The Biggest Classic Car Show In The World.
The Beginning:
Since 1995, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise (WDC) has been a huge success. Every year people flock to the Motor City to participate with, or view, the thousands of classic cars; from stock cars to hot rods, and from vintage vehicles to modern automobiles, you’ll see it all along Woodward Avenue, the location of America’s first mile of concrete-paved roadway.
Detroit’s Woodward Dream Cruise was originally intended as a one-off event, designated as a fund-raising activity for the purpose of financing a much needed soccer field for a local Detroit suburb. They expected around 20,000 spectators; they got 250,000, with over 40,000 participating vehicles. It was so popular they decided to make it an annual event.
According to the official Dream Cruise website, the purpose of the annual celebration is “to relive and recreate the nostalgic heydays of the 50s and 60s, when youth, music and Motor City steel roamed Woodward Avenue, America’s first highway. Today, the Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day automotive event.”
My Dream Cruise Experience
In 1996, it was my good fortune to be working at a small retail store located on Woodward Ave. during the second WDC. We had front row seats for the whole event, with many show-cars parked along the block where I worked. Business was dead that Saturday due to the traffic congestion, so we just placed a few chairs in front of the store and enjoyed the parade of cars.
The store I worked at was called Naked Furniture, it was a tiny location where we sold unstained or custom-stained pine and oak furniture. Our custom shop/warehouse was 20 times the size of the store, and we did a lot of business, but not that day. We were lucky, we had a refrigerator, air-conditioning, a bathroom, and we were getting paid to be there.
I spent the whole day watching cars roll by, many burning rubber and revving their engines. Since there was nowhere to park, we only had one customer that day. She was cute, so I asked her if I could take a picture (below). She was a nice lady and hung out with us for a while, making the day that much better.
The Event
As I said earlier, there were cars on display, parked in spots that would normally be filled with customers. At that time, store owners were not prepared for the tsunami of cars flooding the street in front of their businesses. In later years, as the event planners took more control, there were more designated parking areas and shuttle services available.
There were many people on the street, checking out all the cool cars parked along the route, while others spent the day driving slowly along Woodward with all the classic cars. The people below told me it took them two hours to go one mile. Nowadays, the event planners request those not driving a classic car to “stay out of the two right lanes nearest to the curb.”
Everybody got in on the action, even Dad’s in their family car. As you can see in the photo below, if you were able to burn-rubber, you did, you didn’t necessarily need to be driving a classic muscle car. In today’s WDC you are not allowed to ‘peel-out’ or perform ‘jackrabbit starts’, they’ve toned it down from the freewheeling days of the early Dream Cruise events.
Without a doubt, today’s WDC is more regulated and much safer than the parade of cars I witnessed 28 years ago. Judging from the image above, that’s probably a good idea. The proximity of children to these powerful, and sometimes reckless displays, would be frowned upon by some of today’s overprotective parents.
Back then there was a police presence, but what could they do? The Oakland County Sheriff shown above certainly wasn’t going to ‘chase’ anybody on those crowded streets. Today they use dogs, drones, traffic control cameras, and officers on horse back to monitor and control the crowds.
The variety of automobiles cruising down Woodward is impressive. There can be several dozen classic cars on any city block at one time. Where else can you see such a display?
You’ll see many four-wheeled works of art.
Vehicles from past to the present.
You just never know what might just roll by.
Custom vehicles galore.
As in all major events, there are people who are more into people-watching than the actual event itself. Judging by his wide-eyed enthusiasm, I’d say my co-worker, on the left, was really into people-watching that day. In fact, I’m not sure he saw any cars.
On Reflection:
Looking back, I still feel fortunate to have witnessed the second annual Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit. It was a unique experience. Officially The WDC happens every year on the 3rd Saturday of August from 9a to 9p. Truth is, it’s really a three day event.
I think everyone who has a love for classic muscle cars built in the 1960’s & 1970’s should attend the WDC experience at least once in your life; your face might hurt a little by the end of the day from all that smiling, but you‘ll be glad you were there.
Thanks for reading my article.
Info Sources: In addition to my personal experience, most ‘researched’ information was gathered from the websites noted below and various Google searches.
- To learn more about Detroit’s Woodward Dream Cruise visit the official WDC website.
- Visit the WDC FAQ page on the Dream Cruise website for common questions about attending the event.
- For more info about the history of Woodward Avenue visit this Wikipedia page.
- *Public Domain WikiMedia image used with permission via Creative Commons License BY-SA 3.0 Deed and/or BY-SA 4.0 Deed
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