Ford GTs, DMAN charity rides kick off rainy Dream Cruise

Posted by Talbot Payne on August 17, 2024

Bloomfield Hills — Friday morning on Woodward, the Hills were alive with the sound of music.

Ford supercar music, that is.

Twenty gorgeous Ford GTs — their thundering V-8s and screaming, twin-turbo V-6s in full song — rolled out of the Kingsley Inn at Long Lake and Woodward at 8:15 a.m. for a cruise south down Woodward. Destination? The mother ship in Dearborn.

Rich Brooks, 50, of Monroe with his Ford GT, which joined a parade of the supercars starting on Woodward in Birmingham on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, ahead of Saturday's Dream Cruise.

Rich Brooks, 50, of Monroe with his Ford GT, which joined a parade of the supercars starting on Woodward in Birmingham on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024, ahead of Saturday’s Dream Cruise. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

“This is our second year getting together. We’ve got GT owners from Florida, Seattle, Texas — from all over the country,” said Rich Brooks, 50, of Monroe. The group are staying together in a block of rooms at the Kingsley, a traditional hive of Cruise activity.

Hearkening back to the legendary Ford GT40 that won Le Mans in 1966 — a feat immortalized in the hit movie “Ford v Ferrari” — Ford Motor Co. built two production versions of the GT from 2005-06 (powered by a V-8) and from 2017-2022 (twin-turbo V-6). Both versions are included in the Brooks’ Ford GT parade, including his own 2005 car.

“We get a lot of waves from people up and down Woodward,” said Brooks, who visited M1 Concourse in Pontiac for some track laps Thursday. “I’ve been coming to the Cruise for years in everything from a ’55 Chevy to a Mustang, but the GT is Ford’s iconic supercar.”

Charity rides

Birmingham — The intermittent raindrops didn’t deter the DMAN Foundation Friday afternoon.

The charity gives rides to people with disabilities every year at Long Lake and Woodward on the day before Dream Cruise Saturday. Owners of convertible muscle cars — Camaro, Firebirds, Corvettes, and more — volunteer their time and line up to give DMAN members a thrill ride down Woodward.

Joseph “Big Country” Cadwallader, 36, of Pontiac uses a wheelchair, having lost use of both legs. It’s the seventh year he’s participated in the event and he was looking forward to a ride in a convertible Camaro or Mustang.

Ziad Kassab, 41, of Rochester Hills (left) founded the DMAN Foundation after his brother, Danny, a quadriplegic, passed away in 2009.

Ziad Kassab, 41, of Rochester Hills (left) founded the DMAN Foundation after his brother, Danny, a quadriplegic, passed away in 2009.Henry Payne, The Detroit News

“The volunteers here are incredible,” said the Pontiac native, his tight arm tattooed from shoulder to wrist with a rippled American flag. “Paraplegics are usually transported while strapped into the back of a van. This experience helps us feel something normal.”

DMAN — short for Danny’s Miracle Angel Network — is the brainchild of Ziad Kassab, 41, of Rochester hills. His brother Danny was paralyzed from the neck down at age 7 and ultimately passed away in 2009. Shortly thereafter, Ziad — who had entertained Danny by taking him for drives — created D-Man in his brother’s memory to bring that thrill to others. In the ensuing years, D-Man has expanded to include vacation trips, helicopter trips and regular music therapy for those with physical disabilities, brain injuries, cerebral palsy and more.

Joseph "Big Country" Cadwallader, 36, is paralyzed from the waist down but enjoyed a ride down Woodward courtesy of the DMAN Foundation.

Joseph “Big Country” Cadwallader, 36, is paralyzed from the waist down but enjoyed a ride down Woodward courtesy of the DMAN Foundation. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Members like Big Country are loaded into convertibles with a crane. As a sinister, black, fifth-gen Camaro peeled out of the loading tent and onto Woodward, Big Country smiled.

“I like the classics,” he said. “The metal, the roar, the horsepower!”

Waitin’ out the wet

Birmingham – Big slicks mean big trouble in the wet, so Jim Pranis and his Pittsburgh pals waited out the rain Friday afternoon.

“Vinnie has 18-inch slicks on his Chevy Bel Air, and I have 16-inch,” said Pranis, 62, standing in the doorway of a Birmingham store front with Vinnie Deluca, 68, while the rain came down. Pranis brought his wicked-looking, black 1968 Dodge Charger over from the Steel City for the Dream Cruise.

Jim Pranis, 62 (left), and his friend Vinnie Deluca, 68, of Pittsburgh waited out the rain Friday afternoon. Their Dodge Charger and Chevy Bel Air hot rods have been heavily modified with fat, slick rear tires.Jim Pranis, 62 (left), and his friend Vinnie Deluca, 68, of Pittsburgh waited out the rain Friday afternoon. Their Dodge Charger and Chevy Bel Air hot rods have been heavily modified with fat, slick rear tires. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Heavily modified with a 600-cubic-inch (9.8 liters!), 1,500-horsepower, supercharged Hemi V-8, the Charger won the Roadkill Nights Big Tire Dodge drag race competition in Pontiac three years running from 2018-2021 (skipping the COVID 2020 year) with Pranis at the wheel.

But the big, sticky, slick tires are useless in the rain. As are those of friend Deluca, whose ’55 Chevy boasts huge trunk modifications to accommodate the wide, rear rubber.

“There is nothing like this in the world,” said Deluca.

The Pittsburgh-based pair are Cruise and Roadkill regulars, though they skipped this year’s Roadkill at M1 Concourse in Pontiac. They have also attended the popular Beaver Falls Car Cruise north of Pittsburgh, which attracts about 3,000 classic cars a year — a fraction of the estimated 40,000-60,000 that descend on Woodward.

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or @HenryEPayne.

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