Woodward Experiences
Written by Bill Bowman
...If you want to cruise, cruise early or make sure your vehicle can run cool in bumper-to-bumper traffic...
Growing up as a teenager in the 1950’s on the west side of Detroit, Seven Mile and Southfield, and belonging to two car clubs, a couple of times each summer we would hop in my 1955 Chevy Bel Air Convertible, put the top down and cruise over to Woodward Avenue. We would stop at Mavericks and the Totem Pole drive-ins and watch the cars cruise thru. If we had an extra 16 cents for another gallon of gas we headed out Woodward to Teds, Michigan’s first drive-in restaurant, at Square Lake Road.
A normal night on the West side was to cruise Richards, Holiday, or Dipsey Doodle drive-ins or if you were in the racing mood head out to the Northwestern drive-in, find a challenger and head out Northwestern Highway to take care of business. If you wanted to go top end go the other side of Telegraph, but that was out in the country and extremely dark. If it was payday we might stop at the Dawg House for a dog on our way home.
Fast forward 40 years to 1995, when the rumors were that there was going to be a car show in August, with some sort of cruise afterwards on Woodward. My thoughts were why cruise over to Woodward for some new car show when there was a show in Livonia were I lived, so I didn’t go.
Boy, was I surprised when I found out that about 250,000 people showed up and the cruise covered Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak and Birmingham communities. Since then, I have missed only one (due to a family reunion).
In 1996, Michigan Hot Rod Association (MHRA), of which I am a lifetime member, rented the Northwood Shopping Center parking lot in Royal Oak at 13 Mile and Woodward for $1,200 for the day. This area has been known as the epicenter of the cruise and we were able to park 130 of our member’s cars there. We rented this lot for three years, but as the cruise grew, so did the rent. Chrysler Corporation took over the lot and paid a reported $20,000 for the day.
The following year several of our car club members and myself rented a parking lot from a muffler shop in Pontiac, on the north end of the cruise, but were unable to get passes into the Phoenix Center where all the action was.
Next year it was back to Royal Oak to a Ford dealership lot.
For the next several years MHRA was able to rent 100 parking spots from the City of Berkley for $10.00 per car in front of the cemetery at 12 Mile and Woodward. When the city leaders changed, so did the rent. The new city administrators thought the spaces should bring $100.00 per spot, so we were off looking again.
Last year I was out of town and missed the cruise.
This year, 2008, the 14th annual, I have been invited to two different events. One of my cars, a Corvette powered 1932 Ford street rod, will be in a show at Eaton Park at 13 Mile and Woodward. The other car, a 1968 Chevrolet SS-396 El Camino, will be in GM’s Century Cruise that will start at the GM Renaissance Center, downtown Detroit and cruise out Woodward to Birmingham and become part of the GM Exhibit. The Century Cruise is part of the 100th birthday celebration of GM.
Who would of thought that the Woodward Dream Cruise would turn into the largest one day car event in the world, drawing well over a million spectators, and more than 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, customs, collector and special interest vehicles.
From my experience, it really isn’t that important, as a spectator, what location you are in. Just bring a lawn chair, cooler, sit back and watch the cars cruise by.
If you want to cruise, cruise early or make sure your vehicle can run cool in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
The Woodward Dream Cruise Committee has done a great job in making this a trouble free event but there is something about old cars that brings everyone together to have a good time. My favorite statement I hear at the cruise, from old and young, is "my father or grandfather had one just like that, I wish he hadn’t sold it."
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