Heavy metal: The Dream Cruise is thundering down Woodward once again

Posted by Talbot Payne on August 17, 2024

Ferndale — The rolling feast of nostalgia known as the Woodward Dream Cruise returns Saturday to the birthplace of the American automobile.

Tens of thousands of classic cars will be parked or meandering along a 16-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue.

The bevy of customs, classics, exotics, muscle cars and hot rods will do their yearly roll call in all their twin-turbo, gold-rimmed, chrome-plated, four-on-the-floor glory.

More:Dream Cruise Saturday: Families, ‘Vettes, EVs flock to Woodward

Sharon Vanover, Dennis Vanover, Beth Parsons and Johnny Parsons stay under the tent and umbrellas, watching the classics go by, as rain falls on cruisers on 'the loop' of Woodward Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan on August 16, 2024.

Sharon Vanover, Dennis Vanover, Beth Parsons and Johnny Parsons stay under the tent and umbrellas, watching the classics go by, as rain falls on cruisers on ‘the loop’ of Woodward Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan on August 16, 2024. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News

The Cruise, billed as the world’s largest single-day auto event, pays noisy tribute to good ol’ American auto power.

“I love it. How can you not?” asked Stephanie Raymond of Southfield. “You can see every model and year all in one spot.”

The Cruise isn’t a single-day event for Raymond. It’s a weeklong love affair. She and her red 1955 Corvette showed up Monday and returned every single day.

Her fiery passion for all things Corvette matched the fire-engine red of her vehicle. She’s a walking Wikipedia of the car and its history.

Did you know the 1968 Corvette was patterned after the Mako Shark II concept car? You do now.

“I scare my friends, that’s for sure,” she said about her vast knowledge. “They say I need a hobby. I say I got one.”

Greg Csernai covers up the engine on his supercharged 1967 Ford Mustang as the rain comes down Friday along Woodward in Pontiac.

Greg Csernai covers up the engine on his supercharged 1967 Ford Mustang as the rain comes down Friday along Woodward in Pontiac. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News

Besides American muscle, the flotilla of chrome and steel along Woodward on Saturday will feature Mustangs, Chevys, Camaros, Dodges and Firebirds.

Cindy McGraw of Royal Oak spent most of Friday driving up and down Woodward and will do so even longer on Saturday. She loves to show off her blue 1965 Chevrolet.

Like Raymond and her Corvette, McGraw described a bond with Chevrolet that rivals the one she has with her husband.

Then again, he’s a big fan of Chevrolet, too, so the marriage is a happy one.

“We’re big fans, but I might be a little bit more,” she said about the car. “We love to meet other people who share the same love, and just talk about it.”

Raymond and McGraw won’t be the only roosters of the roadway showing off their stuff on Saturday. There will be plenty more tail fins, exposed engines, oversized grills, suicide doors, scoops and spoilers

It’s only natural that Shay Stephenson of Marlette has a thing about cars. After all, he’s a mechanic.

Stephenson was showing off a sky-blue 1966 Dodge Charger but he knows about a lot more than that. Watching the procession of cars in Ferndale, he called out the make and years of cars as they passed by.

It’s an annual sport for him. Once in a while, he’s stymied by a passing vehicle but, usually, he knows them all.

“I’ve worked on a lot of them over the years,” he said. “It’s pretty hard to trick me up but it happens once in a while.”

Michael and Leanne Babbage came all the way from Australia to attend the Dream Cruise with the Woodward Tri Five Cruisers — for the fifth time since 2012.

Michael and Leanne Babbage came all the way from Australia to attend the Dream Cruise with the Woodward Tri Five Cruisers — for the fifth time since 2012. Henry Payne, The Detroit News

Since its debut in 1995, the Cruise has attracted classic car owners and fans from around Michigan, the Midwest, the country and even other continents.

Take Leanne and Michael Babbage. This weekend’s M1 extravaganza is the sixth time they’ve journeyed from their home in Surfer’s Paradise, Australia, to be part of the festivities on Woodward.

“There is nothing else in the world like the Dream Cruise,” said Leanne Babbage.

Back home in Queensland state, the couple are minor celebrities in the hot rod world with a gorgeous 1957 Chevy Bel Air Sport Coupe that has graced magazine covers and won awards. Leanne even competes with it on the drag strip. The biggest classic car show in Queensland?

“The Cooly Rocks On Festival on the Gold Coast is the biggest event we have with 1,400 cars,” said Michael. “The first year we came to the Woodward Dream Cruise in 2012 there were 40,000 cars and 1.2 million people.”

They were addicted and have come back five times since, including this year. Naturally, they’ve hooked up with the Woodward Tri Five Cruisers — a local club founded by Roger Posey that celebrates Chevrolets from 1955-57, an era in which the GM brand made big strides in engine engineering. Some 46 Tri Fives from all over the country are gathering this weekend in Memorial Park at 13 Mile and Woodward.

“Our countries share a passion for big horsepower V-8s,” said Michael, noting that GM produced muscle cars under the Holden brand name in Australia for years. “We have a lot of space in Australia like the U.S., and you can really put your foot down.”

Back home, the Babbages have a garage full of classics, including a 1959 Cadillac, 1973 Chevy Camaro, and 1973 Pontiac Firebird. But the cost of shipping one of them to Michigan’s Cruise (about $8,000 roundtrip) is prohibitive, so they ride Woodward in other Tri-Five members’ Chevys.

“One year, we rented a Mustang, but it was hard to get all our luggage into it,” Leanne said with a laugh. This being wintertime Down Under, the Babbages take an extended vacation in Detroit, Las Vegas and anywhere else they can ogle V-8s.

In Birmingham, as a parade of Ford GT supercars rumbled past Friday morning, Doug Newhouse, 63, looked up from the T-shirt stand at Maple and Woodward that was already doing brisk business.

Newhouse and his wife, Laurie, came all the way from Holland in their beautiful Meyer Manx Dune Buggy. The Buggy’s flat-4 Volkswagen engine can’t compete with the Ford GT’s for visceral thrills — but the GTs can’t climb sand dunes.

“Oh, yeah, we’ve had our Buggy in their natural habitat on the Silver Lake Dunes,” said Doug, referring to the famed sand park that overlooks Lake Michigan. “We’ve driven this thing everywhere.”

Cruise veterans, they come here every year in their original Manx that they bought years ago on a whim from California. The Buggy shares their classic car attention with a 1941 street rod.

fdonnelly@detroitnews.com

hpayne@detroitnews.com

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