Woodward Dream Cruise: Rain, Reinvention, Reverence

If last year’s Woodward Dream Cruise was a subdued nod to the auto industry surviving some of the darkest days in its history, this year’s 16th annual event could be described as a triumphant bash celebrating the country’s and Detroit’s promising return to American auto manufacturing greatness.

Estimations from last year’s event put the attendance number at one million, but this year’s number is likely to be lower because of the rain. Even though the rain was an ever present drizzle during the majority of the official cruise day, many took to the avenue with umbrellas and didn’t let a few raindrops get them down. Eventually the rain dissipated early in the evening allowing spectators and cruisers to enjoy the final hours of the cruise in the sunshine.

The Woodward Dream Cruise clearly shows that people love American craftsmanship and cars, and though the Dream Cruise attracts people from all over the world, this underlying feeling is always the same.

It was amazing to see so many exciting, mint-condition classic cars such as a 1956 Ford F1, 1931 Chrysler Roadster, Chevy Camaro’s from almost every single model year, the bat mobile, Pontiac GTO’s, the classic ‘57 Chevy in every color combination you can dream up, mind-blowing hot-rods, and wild creations even we can’t explain.

Though some may say the glory days are over, it’s easy to imagine what they would have looked like while attending the Dream Cruise.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day automotive event bringing together close to one million people and 40,000 classic cars. Much like the original cruising done along Woodward Avenue decades ago, the road remains a place to see and be seen and stretches from Ferndale to Pontiac.

Woodward Avenue used to be the 

prime area for cruising the local driven-ins like Ted’s, Wigwam, Suzie Q’s, The Varsity and Big Boy before it became outlawed by city ordinances. The stories told to us by some attendees made us imagine what the scene used to look like and planted images of bobby socks, muscle cars, and long-gone days when meals were cheaper than what candy bars now cost.

It must have been quite the scene back then, and it’s definitely an impressive sight to witness today.

Besides all of the classic cars, today’s modern cars were also represented by the Detroit Three in addition to a few classics of their own.

Ford took over the corner of 9 Mile and Woodward, with a heavy display of Mustangs including the brand new 2012 Mustang Boss 302. Ford also brought other vehicles such as the 2011 Edge Flex Titanium, the Fiesta and the 2011 Explorer.

GM was absent from the 2009 Dream Cruise but made a strong showing at this year’s event with several locations. The GM Performance division was at the northwest corner of Memorial Park in Royal Oak, Chevrolet held down the 555 Triangle in Birmingham, and the Metro Detroit Buick GMC dealers held their showing at the Athens Coney Island.

The Athens Coney Island location—like everywhere else—held some spectacular vehicles. Some of the cars we stood in awe of included a 1953 Buick parked alongside a brand new Buick Regal, a Buick GNX, a Skylark GS, an imposing brand new GMC Sierra HD, and a custom GMC 1500 among the many displayed.

The Chrysler display was in the Northwood Shopping Plaza on the corner of 13 Mile and Woodward. Hard to miss was the monster truck with Ram body crushing a four-door foreign make, and the Jeep Nukizer concept. Fiat also made an appearance and so did a lime-green, Mopar Dodge Challenger race car.

Amazingly enough, among all the classic cars driving in this cruise, the highlight for us was a striking caravan of more than a dozen 2011 Buick Regal GS vehicles, which stopped people in their tracks. The Regal represents a significant departure from people’s perceptions of Buicks, and the overwhelming response from bystanders made it clear to us 

that it will attract new buyers Buick hasn’t seen before.

The Buick Regal GS also signifies the return of GM as a leaner more relevant carmaker to today’s buyers.

Seeing the new Regal GS against the sea of classic cars, one quickly realizes there’s a lot of history in between the past and present, yet some things never change: America loves great cars, fine craftsmanship, and constantly reinventing itself.

[Additional Source(s): The Detroit News, The Detroit Free Press, Autoblog]