Six days of cruisin’: What to look for as the Woodward Dream Cruise kicks into high gear

Posted by Talbot Payne on August 17, 2022

Bloomfield Hills — Dream Cruise week started rolling Monday as cruisers were already lining Woodward Avenue with their hoods up and lawn chair legs down.

Culminating in the 27th official Woodward Dream Cruise on Saturday, the auto-palooza will have it all, from hot rods to Oscar Mayer hot dog cars and gas guzzling V8s to Dodge’s first electron-guzzling, electric muscle car. There will be car shows and car parades and Fords and Chevys. With Mother Nature promising sunny, low-80s, Pure Michigan days, an expected 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars will descend on a 16-mile stretch of southeast Michigan’s most famous street from Ferndale to Pontiac.

Bob Geib, 68, from Warren with his 1956 Chevy Bel Air, left, and Tom Geloneck, 78, with his 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix.

Tom Geloneck, 78, was at the corner of Square Lake and Woodward at 7:30 a.m. with the hood up on his gorgeous 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix stuffed with a three-carb, 427-cubic-inch V8 with four on the floor.

He and his St. Clair Shores posse have been cruisin’ since the inaugural 1995 event. Well, his pal Terry King, 71, of Chesterfield may have missed one.

“I missed 1996 because my daughter got married on that Saturday,” smiled the owner of a yellow 1973 Camaro Z28 with a wicked, 383-cube V-8 under the bonnet. “I don’t know how she thought that was a good weekend.”

Terry King, 71, of Chesterfield, right, and his yellow 1973 Camaro Z28, foreground, and Martin Peters, 68, of Warren with his 1956 Chevy Nomad.

A little over a mile north of Square Lake in Pontiac, Dodge has taken over the M1 Concourse Event Center to introduce “Speed Week” — a showcase for its new vehicle lineup.

Monday night, Stellantis NV’s performance brand announced plans to wind down production of two of the Cruise’s most revered muscle cars — the V8-powered Challenger coupe and Charger sedan — which will end production in late 2023. On Tuesday, the brand will roll out a new Hornet SUV, followed by Wednesday’s historic debut of Dodge’s first electric muscle car.

The Electric Age promises to be a controversial topic on the Woodward strip, where V8s are king.

“I’ll never own an EV,” said Martin Peters, 66, another member of the St. Clair Shores group who drove his V8-powered 1956 Chevy Nomad to Woodward on Monday. “I just bought a 2019 Ford Flex. If I bought a Ford Mustang, it wouldn’t be an electric Mach-E — it would be a real one with a V8 in it.”

Further down Woodward in a parking lot next to Royal Oak’s abandoned Art Van furniture store, Christina Kowalenko, 54, of Troy said electric cars leave her cold. “Our electric grid can’t handle what we have now,” said the car fan who has been coming to the Cruise since 1995. “They’re inconvenient to charge on the road, and it’s expensive to put a charging station in your house.”

Christina Kowalenko, 54, of Troy with her 1968 Dodge Dart GTS (foreground) and Daren Borza, 57, with his 1969 Plymouth Barracuda convertible Monday in Royal Oak.

More her speed is the striking red 1968 Dodge Dart GTS convertible she parked on Woodward. Daren Borza, 57, from Warren parked his topless ’69 Plymouth Barracuda next to Kowalenko’s steed.

A dealer of Mopar parts with Mancini Racing, Borza is intrigued by electric power but skeptical that EVs will be more than a niche vehicle even as governments try to regulate internal combustion engines out of existence over the next decade.

Speaking of regulation, the convertible pair were among the few Cruisers parked in Royal Oak — notorious among the Dream Cruise’s nine jurisdictions for its heavy-handed permitting during Cruise week. Come Saturday, the epicenter of the Cruise will be Memorial Park at 13 Mile and Woodward — its grassy lawn littered with car clubs.

Jerry Franchi cleans the windows on his 1960 Pontiac Bonneville as his friend John Bertolone watches the classic cars cruise by on Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak, August 15, 2022.

But this Monday it is quiet — as is the dealership on its north flank, which will house Chevrolet’s latest cars and trucks on Saturday. As the Woodward traffic jam grows, Ford will set up shop Saturday in Royal Oak at Kruse & Muer at the corner of Woodward and Catalpa — filling the restaurant’s parking lot with its latest hardware. Ford has made news here in the past with Mustang dragsters and Bronco off-road racers, but this year is expected to bring a lower profile.

“We avoid Royal Oak,” said Chesterfield’s King, though he admits Cruisers in general are better-behaved since the early days. “One year I hooked up a hose to a donut shop in Royal Oak so cars could do burnouts. I felt a tap on the shoulder and a police officer said I better put the hose away unless I wanted to pay for new asphalt.”

Joe Payne, left, sits in front of his 1948 Oldsmobile 98 convertible next to Dale Graves and his 1964 Corvette as classic cars cruise by on Woodward Avenue, in Royal Oak, August 15, 2022.

When Dodge is done with its product unveils at M1, the car club will put on its own event Friday. The 2nd annual Woodward Dream Show Presented by Comerica Bank will show off the “best of the best” cruise cars, including the debut of a modified ’66 Lincoln Coupe by revered Detroit body-shop Mobsteel to celebrate the brand’s 100th birthday.

The 87-acre facility has become a focus of car enthusiasts since its opening in 2016. The Dream Show is an event within the Cruise event with live music, 1,000 shaded seats and free admission for kids.

The Dream Show boasts more than 600 jaw-dropping cars in 13 juried classes. In addition to the Mobsteel reveal, Dream Show attractions include rides around Champion Motor Speedway, a historic Hudson Hornet, 1970 Challenger Black Ghost, 50 copies of the 1932 Ford “Deuce” on its 90th anniversary, and 100 Corvettes.

If that’s not enough Corvettes for you, then come out to Woodward at 7 p.m. Wednesday, when more than 500 samples of Chevy’s iconic muscle car will roll out of Birmingham’s Doubletree Hotel parking lot and tour the strip for the Woodward Drive2EndHunger.

“It’s quite a sight. Over 500 Corvettes from all eight generations rolling down Woodward,” said Ken Lingenfelter of Lingenfelter Engineering, who helps sponsor the event.

Kicking off three days of Metro Detroit festivities, the Corvette gathering supports the Open Hands Food Pantry in Royal Oak — the terminus of Wednesday’s Corvette parade.

Official Dream Cruise events kick off Friday in Ferndale with a 5 p.m. ribbon cutting, Emergency Vehicle Show and Light ‘n’ Sirens Cruise. Ferndale is anchored by Mustang Alley, the Cruise’s largest car show featuring every generation of the iconic pony car — and its Mach-E EV stablemate.

Other community events along the strip include a Berkley classic car parade and Pontiac Classic Car Show in Pontiac on Friday, then a Saturday Ford Bronco Show in Pleasant Ridge. Find more information at the Dream Cruise’s official website: http://www.woodwarddreamcruise.com.

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

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