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Cool classics jam Woodward on a steamy Dream Cruise Day
Posted by Talbot Payne on August 21, 2021
Birmingham — The Woodward Dream Cruise came roaring back Saturday, a rolling reminder that if you love cars, the third Saturday in August is your Super Bowl.
If you love the Super Bowl, conversely, don’t bother bringing it up with Steven Ross.
“I’m a car guy,” he said, standing alongside his Montana red 1960 Chevrolet Impala along Old Woodward, and he was in good company — an expected 1 million to 2 million spectators as the Cruise came back from a pandemic-related cancellation last year.
“Let’s put it this way,” said Ross, 64, of Bloomfield Hills. “Some guys can talk sports. I don’t know a thing about sports. You want to talk classic cars, I could talk all day.”
A few yards away, the world’s coolest traffic jam proceeded as expected on a steamy day that topped out close to 90 degrees. A surprisingly rare Dream Cruise accident, northbound between 11 Mile and Catalpa, backed up traffic around lunchtime, but if COVID-19 could only stop the Cruise in theory, a wreck was just a speed bump.
He’s never missed a Cruise and last year when it was canceled, he drove his classic cars up and down Woodward.
“Dream Cruise week to me is Super Bowl week,” he said. “Detroit’s come back.”
He’ll likely swap out the Impala with another classic this afternoon. He has a 1969 Pontiac Firebird, a 1931 Ford Rat Rod and his 25-year-old son’s Porsches in his garage, which he had to have expanded during construction at his house to fit the 17-and-a-half-foot long Impala.
“There’s always something coming and going in our garage,” he said.
Here are some of the other sights and sounds from the Dream Cruise:
Getting juiced
There’s something for everyone along Woodward on Cruise Day, even if it’s just juice boxes. Two pre-kindergartners sat with their dad under a blue awning, alongside a deep blue Pontiac Bonneville convertible, happily sipping as they faced away from traffic.
Their dad turned them around in time to catch a silver Corvette convertible rolling by with a full-sized Bart Simpson riding shotgun.
A yellow Chevrolet Monza with chunks of upholstery missing and a swath of primer on the driver’s side door was parked facing traffic, as though the owner was giving it a goal. A white suicide-door ’64 Continental convertible that made you say “Wow!” eased past a souped-up red Geo Tracker than made you say, “Why?”
A hot time
In Birmingham, vintage Corvettes, old Chevy trucks and Ford Broncos lit up people’s faces as they watched the classics roll by on Woodward, the smell of exhaust fumes hanging in the muggy morning air.
Edgar Houlguin, 40, and his 16-year-old son Andres of Novi arrived in Birmingham at 7 a.m. to get the perfect spot for car and people-watching. They came prepared for a hot, sunny day — with temperatures forecast to touch 90 degrees — by setting up lawn chairs equipped with red umbrellas.
Edgar was looking out for the “oldies” driving by — specifically Fords, his favorite. Andres, camera in hand, was hoping to spot an exotic Bugatti.
This is their first time at the Cruise and they love it.
“It’s been great,” Edgar said.
Vivian Jugan, 67, and her husband, Gary Jugan, 69, came in from Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, for their second Cruise this year.
They picked a spot right at the corner of Woodward and East Brown Street so they can watch the vehicles when they stop at the light. It’s especially fun for them to see a grandpa driving an old car with his grandson in the passenger seat.
“We love that it’s generational,” Vivian said.
Today, they’re looking out for historic Ford Falcons and Chevy Novas, the car they had when they were first married.
“We love the really old cars like the Bel Airs and I do love Corvettes,” Vivian said.
Early birds get the views
Cruise early, cruise often.
One of the best times to get to the Dream Cruise is before 9 a.m. Start in Ferndale and cruise the length of the strip north to Pontiac. Traffic is light (Cruise rush hour doesn’t really begin until noon), but there is still lots to see.
You’ll watch the Cruise open like a flower. People setting up their tents and parties next to the road. Dozens of Ford Broncos from every generation heading south to Pleasant Ridge, where “Broncoland” is gathering for the day. In Royal Oak, a couple rambunctious Mustang revved their engines — WAAAGH! WAAAGH! — to the cheers of early risers.
In Birmingham, there is eye candy everywhere: souped-up Bugs, a jacked-up Bronco, an old Model T, a classic Pontiac Le Mans, mid-engine Corvettes that look like they are doing 150 mph standing still. People and cars thin north of Long Lake for the long, leafy stretch past Cranbrook School. In Square Lake, the lawn chairs reappear and the traffic starts to pick up again as you reach M1 Concourse, the new northern start of the show where the Woodward Dream Show debuts this year.