THE FOLLOWING CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL'S TAKE ON THE WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE--WHICH ISN'T ALL BAD; EVEN IN A RELATIVELY GREENING AMERICA, CARS LIKE THE DREAM CRUISERS STILL REACH INTO PEOPLE'S SOULS
Former Texas oilman George W. Bush is talking about making fuel out of switchgrass. A major oil-and-gas company is trying to convince consumers that its initials stand for "Beyond Petroleum." Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has sworn off his Hummers. What's an old muscle-car guy to do?
All revved up: Each year, spectators line Woodward Avenue to watch the owners of classic muscle cars show off their dream machines.
Many come to this leafy suburb outside Detroit every August for the Woodward Dream Cruise. It's one of the last places on Earth where low fuel economy, high octane and raw horsepower are still celebrated with a rare combination of exuberance and reverence.
Best described as the world's largest rolling muscle-car show, the Dream Cruise has been held on the third Saturday of August for decades. But locals know that it really begins as soon as the snow melts. That's when unabashed muscle-car enthusiasts open up the heated garage and take the tarp off of their 400-horsepower steel chariots. These cars are labors of love for many. They scour eBay and small-town auctions to find them. Viewed more broadly, the cars, with names like Chevelle, Mustang and Hemi 'Cuda, are reminders of the days when Detroit actually made cars with some sense of styling and git-up-and-go under the hood.
Woodward Avenue is the grand boulevard that runs the length of Detroit, from the bombed-out shell of the inner city to suburban Pontiac and beyond. But during the third week in August, the stretch from about Eight Mile Road northward becomes a scene straight out of "American Graffiti," George Lucas's 1973 homage to California's Car Culture and the muscle cars that defined it. There are other classic car shows, but this is the one where car owners come to cruise and be cruised.
MORE
• Eyes on the Road: Columnist Joseph B. White writes about the Woodward Dream Classic
Like Kirk Featherston, 43, of Oxford, Mich., who was here in his orange and black mint-condition 1969 Ford Torino. The car has a 428-cubic-inch Cobra Jet engine that puts out 335 horsepower. Fuel mileage?
"No clue," said Mr. Featherston. "All I know is I need a wallet full of money for the weekend."
Same for Dave Grizzel, 54, of Grand Rapids, Mich. He was here with his 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 and 1972 Oldsmobile 442, both of which are insured for "somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000," he said. The Chevelle is especially nice because it has all original parts and a special Rally Green paint job that was an option that year. The mileage is "terrible" on both, Mr. Grizzel admitted, but he still spends the extra money for $6-a-gallon 104-octane fuel that is sold at some of the gas stations along Woodward just for Dream Cruisers.
While that may sound like a lot, the price of fuel is the last concern here. That's because a lot of these cars have sentimental value for the owners. Like Tom Dault's 1967 Cadillac El Dorado convertible.
"I had a car just like this once and promised myself that I'd own one again," said Mr. Dault, 67, of Chelsea, Mich.
His Caddy is white with red leather interior. He has adorned it with a set of Texas longhorns as a hood ornament, a musical horn, and a front license plate that reads "Boss Hog." It took him a year to find the car on eBay, where he paid $10,000 for it and had it shipped to Michigan from San Diego.
Eunice Allen, 53, of Novi, Mich., bought her 1959 black Ford Thunderbird hardtop in 1992 from a classic car dealer named "T-Bird Ted." The car had no particular sentimental value to her. She simply fell in love with it.
"It was perfect," she said. "I couldn't pass it up."
She's only the car's second owner. The T-Bird, which features a 430-cubic-inch engine and red leather interior, has less than 42,000 original miles on it. Mrs. Allen had the car for sale here for $18,500.
That's not unusual. Many of the cars here have "For Sale" signs on them because the owners know that this is the place to get top dollar for them.
Many advertise that they're "all original," like a 1965 Ford Mustang GT that had just 39,000 miles on it and, according to the original bill of sale, was built in nearby Dearborn on April 22, 1965, and sold to Joseph Errante, who still owns it, on May 7, 1965.
A few of the cars here hadn't yet been restored, like the 1967 Meteor Montcalm S-33 two-door convertible that Adrian Clements had on display. According to Mr. Clements, a member of the Ford Galaxie Club of America, it was just one of four cars built with that trim level and options at Ford's Oakville, Ontario, plant that year. It features a 428-cubic-inch Marauder V-8 engine and four-speed manual transmission. The car is rusted out and badly in need of repair, but it still drew a crowd.
And so it went. I walked about eight miles here, but could have gotten all the material I needed for this story in about a block and a half. It is, by far, the best collection of working classic cars I've ever seen.
The auto makers mistakenly try to have a presence here. Seeing these great cars next to the ovoid schlockmobiles of today only reminds you just how far the industry has fallen. There are a few exceptions. The Corvette is still the best car you can buy for $50,000. And Dodge's new Challenger is a nod to the company's solid muscle-car past. But the new model pales in comparison to the historic ones on display here.
Indeed, what you have to keep reminding yourself as you walk along Woodward Avenue is that these weren't specialty vehicles that Detroit made for car shows and drag racers. These were the cars that Detroit once mass-produced. Our dads drove them to work and our moms took them to the grocery store.
