing for the Turbo. February 17, 1970. Filed January 23, 1968. Inventor Gerald L Barber
“Though the Turbo was seen at many carnivals when I was younger, I was too small to ride it alone,” says Derek Wise, who first rode the Turbo in 1996 at Old Indiana Amusement Park in Thornton, Indiana. “In a book called White Knuckle Ride, author Mark Wyatt described riding the Turbo as being the marble inside a spray paint can when it is being shaken. I am not sure if I agree with that statement completely, but the motion is similar to the Turbo’s cousin, the Zipper.”
Mark Hackett, who rode the Turbo for the first time– 12 times in a row!– in 1991, says it rides completely different than how you would imagine it watching from the ground. “At the top of the wheel, riders are facing the sky in their circular cage. The motions of the cages range from flipping in circles, to diving face-down toward the ground. The wheel rotations provide a swooping sensation as well.”
Mark Hackett at Turbo at Maple Leaf Village in Niagara Falls, 1991. Photo © Mark Hackett
Hackett’s obsession with the ride began when his local amusement park, Idora Park, debuted the ride in 1971, but he was too young to ride it at the time. “It looked like some sort of space-travel machine from a science-fiction movie. By the time I was of age to ride it, it was gone from Idora Park.” Fast forward to 1991, when Hackett learned about an operational Turbo at Maple Leaf Gardens on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. “I was a bit disappointed in the ride experience, only to find out later that it was not performing as it should,” said Hackett. “This model once again slipped into obscurity after being moved to Indiana and Pennsylvania.”
Jerry Baque is restoring a Turbo ride in California. Photo courtesy of Jerry Baque
One of two Turbos in the world currently undergoing restoration is owned by Jerry Baque, who operates a traveling carnival called Classic Rides Amusements in California. He and his crew have spent three off-seasons working on the Turbo. It is a labor of love. “We bought the Turbo about four years ago with the intention of restoring it in a couple years,” Baque told ATZ. “It had been sitting for twelve years rusting away and was in very poor condition. After spending some time working on it we realized it was going to take a lot longer.”
First set up of Jerry Baque’s Turbo. The ride is trailer-mounted and fits on two trailers. Photo courtesy of Jerry Baque
According to Baque, the ride was previously owned by the Johnstons who bought the Turbo brand new from Chance for $75,000 in 1970. It was the fifth one built. Sam Johnston played the fair route with it in California and perhaps Arizona through the 70’s and early 80’s. After that it spent the next few years on Ken Johnston’s show until 1998 and the next twelve years rusting away in Johnston’s yard until Baque bought it in 2010. “I am able to get parts from Chance but they’re not cheap of course,” says Baque. “We plan to do more this winter and will post more pics of what we do. We appreciate your interest in our pet project.”
UPDATE January 21, 2015:
This week, ATZ learned that Playland Vancouver will re-sell the rare 1970’s Turbo ride purchased last year from China via usedrides.com instead of having it refurbished as planned. “Chance has given us an extensive report on the machine’s condition that has shocked us,” PNE Maintenance Supervisor Peter Tremblay told ATZ, referring to the Turbo’s manufacturer, Chance Rides.
Related posts on ATZ…
January 21, 2015: Playland Vancouver to Re-Sell Rare 1970s Turbo Ride Instead of Refurbing It
June 4, 2014: Astroland Rocket Finds New Home Beside the Wonder Wheel
August 8, 2013: Rare & Vintage: Looking for Artifacts from Idora Park
January 21, 2013: Rare & Vintage: 1960s Chance Skydiver Car
Amusing the Zillion 
Nice article Tricia!
Thanks for your help and the great photos !
Very cool. I’ve never seen this ride. A little reminiscent of the legendary Tumbler, which I have ridden probably around a hundred times.
In Coney Island? That’s a lotta times!
It was at Rye Playland. I lived adjacent to Playland, so the Tumbler was almost in my back yard! The Tumbler was there for a year before making its way down to Coney Island, and during that Summer I rode it almost every day!
BC, you are one of the few that can recall riding a Tumbler a multitude of times, let alone ever! Tumbler is (was) the rarest amusement ride of all. Hopefully one day you can try a Turbo
I sure hope so, Mark. Growing up in the 70s I had no idea how fortunate I was to ride this legendary beast so many times. I might even hold the Tumbler world record! I remember taking my sisters for rides and building up some serious arm strength because the cars were bottom-heavy and you needed some considerable muscle to turn the car the way you wanted to. Of course “the way I wanted to” was upside-down as much as possible.
The cool thing about the Tumbler was that each ride was different depending on how you operated the wheel. You could go for all sorts of combinations of upside-down & right-side-up. I still remember the clinkety-clank of loose change every time the ride started, and the large, suspiciouslystained piece of plexiglass over the ride operator which protected him from digestive mishaps!
When viewing the Tumbler today in the old pictures, it’s impossible to get a sense of how the ride transcended its look. There was just something about it, a certain undefinable quality that defies description. Most who have ridden it know exactly what I’m saying here.
I imagine that the Turbo has the same mysterious quality. I’m dying to ride one.
Interesting that Coney Island had Chance’s Zipper and Skydiver as well as their one and only double Skydiver, the Tumbler! No Turbo though
my turbo is ready to do its first show in 19 years.
That’s great, I look forward to writing about its debut!
Longing to ride / see this thing in motion & will be travelling from the UK to do so, once I know where it is!
I’m not sure when or where either. The Turbo restorations appear to be a long-term job.
I rode the Jerry Baque Turbo back in the 70’s. It was always my favorite ride to look at. I moved to Elk Grove California in 1973 and in the first weekend of May 1974, we had the Elk Grove Western Festival where I saw the Turbo for the first time. It was owned by Sam Johnston, and his son Ken and I both went to Jr and Sr High in Elk Grove, and we graduated the same year. They quit bringing the Turbo to the festival sometime in the late 70’s or early 80’s.
carnival of fun has a working one at winter storage in elk Grove/ Sacramento CA. I use to work there last time I know thatbit was used was 1998 at Mccarthy, ca .
Why the Chance Turbo is worth whatever it takes to restore back to like new condition. Mark Powell here, in 1978 at the UCLA Mardi Gras I ran the Turbo ride for Sam Johnston. On that Saturday night in April my crew and I ran nearly 1800 customers an hour for about two hours before the line waiting to get on lightened up. Today there is a brand new customer base out there that has never even seen this ride. Now it would be a brand new experience for today’s carnival and fair goers. If the ride is properly operated in the absolute correct sequence it will return customers back to ride again and again. I know this because I was the one operating this ride just the way Sam Johnston wanted it to be done. And over the years 1973 thru the early 1980s I saw those long lines waiting to ride one fair location to the next. A little love and the willingness to spend the money to restore this ride to the proper mechanical shape, with A new LED lighting design could make an owner at today’s prices to ride a thrill ride such as this a fabulous return on investment easily. But it takes the willingness to spend money to make money. My two cents.