• News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
  • News
  • Guides
  • Reviews
  • Media
  • About
Sign up Now (For Free)

Sign up for our newsletter and receive the latest automotive news in your inbox!

Invalid email address
We promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!
News
Read Now
  • All News
  • Automakers
  • Automobiles
  • Auto Shows
  • Business
  • EVs & Environment
  • Guides
  • Lawsuits/Legal
  • Regulatory
  • Ride-Sharing
  • Safety & Recalls
  • Technology
Recent
  • Why Isn’t That EV Charger Working?
  • Ford Will Trust The Truck — The New One Built at BlueOval City
  • Cupra Could Be Headed to the U.S.
  • March New Vehicle Sales to Rise 6.2% Over Last Year
  • Hyundai, Kia Recall Warns Owners of 570K Vehicles to Park Outside
  • Ford Facing $3 Billion in Losses on EV Business for 2023
  • Higher Interest Rates, Bank Failures Pose Challenge to Car Business
  • General Motors to Face Class Action Lawsuit
  • Cruise Applies to Test Robotaxis Statewide in California
  • Chevrolet Pulling Plug on Camaro – But an All-Electric Successor Already in the Works
Editor’s Choice
    Reviews
    Read Now
    • All Reviews
      • Feeder
    • Classic Cars
    • Concept Cars
    • Convertibles
    • Coupes
    • Crossovers/CUVs
    • Diesel
    • Hot hatches
    • Hybrids
    • Luxury Vehicles
    • Minivans
    • Muscle Cars
    • Pickups
    • Sedans
    • Sports Cars
    • Super Cars
    • SUVs
    Recent Reviews
    • A Week With: 2023 Genesis GV80 Prestige 3.5 Turbo
    • First Drive: 2024 Dodge Hornet R/T
    • First Drive: 2023 Dodge Hornet GT
    • First Drive: 2023 Genesis Electrified GV70
    • First Drive: 2023 Nissan Ariya e-4orce AWD
    • A Week With: 2023 Jeep Compass Limited
    • A Week With: 2023 Cadillac Escalade V-Series
    • A Week With: 2023 Volvo XC40 AWD Ultimate
    • First Drive: 2024 Subaru Crosstrek
    • First Drive: 2023 Lexus RZ 450e
    Editor’s Choice
      Guides
      Car Warranty
      • Endurance Warranty Reviews
      • BMW Extended Warranty
      • Extended Warranty For Cars Over 100k Miles
      • Extended Car Warranty Cost
      • Subaru Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Reviews
      • CarShield Cost
      • Aftermarket Car Warranty
      • CARCHEX Warranty Reviews
      • Reputable Extended Car Warranty Companies
      • Used Car Warranty Companies
      • Best Car Warranty
      • Is CarShield A Scam?
      • Mercedes Extended Warranty
      • CarShield Plans
      Insurance
      • How To Identify A Car Insurance Company
      • Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • How Far Back Does A Car Insurance Company Look
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance For Used Cars
      • State Farm Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
      • Mechanical Breakdown Insurance From Progressive
      • Dollar A Day Insurance
      • Auto Insurance For SSI Recipients
      • Car Insurance Rates After A Suspended License
      • Auto Insurance For Salvage Vehicles
      • Average Cost of Dodge Ram 1500 Car Insurance
      • Car Insurance Florida
      • Full Coverage Auto Insurance
      • GrubHub Insurance
      • Amazon Delivery Auto Insurance
      Shipping
      • Car Shipping Companies
      • uShip Reviews
      • Auto Shipping From California To Hawaii
      • Montway Auto Transport Reviews
      • Cheap Car Shipping
      • Easy Auto Ship Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Miami
      • Auto Shipping To Alaska
      • Car Shipping Cost
      • Auto Shipping Hawaii
      • Auto Shipping Puerto Rico
      • Sherpa Auto Transport Reviews
      • Auto Shipping Atlanta
      • Auto Shipping Boston
      • Auto Shipping. Chicago
      About
      • About Us
      • Contact Us
      • Terms of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Affiliate Disclosure
      • Sitemap
      TheDetroitBureau.com

      More than just “another” place to find news, reviews, spy shots, commentary, features, and guides about the auto industry. TheDetroitBureau doesn’t stop with the press releases or confuse a few lines of opinion with insightful, in-depth reporting.

