Payne: Cruising Woodward with the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan

Posted by Talbot Payne on August 21, 2021

Pontiac — It was surely the stealthiest Woodward car club cruise ever.

The Tesla Owners Club of Michigan made its first official Dream Cruise tour Wednesday night, following in the tracks of countless car clubs before it: Corvette, Mustang, Viper, Cadillac, Trans Am and many more.

I was in the middle of it, the owner of a 2019 Tesla Model 3 Performance. I have been in other club cruises — Vipers, Mustangs — but never one like this. There was no earth-shaking revving of V-8 engines. No ear-piercing, smoky burnouts, no popping of clutches. Just an eerie silence as a smorgasbord of 40 battery-powered Teslas cruised through Pontiac/Birmingham/Royal Oak alongside their muscle-car peers while thousands of car fans looked on from lawn chairs.

Whether consumers widely adopt EVs is an open question, but Tesla has earned its place as an all-American, dream-cruisin’ head-turner.

How different was the experience? It’s the first club cruise I’ve driven autonomously. With my Model 3 in Autopilot, I could safely car-and-people-watch down Metro Detroit’s main street while the system kept a cocoon around me. Eye candy was everywhere from Challengers to flame-painted Camaros to a Ferrari 488.

And I was surrounded by Teslas as diverse as their drivers. Contrary to the EV stereotype of tree-huggers, Tesla owners are young, old, hot rodders, green freaks. It’s the secret sauce that has made the Silicon Valley automaker not just a popular EV maker — but a coveted luxury brand.

The Detroit News Henry Payne joined the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan in his Model 3 for the club's first cruise down Woodward.

The Tesla parade was led by Dan St. John, who drove all the way from Lafayette, Indiana, in his 2010 Roadster — the brand’s first EV.

A veteran of Woodward who grew up in Ferndale, St. John is an enthusiast who drove a ferocious, winged 1970 Plymouth Superbird in his early cruising years. His weirdest ride was a Amphicar, an amphibious vehicle made in Germany and sold in the U.S. from 1961-68.

“It would go 7 knots in the water and 70 mph on the street,” he remembered. “It was the worst vehicle ever made.”

He’s been a Tesla convert since he bought the Roadster in 2010. The wee sportscar — essentially a Lotus Elise chassis propelled by Tesla batteries — seems antiquated compared to my Model 3’s futuristic, iPhone-on-wheels tech. It can’t even use Tesla’s network of superchargers (the Roadster is limited to 240-volt plugs).

“But it is really fun to drive. It was once my daily driver,” St. John said. He’s owned a Model S and Model 3, too.

Before following the Roadster down Woodward, the Tesla faithful met at Dan Markey’s garage at Pontiac’s M1 Concourse car club. Markey is another Detroit motorhead with oil in his veins (he owns a Lotus Evora 400 and his wife a Tran Am) and Tesla in his heart. He’s got a 1,020-horsepower Model S Plaid on order.

Like their gas-powered Cruise peers, Tesla club owners shared stories around Markey’s garage — but with a difference. There were no hoods propped up to show off gleaming valve covers and writhing headers. Instead, owners pulled out their phones to compare notes on the Tesla app or discuss the latest over-the-air updates.

Ex-GM engineer Dick Amacher showed Cliff Olivero his favorite app for finding charging stations. The owner of a Ford Mustang Mach-E (the Blue Oval’s answer to the Model Y) Olivero was the only non-Tesla driver in the group. But his big-screen EV fit right in.

Erin Oldford loves her Tesla Model X. She joined the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan for its first cruise down Woodward.

Erin Oldford of Hartland stole the show with her 2020 Model X.

Teslas are full of “Easter Eggs” like digital whoopie cushions and Solitaire. But unique to the X is a feature that plays the Trans Siberian Orchestra’s “Wizards in Winter” while flapping its gullwing doors. A DeLorean can’t do that.

Shahbaz Pervez’s 2019 Tesla Model 3 put on a show just standing still. The Westland resident had covered his EV with a camouflage pattern, then lowered it 1.5 inches and added sinister front and rear spoilers. As he rolled down Woodward, he looked like he could have won the Roadkill Nights drag races last weekend.

“It’s the coolest car I’ve owned, though I do miss the sound of a V-8 or V-6,” said Pervez, who also has Detroit muscle in his garage in the form of a Dodge Challenger and Dodge Durango.

Not everyone is drawn to Tesla by its big screens or neck-snapping acceleration.

Tesla Owners Club of Michigan President Chris Brigolin bought his first Tesla because he wanted a replacement for his Ford Focus that was easy on the wallet and didn’t require visits to gas stations.

Now piloting a Model Y, he plugs in every night, and shares his passion via his Dirty Tesla YouTube channel (“dirty” because he lives on a dirt road). He formed the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan, which has been sanctioned by the mother ship in Palo Alto, California.

Teslas from the Tesla Owners Club of Michigan surround a Corvette in Birmingham.

While I enjoy taking my 470-horse Performance model to M1 track days, Chris — a self-described techie — is the rare Tesla owner trusted with testing the latest, Beta 9 Full Self-Driving (FSD) version of Autopilot. Check out his YouTube videos.

Maybe was self-driving down Woodward, too.

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

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