Only in the Motor City... the Dream Cruise

As you all know I'm originally from the Detroit area, however; you may not know that the airfield isn't just about airplanes, those guys are motor heads and love old cars too.  Chris has a few beauties, I really love his gold Dodge Custom Royal.  I mentioned in a previous post that my dream cars are a 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe or a 1963 Split Window 'Vette.  But hey... I love any sort of old, beautiful automobile (or plane).

I recently got back from a 5 day trip to the Motor City, that was an eye opener... the city is such a beautiful place... gorgeous mansions, the Detroit River, Belle Isle, Greektown, Eastern Market (love that karaoke Detroit), parks, museums, bike trails.  Detroit was so hard hit by the recession that the city was empty.  Honestly, the streets were so quiet it was eerie and a lot of the old historic buildings are gone or falling apart.

However I was in Birmingham/Bloomfield Hills area (where I grew up) and you'd never know there was any sort of recession... there is a Whole Foods and Starbucks on every corner, green manicured landscaping (not just in peeps yards but all over public spaces in Birmingham), expensive cars, country clubs.  An interesting juxtaposition between Detroit and Bloomfield/Birmingham just 30 minutes apart.


There I go rambling again... back to the Dream Cruise.. if you have never seen it, you should.  If you are an old car fan, muscle car fan, street rods, customs, or like your classic cars original this is the place to see them.

It all takes place on world famous Woodward Avenue (where I use to race my 'vette from light to light), which is called America's First Highway.  Back in 1995 it was the idea of Nelson House and some volunteers to raise money for a soccer field in Ferndale. What better way to do it then a cruise that recreated the heyday of the 1950's and 60's - Detroit metal and that Motown sound.  That first year 250,000 people participated, 10 times more then they expected (they got their soccer field).   They don't say that Detroit loves it's autos for nothin'!

Now in it's 16th year of cruisin' down Woodward Avenue, it draws over 1.5 million people and more then 40,000 cars (and generates over 56 millon bucks for Detroit each year).  It's an annual rite of summer in Michigan.  All along 16 miles of Woodward Avenue on the 3rd weekend in August and it's free to watch or to drive in.  People line up on Saturday (9am - 9pm) with beach chairs and coolers and just watch the cars roll by.  Woodward was famous for drag racing (back in the day) and at the Dream Cruise you'll still see a bit of this going on (especially off the line at red lights).

The Big Three (which aren't so big anymore but don't tell Detroit that) has used this event to introduce new products and this year Chevy is a big sponsor.  Not only can you see their current line-up but they are going to roll out a pre-production version of the 2012 Camaro ZL1 and the new Sonic, the Chevy version of a Smart Car (still not sure how "smart" that is).

As of today it is 46 days, 15 hours, 28 minutes and 50 seconds to the cruise.  If you can't make it this year, start making plans for next year, you've never seen anything like this.  Check out their website.