Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
It's loud, it's smelly, and it goes on all day.
It's the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise, where the automobile in all its permutations is virtually worshipped for hours on end. Oooo, a Camaro RS convertible. And a '57 Chevy. The interior of that Camaro is amazing. Look at the seats! Every year, on the third Saturday of August, the stretch of Woodward Avenue between around 8 mile road to the south and the city of Pontiac to the north turns into a kind of rush hour for cool cars, with spectators lining the road. We walked for miles up and down this event and off on the side streets to the special exhibits from GM, Ford, Chrysler, and some of the specialty car clubs. Then later we got out into this mess on the boulevard in a 1982 Chrysler LeBaron convertible. But it's early in the morning yet and we're looking at the parked specimens of notable automotive art. I dwell on the cars that interest me because, well, hey, it's my video. I don't spend a lot of time looking under hoods, although I can appreciate how much that aspect of it means to people. As with all the tech collectibles I enjoy, I appreciate and value these three things: The style, the technology, and the history. With cars, you get all of those--in fairly equal measure when you're in a museum. But at the Dream Cruise, you also get exhaust and a lot of revving engines. Air pollution AND noise pollution wrapped in the American flag.
Studebakers! They're not so well-represented here. I think the folks here in the Detroit area lump them in with all the other foreign cars. They were made, after all, in Indiana! That's a cool one. Way ahead of its time, styling-wise.
The 1960 Chevrolet--all the features of the '59, without the grace. But there's a rocket on it and you gotta love that rocket. The fins, the rockets, the flying "V"s--it's all here. It's like an air show on the ground.
Oh and I'm checking out the tires here. This ridge outside the whitewall. Just like the tires originally built by Continental Tire for this particular car, the Mercedes SL series with the pagoda hardtop, made between 1963 and 1971. Pretty, isn't it?
Now back to Woodward and a '55 Chevy. If you live on the south end of Woodward, it's Woodward. If you live on the north end, it's Wood-erd. It's the same--oh look at this kid, he's cooool. And a '56 Cadillac. Anyway, 'Wood-erd' is the same regional dialect that puts an "s" after all the store names, like Krogers, Wal-Marts, and K-Marts.
I spot a couple of Cords over there. Cords! Fantastic. I always expect to see Cary Grant or Tyrone Power stepping out of one of those whenever I see one. In the same way, I guess, that I expect every '57 T-Bird to be driven by Suzanne Sommers.
Back on the road. And now at the Chrysler Corner. A Dodge. '57, 8, or 9, I can't tell. And here's Ricardo Montalban standing guard. Tell us, Ricardo, about that fine Corinthian leather in this wonderful vehicle. The Chrysler corner is at Woodward and 13 Mile Road. What's a "mile road?" Later.
Dodge Custom Royal. Oh yeah. And with one of the grandest rear-ends since, well never mind.
Wow, look at this! I don't know it. The license seems to say Plymouth. Well, that is one nice Plymouth.
Another Dodge, a different year, this one. Maybe 1959. And an earlier Chrysler product, the DeSoto. My brother would know exactly what year this is but I'm just going to guess 1940. And the old guy. Dad. Who owns the LeBaron convertible in which we too shall cruise.
Some smart-aleck parked a 1970-something Fiat in with the Chryslers. This was around the time the two companies got together, so I guess it's OK. I happen to like Fiats, so it's OK with me.
Another '60 Chevy with the side rocket. In a nice blue & white two-tone. This one's a four-door with a post. They're all collectible now.
And we're on the road again, crowded in with a bunch of examples of the bland stuff Detroit produces today blocking our view of the good stuff we came to see. There's some irony there I suppose, if I could find it. But right at this point, I'm just trying to breathe.
We go up, and down. Up to maybe 16 mile road, then turn around and go back down to 8 mile. Lunch is at the White Castle there. Oh boy! These "mile roads" they have in Detroit are, as the name suggests, a mile apart. Woodward starts in downtown Detroit, near the river, and heads north, north-west to Pontiac, ticking off mile roads on the way. Wood-erd, uh, Woodward, has the distinction of being the first mile of concrete-paved roadway in the United States.
Woodward is what is generally known as a strip--a section of road that goes off of the downtown of someplace and out to another place. I suppose all roads go somewhere and a road out of town doesn't HAVE to be a strip. But when such a road gets lined with hamburger stands and motels, it's a strip. Like Van Nuys Boulevard or the Sunset Strip in LA. Or the strip in Las Vegas. Or ten-thousand other places. . .