Unfortunately, an afternoon at the Dream Cruise makes it clear that those days are long gone.
Former Texas oilman George W. Bush is talking about making fuel out of switchgrass. A major oil-and-gas company is trying to convince consumers that its initials stand for "Beyond Petroleum." Even Arnold Schwarzenegger has sworn off his Hummers. What's an old muscle-car guy to do?
All revved up: Each year, spectators line Woodward Avenue to watch the owners of classic muscle cars show off their dream machines.
Many come to this leafy suburb outside Detroit every August for the Woodward Dream Cruise. It's one of the last places on Earth where low fuel economy, high octane and raw horsepower are still celebrated with a rare combination of exuberance and reverence.
Best described as the world's largest rolling muscle-car show, the Dream Cruise has been held on the third Saturday of August for decades. But locals know that it really begins as soon as the snow melts. That's when unabashed muscle-car enthusiasts open up the heated garage and take the tarp off of their 400-horsepower steel chariots. These cars are labors of love for many. They scour eBay and small-town auctions to find them. Viewed more broadly, the cars, with names like Chevelle, Mustang and Hemi 'Cuda, are reminders of the days when Detroit actually made cars with some sense of styling and git-up-and-go under the hood.
Woodward Avenue is the grand boulevard that runs the length of Detroit, from the bombed-out shell of the inner city to suburban Pontiac and beyond. But during the third week in August, the stretch from about Eight Mile Road northward becomes a scene straight out of "American Graffiti," George Lucas's 1973 homage to California's Car Culture and the muscle cars that defined it. There are other classic car shows, but this is the one where car owners come to cruise and be cruised.
MORE
• Eyes on the Road: Columnist Joseph B. White writes about the Woodward Dream Classic
Like Kirk Featherston, 43, of Oxford, Mich., who was here in his orange and black mint-condition 1969 Ford Torino. The car has a 428-cubic-inch Cobra Jet engine that puts out 335 horsepower. Fuel mileage?
"No clue," said Mr. Featherston. "All I know is I need a wallet full of money for the weekend."
Same for Dave Grizzel, 54, of Grand Rapids, Mich. He was here with his 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 396 and 1972 Oldsmobile 442, both of which are insured for "somewhere between $30,000 and $40,000," he said. The Chevelle is especially nice because it has all original parts and a special Rally Green paint job that was an option that year. The mileage is "terrible" on both, Mr. Grizzel admitted, but he still spends the extra money for $6-a-gallon 104-octane fuel that is sold at some of the gas stations along Woodward just for Dream Cruisers.
While that may sound like a lot, the price of fuel is the last concern here. That's because a lot of these cars have sentimental value for the owners. Like Tom Dault's 1967 Cadillac El Dorado convertible.
"I had a car just like this once and promised myself that I'd own one again," said Mr. Dault, 67, of Chelsea, Mich.
His Caddy is white with red leather interior. He has adorned it with a set of Texas longhorns as a hood ornament, a musical horn, and a front license plate that reads "Boss Hog." It took him a year to find the car on eBay, where he paid $10,000 for it and had it shipped to Michigan from San Diego.
Eunice Allen, 53, of Novi, Mich., bought her 1959 black Ford Thunderbird hardtop in 1992 from a classic car dealer named "T-Bird Ted." The car had no particular sentimental value to her. She simply fell in love with it.
"It was perfect," she said. "I couldn't pass it up."
She's only the car's second owner. The T-Bird, which features a 430-cubic-inch engine and red leather interior, has less than 42,000 original miles on it. Mrs. Allen had the car for sale here for $18,500.
That's not unusual. Many of the cars here have "For Sale" signs on them because the owners know that this is the place to get top dollar for them.
Many advertise that they're "all original," like a 1965 Ford Mustang GT that had just 39,000 miles on it and, according to the original bill of sale, was built in nearby Dearborn on April 22, 1965, and sold to Joseph Errante, who still owns it, on May 7, 1965.
A few of the cars here hadn't yet been restored, like the 1967 Meteor Montcalm S-33 two-door convertible that Adrian Clements had on display. According to Mr. Clements, a member of the Ford Galaxie Club of America, it was just one of four cars built with that trim level and options at Ford's Oakville, Ontario, plant that year. It features a 428-cubic-inch Marauder V-8 engine and four-speed manual transmission. The car is rusted out and badly in need of repair, but it still drew a crowd.
And so it went. I walked about eight miles here, but could have gotten all the material I needed for this story in about a block and a half. It is, by far, the best collection of working classic cars I've ever seen.
The auto makers mistakenly try to have a presence here. Seeing these great cars next to the ovoid schlockmobiles of today only reminds you just how far the industry has fallen. There are a few exceptions. The Corvette is still the best car you can buy for $50,000. And Dodge's new Challenger is a nod to the company's solid muscle-car past. But the new model pales in comparison to the historic ones on display here.
Indeed, what you have to keep reminding yourself as you walk along Woodward Avenue is that these weren't specialty vehicles that Detroit made for car shows and drag racers. These were the cars that Detroit once mass-produced. Our dads drove them to work and our moms took them to the grocery store.
Unfortunately, an afternoon at the Dream Cruise makes it clear that those days are long gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment