Industry Manufacturing Successor Interpark Key people Daniel Pinfari Headquarters Suzzara | Fate Liquidated Area served Worldwide Founded 1926 Ceased operations July 15, 2004 | |
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Defunct 15 July 2004 (2004-07-15) | ||
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F.lli Pinfari S.r.l was an Italian ride manufacturing company based in Suzzara, Italy. Pinfari was liquidated on 15 July 2004, due to the early 2000s recession and the weakness of the United States dollar. In 2007, its brand and intellectual property was acquired by Interpark Amusements Srl, based in Modena.
Contents
History
The company, commonly known as Pinfari, was established in 1926 building Dodgem cars and buildings. Its first roller coaster was a wild mouse-style ride in 1954 called "bob-slide." In 1965 the company introduced a small portable coaster called Zyklon. These coasters proved very popular with traveling fairs and carnivals as wells as permanent amusement parks. Pinfari manufactured Zyklons in several variations and sizes, building over 200 since the ride's introduction. The models were designated Z40, Z47, Z64 and Z78 — "Z" representing Zyklon and the number representing the length of the coaster base in meters (i.e. the footprint of a Z47 is 47 metres (154 ft) by 18.5 metres (61 ft)). In the 1980s Pinfari added loops to the Zyklon model and marketed them as a Looping Zyklon or Looping Star. The model designation added the letter "L" sometimes next to the Z and sometimes after (i.e. ZL42, ZL50 or Z47L). The company also manufactured a popular children's coaster called Big Apple, nearly identical in design to Wacky Worms and Brucomela coasters by Preston and Fabbri.
In the late 1990s Pinfari introduced a new model to eventually replace the Zyklon, although the Zyklon was still offered in the ride catalog. Known simply as Roller Coaster or Thriller Roller Coaster, these models were designated RC48, RC50 or RC70, with the larger RC70 having two loops and a corkscrew. The company also introduced a large non-looping family coaster designated FC80. The first RC70 was installed at M&D's Theme Park in Scotland. The first and only FC80 was built at Wiener Prater in Austria.
Pinfari continued to expand its product line offering a junior inverted coaster in 1999 and a suspended looping coaster, with the first two suspended looping models going to Nigloland in France and Moreno's Park, a traveling show in Brazil.