It's loud, it's smelly, and it goes on all day.
It's the 2012 Woodward Dream Cruise, where the automobile in all its permutations is virtually worshipped for hours on end. Oooo, a Camaro RS convertible. And a '57 Chevy. The interior of that Camaro is amazing. Look at the seats! Every year, on the third Saturday of August, the stretch of Woodward Avenue between around 8 mile road to the south and the city of Pontiac to the north turns into a kind of rush hour for cool cars, with spectators lining the road. We walked for miles up and down this event and off on the side streets to the special exhibits from GM, Ford, Chrysler, and some of the specialty car clubs. Then later we got out into this mess on the boulevard in a 1982 Chrysler LeBaron convertible. But it's early in the morning yet and we're looking at the parked specimens of notable automotive art. I dwell on the cars that interest me because, well, hey, it's my video. I don't spend a lot of time looking under hoods, although I can appreciate how much that aspect of it means to people. As with all the tech collectibles I enjoy, I appreciate and value these three things: The style, the technology, and the history. With cars, you get all of those--in fairly equal measure when you're in a museum. But at the Dream Cruise, you also get exhaust and a lot of revving engines. Air pollution AND noise pollution wrapped in the American flag.
Studebakers! They're not so well-represented here. I think the folks here in the Detroit area lump them in with all the other foreign cars. They were made, after all, in Indiana! That's a cool one. Way ahead of its time, styling-wise.
The 1960 Chevrolet--all the features of the '59, without the grace. But there's a rocket on it and you gotta love that rocket. The fins, the rockets, the flying "V"s--it's all here. It's like an air show on the ground.
Oh and I'm checking out the tires here. This ridge outside the whitewall. Just like the tires originally built by Continental Tire for this particular car, the Mercedes SL series with the pagoda hardtop, made between 1963 and 1971. Pretty, isn't it?
Now back to Woodward and a '55 Chevy. If you live on the south end of Woodward, it's Woodward. If you live on the north end, it's Wood-erd. It's the same--oh look at this kid, he's cooool. And a '56 Cadillac. Anyway, 'Wood-erd' is the same regional dialect that puts an "s" after all the store names, like Krogers, Wal-Marts, and K-Marts.
I spot a couple of Cords over there. Cords! Fantastic. I always expect to see Cary Grant or Tyrone Power stepping out of one of those whenever I see one. In the same way, I guess, that I expect every '57 T-Bird to be driven by Suzanne Sommers.
Back on the road. And now at the Chrysler Corner. A Dodge. '57, 8, or 9, I can't tell. And here's Ricardo Montalban standing guard. Tell us, Ricardo, about that fine Corinthian leather in this wonderful vehicle. The Chrysler corner is at Woodward and 13 Mile Road. What's a "mile road?" Later.
Dodge Custom Royal. Oh yeah. And with one of the grandest rear-ends since, well never mind.
Wow, look at this! I don't know it. The license seems to say Plymouth. Well, that is one nice Plymouth.
Another Dodge, a different year, this one. Maybe 1959. And an earlier Chrysler product, the DeSoto. My brother would know exactly what year this is but I'm just going to guess 1940. And the old guy. Dad. Who owns the LeBaron convertible in which we too shall cruise.
Some smart-aleck parked a 1970-something Fiat in with the Chryslers. This was around the time the two companies got together, so I guess it's OK. I happen to like Fiats, so it's OK with me.
Another '60 Chevy with the side rocket. In a nice blue & white two-tone. This one's a four-door with a post. They're all collectible now.
And we're on the road again, crowded in with a bunch of examples of the bland stuff Detroit produces today blocking our view of the good stuff we came to see. There's some irony there I suppose, if I could find it. But right at this point, I'm just trying to breathe.
We go up, and down. Up to maybe 16 mile road, then turn around and go back down to 8 mile. Lunch is at the White Castle there. Oh boy! These "mile roads" they have in Detroit are, as the name suggests, a mile apart. Woodward starts in downtown Detroit, near the river, and heads north, north-west to Pontiac, ticking off mile roads on the way. Wood-erd, uh, Woodward, has the distinction of being the first mile of concrete-paved roadway in the United States.
Woodward is what is generally known as a strip--a section of road that goes off of the downtown of someplace and out to another place. I suppose all roads go somewhere and a road out of town doesn't HAVE to be a strip. But when such a road gets lined with hamburger stands and motels, it's a strip. Like Van Nuys Boulevard or the Sunset Strip in LA. Or the strip in Las Vegas. Or ten-thousand other places. . .