      Contact Us

      Like what you see? Have some ideas for making The Detroit Bureau.com even better? Let us know, we’d love to hear your voice.

        Media
        Listen Now
        • Headlight News: All Episodes
        More from TheDetroitBureau
        • Guides
        • Latest News
        • Auto Reviews
        • Podcasts
        Headlight News

        TheDetroitBureau.com’s Headlight News offers a look at the past week’s top automotive news stories, as well as what’s coming up in the week ahead. Check out the week’s top story and our latest review…along with a dive into the past with this week in automotive history.

        home > news > Automobiles > Cruising Down Memory Lane

        Cruising Down Memory Lane

        Detroit’s Woodward Dream Cruise turns 20.

        Paul A. Eisenstein
        Paul A. Eisenstein , Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
        Aug. 16, 2014
        A "flamed" hot rod, one of from 40,000 to 60,000 classic muscle cars, hot rods, sports cars and other collectibles expected at the Woodward Dream Cruise.

        For Bob Wissman, standing on the corner of Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak, Michigan is a trip down Memory Lane. As a teenager in the 1960s, even before he was old enough to drive, he’d hitchhike along Metro Detroit’s main drag, hoping to catch a ride in a Ford Mustang, a Pontiac GTO or, if he was lucky, a Chevrolet Corvette.

        Woodward Ave. was Ground Zero for muscle car fans and, back then, you’d even catch some executives, like General Motors’ legendary maverick John DeLorean, showing up late at night to street test a new performance car against their competitors.

        The Last Word!

        The days of cruising are long past – well, not entirely. As summer enters its dog days, the echoes of screeching tires and the resonant roar of big V-8s can be heard up and down Woodward Avenue, a crescendo building by the day as the Motor City gets set to celebrate its heritage with the annual Woodward Dream Cruise.

        Bob and Roxanne Wissman spent Friday gathering collectibles, but will be cruising on Saturday.

        What started out as a get-together organized by a local car club has become what organizers now bill as the single-largest automotive gathering anywhere. The officially sanctioned Saturday Cruise is expected to draw out anywhere from 40,000 to 60,000 hot rods, muscle cars, classics and collectibles – while up to 1 million or more people will squeeze shoulder-to-shoulder along the curb to watch the action go by.

        “It gets bigger and bigger every year,” gapes Wissman, noting that while Saturday might be the official Dream Cruise, muscle car fans can get their fix anytime the week before as mundane sedans and minivans slowly make way for the classics.

        As many as 1 million people are expected to check out the 20th Woodward Dream Cruise: Photo: Len Katz.

        (Dodge giving the Hellcat treatment to the 2015 Charger. Click Hereto check it out.)

        Participants are known to bring out just about anything with wheels and a motor – from a powered shopping cart to million-dollar Ferraris. But the emphasis is on classic Detroit metal – the same machines that cruised the 8-lane boulevard on warm nights during the heyday of the muscle car, in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

        Tim Cooley has had a lot more fun since getting his '34 Ford 3-window coupe, he says. Photo: Len Katz.

        Tim Cooley, of Clarkston, Michigan, turned out in his ’34 Ford 3-window coupe, a hot rod he carefully put together out of a rusting hulk he got his hands on back in 1934.  It’s given him a chance to not just relive his youth, but go one better.

        “I always rode here when I was a kid,” he recalls. “Now that I have something worth showing, it’s even more fun.”

        (Mazda set to reveal all-new Miata on September 3rd. Click Here for a preview.)

