SAMC-Reverchon: historic roller coaster manufacturer in France

After a special visit to Babyland following the end of the first lockdown, it is with a great pleasure that the French manufacturer SAMC-Reverchon invited us to visit their factory and discover their manufacturing process of rails, or car bodies, on July 10, 2020.

Short story

Why SAMC?

After all, the name Reverchon is not registered as a company, it is just a trademark.
SAMC-Avia being the real company name, it is the entity that is in charge of the creation and renovation of resin bodywork.

Founded in 1927 with the skooter bodywork factory, it was only in 1990 that Reverchon created its first roller coaster, le Tigre de Sibérie (the Siberian Tiger), currently operating at Le Pal park. The first Spinning Coaster (commonly known as the "Wild Mouse") was not manufactured until 1996 by the manufacturer, a model that is no longer to be presented and will become a world best-seller.

Factory tour

It is with our friend Étienne from the YouTube channel EDBattraction that Aymeric and Sébastien welcome us at the entrance of the factory, located in Samois-sur-Seine at the south of Paris.

Designing rides

In the first hangar we already notice various recognizable items from the French roller coasters we have already ridden.
But what we notice the most are the nice new orange tracks: it is the last generation of Spinning Coaster with Stall Turn which is going to Australia, at Aussie World.

Bodywork renovation

When we reached the second hangar, we found several elements strewn on the ground. This building houses several vehicles under renovation. First of all, we found some famous Gallic shapes that were not really in their natural habitat here: the menhirs. SAMC is in charge of renewing only the lower part of the vehicles.

Another imposing Gallic piece caught the eye: a section of the Oxygénarium track.

In another corner of the building, several wagons from the wildest ride of the wilderness were scattered. A big change was made to the cars at Big Thunder Mountain: SAMC took on the task of bringing the old cars on the mine train up to the new PMR standards. As in the United States, only the last car has this feature.

We also saw an Agrabah Flying Carpet that may have undergone minor surgery.

Cyrille presented us with the materials needed to build and renovate the bodies.

Body moulds

By leaving the factory, the engineers allowed us to discover the very numerous moulds used to make the vehicle bodies. We found, outside as in other covered warehouses, many parts that most collectors would love to own; a real Ali Baba's cave for park-fans!

SAMC is called by prestigious customers from the Siberian Tiger to Space Mountain: Mission 2.

Preview on Time Machine: The Coaster

After discovering all the know-how of the French manufacturer, Aymeric and Sébastien led us in front of the beautiful structure of Time Machine: The Coaster, a "classic" Spinning Coaster model of the catalog but not so classic: it includes a Stall Turn, a sloping turn just before the biggest downhill of the layout. The element is offered on the latest generations. On the original versions, a simple, flat straight line was used instead of the Stall Turn. This is the second coaster of its kind to offer this element, after Heidi The Coaster, which travels on German fun fairs under Schneider's direction (and which also has a boosted lift).

Time Machine: The Coaster will be touring Dutch fun fairs under the Buwalda's direction.

Our opinion

The teams of Reverchon really spoiled us by taking us on board the roller coaster to do a good ten laps to be spun around. Testing a brand new coaster was the icing on the cake of this emotionally charged day.

The ride is smooth and the Stall Turn is a great addition to this fairground classic, adding a lot of dynamism to the journey. This is still a traditional Wild Mouse: fun and family oriented, where you will still appreciate the excellent "free spinning" that this model has.

Acknowledgements

Special dedication to our engineer friends: Aymeric and Sébastien who invited us for this very special backstage visit. They delighted the enthusiasts that we are and we will not soon forget one of the most beautiful days of this year 2020.

We also thank all the actors present on site today and who received us with the smile: Emeric, André, Cyrille, Angélique, and the Reverchon family, of course, who opened the doors for us for this special discovery.