Autoblog

Drake @ Apr 18th 2008 11:33AM

The Dream Cruise started out as a grass-roots event and has grown into an overly promoted, overly corporate sponsored, carnival. For those living in the area, the true Dream Cruise has recently been the Sunday before the official Saturday event. Yes, 6 days prior to the "official" day. On this evening, the corporate tents aren't up, the reserved parking spaces aren't blocked, and the merchandise tents peddling various t-shirts, food, drinks and the like are non-existent. Up until now, the "unofficial" Sunday event gets back to the original intent of the cruise - local guys taking their classic car out for an cruise up and down Woodward, just like the old days.

Ever since the 3rd year they held the "official" event, the Dream Cruise has slowly become such a public spectacle, that possibly 20% of the cars on this stretch of Woodward avenue would be classified as classics. Sure there are lots of old cars on the road, but would you call a 65 VW bug with a 350 Chevy sitting over the front axle, and huge racing slicks in the back a "classic". And then you get the various golf carts with 18 inch knobby tires and some sort of energy drink logo on the side taking up valuable asphalt space. The classic car admirers who attend can be classified into two categories. The respectable enthusiast who plops their lawn chair on the grass along the curb and relishes at the sight of the classic cars slowly driving by them, while the smell of non-emissionized exhaust takes them back to the day when they owned or rode in one of them. The other category are the idiots who get in their modern day SUV, or 90's model Mustang 5.0 with primer and rust accents, and obnoxiously drive along Woodward making lewd comments to the fans and taunting the guy in the beatifully restored '57 Corvette in a burn-out contest. Most of the true classics are parked on the side of the road as the owner doesn't want to drive in bumper to bumper traffic with the said idiots above in their "Down River" summer car.

Obviously, with 10+ years of this annual event, the volunteer organizers (yes, volunteers!) have been looking for a professional outfit to take over the reigns. It appears by the 9-day event mentioned in the article, someone has finally stepped up to the plate. Good for them. I just hope the Sunday "unofficial" cruise still occurs, as that is what it is all about. No sponsors, no merchants, just classic cars and the people who admire, and respect, them for their place in automotive history.