        A hunka-hunka burning love for this classic Corvette. Photo by Len Katz.

        While the Dream Cruise is a home-grown phenomenon, it has developed a global reputation, and a surprising number of cruisers and gawkers have come to see it as a sort of mecca that they must attend at least once. Steve Pasteiner, who runs a car parts and collectibles shop along the route in Birmingham, Michigan has seen them come from all over, including one Australian who spent $17,000 to ship his car to the Motor City so he could ride, rather than just watch.

        A customized "woody" wagon with an appropriate license plate. Photo by Len Katz.

        “We had a couple guys come in fully decked out as cowboys, and I figured they were from Texas,” Pasteiner says, laughing at the memory. “But they couldn’t speak a word of English. They’d flown in from France.

        Tom Tolles only traveled from Jackson, Michigan, about a 100-mile drive, though he and his son Trever had a hotel room nearby so they could alternately cruise and park for three days.  He was making up for lost time, he sheepishly said, admitting he was one of the few Michigan “gearheads” who hadn’t cruised Woodward in the old days.

        Steve and son Steve Pasteiner have seen Dream Cruise visitors from as far away as Australia and France.

        Asked what the appeal was of the Dream Cruise is today, Tolles seemed almost surprised by a question that might seem self-explanatory, “We’re car guys. It’s a car life, a car world,” he said, quickly adding, “I like the smell.”

        Just about anything goes during Dream Cruise.

        It’s become something of a gospel that young people today don’t really have gasoline in their veins like generations past. But quite a few parents, like Tolles, were intent on inculcating their children into that car world. That included Doug Harrison, of Chesterfield, Michigan, who was showing off some of the best hot rods and muscle cars to 12-year-old daughter Hazel as they walked down Woodward.

        (Ferrari 250 GTO sets all-time auction sales record. Click Here to find out how much it went for.)

        Plenty of collectibles along the route. Photo by Len Katz.

        “I like it,” she said, beaming broadly. “I like looking at all the different cars. They’re just really cool.”

        As for her father, Doug Harrison said he’d rather sit on the sidelines and watch the parade of cars stream by, lamenting “I’m not lucky enough to have something worthy” to drive in the Woodward Dream  Cruise this year. There’s always next year, of course, and perhaps he’ll be able to get his daughter to help turn an old rusted heap into something they both can go cruising in.

        How to Care for Your Car

        Cheap Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice

        Best Extended Car Warranty

        Editor's Choice
        Recently Published
        Blink Charging station user

        Why Isn’t That EV Charger Working?

        Today
        BlueOval City truck plant aerial March 2023 REL

        Ford Will Trust The Truck — The New One Built at BlueOval City

        Today

        Cupra Could Be Headed to the U.S.

        Today

        2 responses to “Cruising Down Memory Lane”

        1. nobsartist says:
          August 17, 2014 at 11:05 am

          After hanging out on woodward, it became quite evident as to why the so called muscle cars need 700 hp. I saw a challenger parked with a crown vic and the challenger was bigger. I saw a Camaro next to a old chevelle and it was bigger. I saw a new caddy next to a Camaro and it was smaller. I think that most people in product management are either blind or they just don’t know anything about cars. I guess that’s what happens when you hire a bunch of dress designers to design cars.

          Reply
        2. Jorge says:
          August 18, 2014 at 10:26 am

          The Woodward Cruise is a celebration of life and an era when young people became much more independent and mobile due to the availability of cars at affordable prices. The Muscle Car period in the 60s and 70s was a great time when you could buy straight line high-performance in a car that could still be used for the family. This uniquely American period of production Muscle Cars is still revered today by many and rightly so.

          Reply

        Leave a Reply Cancel reply

        Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

        Share this article:
        © The Detroit Bureau 2023
        • Guides
        • Privacy Policy
        • Terms of Use
        • Affiliate Disclosure
        • Contact Us
        • Sitemap
        Follow Us: