Detroit Woodward Dream Cruise: 2001

[BobR]

Be prepared, this is a long post.

Did anyone else go to this two weeks ago? It was incredible. According to the local newspaper, there were 1.6million people and 75,000 muscle cars within a 10mi stretch of Woodward Avenue! I saw everything from '30s V12 Lincoln convertibles, to Jenson Interceptor IIIs, to Hemi Challengers.

At night, you could go to a secluded stoplight and watch classic musclecars line up and light 'em up. Some burnt rubber through three gears. Maybe there'd be a Camaro Z28/Mustang Boss 302 pair one minute, and a "Goat" Tripower and Hemi 'Cuda the next. At one point, there was a burnout contest between a Mustang Cobra and Camaro SS. I don't remember who won, but there sure was a lot of hollering and cheering going on. The police eventually had to break the gang up, but they all just mover 1/2mi down the road.

There was an entire parking lot devoted to Shelby Cobra 427 replicas, and Dodge had a LeMans Viper set up to be publicly dyno'd. There was also a row of 100+ Triumphs, MGs, and Austin Healeys. Mini Coopers were not in small numbers either (no pun intended). One man had a '60s International garbage truck very nicely restored to original specifications, but under the cab was a highly modified, blown ex-NASCAR mill. This gargantuan truck was literally doing wheelies down Woodward on Saturday.

All three major US automakers had huge displays.
GM had a large exhibit, and brought about 20 concept cars, including two SSRs and a Blazer K5. They also had the Monte Carlo multicolor Brickyard pacecar, some beautiful GTOs and Bonnevilles, and a Corvette Z06 stand. One GTO was restored to be identical to the car in the Beach Boys' "You're so fine my 409".
As I mentioned earlier, Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler also had a gigantic exhibit with at least 50 pristine, Allied-trailered musclecars. They had probably 10 or so concepts - Charger, the new DR, Hemi 300C, the "Big Red" Ram 3500, and a flamed, lowered Hemi '02 Dakota Quadcab. There was a huge tent with all of the 2002 models.
Ford had a smaller exhibit, mainly focusing on the F150 Harley-Davidson edition. They had a cutaway truck, a "ring-the-bell" game (that I beat!), and about 5 Harley racebikes. They probably had a larger display, but I never saw it.

One smaller parking lot was full of Dodge Charger Daytonas, Plymouth Superbirds, Ford Torina Talledegas, and other 1970-season NASCAR warriors. This was one of my favorite areas to "hang out".
There was even a space for Aston Martins, DeTomatso Panteras, and DeLoreans. Most were in very nice condition, but some were roped off so we greasy kids wouldn't smother them in fingerprints (like I would do a thing like that!)

In the parking lot next to Dugan's Irish Pub, there was a BMW Isetta. (For those of you who've never heard of these, they were 1950's experiments with less than twenty HP and a single door on the front. They're smaller than golf carts, and I've been told than Steve Erkel from "Family Matters" drove one. http://www.cqql.net/iz010722p.jpg) This little car had a 100+ HP nitrous-injected VW engine it it, a full roll cage, and drag slicks.

I'll add more as I remember it. (Trust me, there's a LOT left to say about this show...)