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Woodward Dream Cruise

I want to thank everyone that helped make this a great weekend in Detroit. Jody, Brent, and I were treated to great hospitality by Jeff Trush and his family. Mark took time from work so we could stop by his house and check out Camaro X in person and take it out for a ride.

At Woodward, I had a chance to put faces with names more times than I could count. Paul Clark at Hydratech Braking allowed Jeff and Mark to park their cars at his display which is a block away from the epicenter of the event.

The day started out on the soggy side, but the sun came out by mid-afternoon and it turned into a perfect day. We all had a blast just hanging out, sitting in lawn chairs watching the huge variety of cars (and people!) making their way up and down Woodward. There are so many highlights I couldn't possibly list them all.

The day was rounded out with a party at Murray Pfaff's house. Thanks again for the invite, Murray! It was awesome, and blowing up the Dodge truck was hilarious.

I'll definitely be back to the WDC. Hopefully with my car. :thumbsup:

Yes, was great to meet you guys that showed. For those considering it you need to see it to believe it. There is every car imaginable there. But the best part is meeting up with the guys from the boards, worth the price of admission believe me.

Jody

Woodward was a blast this year and I really enjoyed meeting up with guys from Lateral-g. Thanks to Jeff Trush for pulling it all together. I hope we can do it again next year.

Can't wait for SEMA

From the Car Connection:

Quote:

Could the Woodward Dream Cruise become Detroit's Mardi Gras? The idea has been put forth by Larry Alexander, head of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB), and was publicized by the editorial page editor of The Detroit News, Nolan Finley.

The thinking of the CVB folks goes this way: they estimate that about a third of the 1.5 million Cruise visitors come from outside the five-county metropolitan area. They fill up the area's motels and RV parks, and swamp the eateries, especially in Oakland County where the Cruise has run informally, to the north of the Detroit city limits. If you figure each visitor, say, spends a mere $100, that's $50 Million, a lot of new moola for a depressed area. The $100 figure is undoubtedly low, covering only half a typical motel room for two nights. Indeed, I'll bet the Cruise raises more than the Superbowl that Detroit hosted last winter, and with hardly a dime spent on promoting outside the immediate area.

I understand that the CVB's recent involvement was pretty much limited to contacting every collector or special-interest car club in North America that it could get a handle on, plus providing convenient parking, a tent, review stand, and lunch for media and special guests at a central spot alongside the Cruise route. Up to now, the City of Detroit, the core of Motor City , and surrounding counties have simply done their best to ignore this home-grown phenomena. Even the northside suburbs through which the route runs would have been happier not to front the extra costs of police and waste collecting.

Because the Cruise originally rose out of just one suburban community's fund-raising, low profile street fair a dozen years ago, and spread like wildfire, it has never had a chance to get organized on a grand scale. Will the big guys now getting involved, including a large, event-oriented public relations firm, be able to Mardi Gras-ize the Cruise, or will they be simply overwhelmed by events beyond their control? Time will tell.

There's no question, that the Woodward Dream Cruise has become even an international event. This year it was covered by both German and French TV, which sent news teams to Detroit. And remember, foreign cars are nothing more than an occasional curiosity at the Cruise - although a vintage French Citroën Traction Avant did pass me by before I could unholster my camera.

One of the most notable changes I observed in this year's Cruise was the much greater participation of African-Americans, both as spectators and drivers. African-American drivers showed off some very imaginative, well executed, and occasionally funny custom jobs. I particularly liked a 1932-vintage black "Capone" sedan complete with faux bullet holes; it was sufficiently customized that I couldn't decide whether it had started as a Packard or an Oldsmobile. Generally, these drivers seemed to favor Chevrolet Impalas and Cadillacs, either restored or customized, but it may have been there was an active organization of GM employees involved.

As in the past, among the huge variety of vehicles parading or parked alongside Woodward, I personally have always preferred the well-maintained originals or carefully restored cars of past decades - Memory Street for this old-timer. Station wagons seemed to be more abundant, both because they are probably relatively inexpensive to acquire and because there was an organized Station Wagon club which came to the Cruise.

There is no end to the creative imaginations that go into the cars - and occasionally trucks - in the event. I think, for instance, of the red Corvair Monza Spyder convertible with a three-foot-wide furry black stuffed spider on its rear tonneau. The bottle blonde in a pink outfit, riding shotgun in a pink mid-50s Thunderbird with a pink-and-white stuffed poodle in her lap. The tiny cars with huge blower horns poking from their hoods, in one case an English Ford Anglia so equipped and also towing a tiny house trailer. The "work in progress" cars, like the rusty Ford rod obviously driven up from Kentucky (no one would bother to trailer it!). Half-done paint jobs - guess they just couldn't get 'em finished before the Cruise.

There were several paired up cars seen this year. For example, His and Her black-and-white mid-'80s Mustang convertibles, black fastback Mustangs of '66 and '67 vintage, and two maroon Lincoln Continental convertibles, one a '66 the other a '67. A Ford thing perhaps? Not quite: get this, there were red and maroon '57 Chevrolets which had been made into stretch limousines, accompanied by an equally "stretched" Mustang of '65-'66 vintage.

It takes all kinds: a sixty-ish bearded guy riding a bicycle in the parade with a large parrot perched on his right shoulder. A biker family, Dad driving, Mom holding on from behind him and two kids in a rarely seen motorcycle sidecar. An Asian three-wheeled motorized rickshaw. A car with Hawaiian license plates - somehow I don't think he drove here. See TCC's Cruise Photo Gallery for more examples.

Really, the Cruise is more than just the third Saturday in August. In milder form, it runs all summer. It gets serious at least a week before the official day. And, weather permitting - especially if it's cool and there's no rain - every night after normal working hours, there's Cruisin' going on, with hundreds to thousands of spectators in their lawn chairs deployed along almost the entire eight-lane-wide cum grassy boulevard stretch of Woodward.

And it's gone from a modern Detroit institution to a national, even international, celebration. A two-sided, 16-mile-long Street Fair.

Now if folks would just buy Detroit 's new products as readily as they worship those of old, everything would be dandy.

I ended up getting there about 6pm and stayed about an hour and half. I told those guys, from the little bit that I saw it was evident that this years cruise was noticeably larger than the one I went to 2 years ago (I missed last years event). I mean...they had portable bleachers set up in a lot of areas...I don't remember those being there. I parked back in one of the neighborhoods and was about 5 blocks from the strip. But I was smart and brought my Gary Fisher with me. :D Years past I have tried to see as much of that cruise as I could and the best I could manage was 2 miles down on one side of the street and then back on the other for a total of 4 miles. Your best bet is to do what Trush and company did and that is to find a spot to park and pull up a chair. Half the fun is seeing all the idiots that come out for that event. What was up with that blue alien guy who ran by with his arms flailing? :rofl:

Now that I met xxx people, :cool: i'm going to have fun matching the person to his past or present car. :)

R.P.

D-Note has left the building! :captain:

Quote:

Originally Posted by 61Bubbletop

D-Note has left the building! :captain:

"D-Note" formerly known as Trush. Jeff- you are one funny guy!! Once again I would like to thank you and your family for opening up your house to us. You hospitailty was greatly appreciated!! If it wasn't for you the trip would not have been half the fun. Your car is a killer cruiser. From the props the people were giving you it was obviously well recepted. For those who have seen it in person, you know what I'm talking about. Pics do it no justice. This car has 47K orig miles. Minus the bags (including the one behind the wheel :D ), wheels & tires Everything is all orignal down to the plug wires.

Thanks to Mark for having us over to check out your latest creation. You guys who are going to SEMA will be in for a treat. It will be in Baer's booth. Probably one of the most understated car you will ever see. So simple, just pure function and to the point.

It was great meeting people from the board and putting a face with the "Keyboard". Look forward to meeting more and seeing you guys at SEMA!

Brent

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roger Poirier

Now that I met xxx people, :cool: i'm going to have fun matching the person to his past or present car. :)

R.P.

Roger-

Nice to meet you and see your car in person. That thing is just beautiful. You have alot to be proud of.

Brent