The Woodward Dream Cruise is one of the biggest events in Michigan all year, with 1.2 million people attending and over 40,000 hot rods, exotics, antiques and oddities coming from near and far to one of the world's most storied roads. Yet each year businesses on the cruise route complain that the annual event actually hurts their bottom line. It isn't so much the weekend that kills profits as it is the fact that cruisers plug up Woodward for the entire week before the big cruise on Saturday.
Organizers of the big event may have helped these businesses by transforming the Woodward-centric cruise into a nine day mega-event that spans into the city of Detroit and other surrounding areas. Some of the new events includes a low-rider competition to kick off the event on August 8 to an AutoblogGreen-friendly green car show, motorcycle show, and a Model T event. Sprinkling cruise events around southeast Michigan will give traveling cruisers a better reason to turn their long cruise weekend into a week-long vacation, which will be great for the ailing Michigan economy, as well. With an event as popular as the Dream Cruise, it's a wonder that it took nearly 15 years for local business leaders to capitalize on the event in any meaningful way. We'll be sure to hit as many events as we possibly can, with plenty of pictures and videos for those of you that don't plan on heading into the mitten state.
The Woodward Dream Cruise is right around the corner on this Saturday, but Chevy is arriving early with its 2008 HHR SS model that's just been revealed. Of course, we knew an SS version of the HHR was percolating thanks to countless spy photos of development mules testing here and on the Nurburgring in Germany. Nevertheless, 260 horsepower in a tall wagon is pretty exciting, especially one that goes 0-60 in 6.3 seconds and covers the quarter-mile in 14.8 seconds at 98.5 mph.
Those ponies come from the same 2.0L turbocharged and intercooled direct inject Ecotec four-cylinder found in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Redline. Here it's mated to a GM Powertrain Sweden F35 five-speed manual transmission or 4T45 four-speed, the latter of which would be heresy to consider unless you fancy yourself a weenie. The FE5 sport suspension, as alluded to above, was tuned on the Ring in Germany and enables the HHR SS to achieve an impressive .86 g. Those 18-inch polished aluminum wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport P225/45R18 tires probably help, too.
The aero bits added do much to convince us the SS can hustle, and include new front and rear fascias, rocker moldings, body-colored bits, mesh grille and SS badging all over. Inside resides a pair of deep bucket sport seats with substantial bolsters, a boost gauge mounted on the A-pillar, smaller diameter steering wheel and a manual shifter mounted higher and farther forward. Check out Chevy's many press releases on the 2008 HHR SS after the jump, and view 24 high-res pics of the vehicle in the gallery below.
Looks like everyone from the automotive press was in attendance at the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise, as we found galleries galore of Dream Cruisers creeping up and down Woodward last Saturday. Readers were also snapping pics like silly, as evident by the Flickr galleries we ran across. If you were curious about what the inside of the Drinkopolis bus looks like, check out edheil's Flickr set. If you find any more galleries, let us know in the comments and we'll add them to the list.
In addition to classic, exotic, and muscle cars inching up and down Woodward Avenue this weekend, there were also vehicles that defy discription and brought a smile to the face of everyone they passed. Take this one, for instance. We saw the Metro hot-rod cruising the avenue and finally caught it parked, but sans owner. The Geo Metro's stock three-cylinder motor has been replaced with a more potent mill and rear-wheel drive drivetrain.
Follow the jump for a full gallery of funny cars and shots from the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise, along with our own commentary in some cases. We expect your commentary and captions to fill up the comments section soon after. Enjoy.
There were so many sights that caught our eye this weekend at the Woodward Dream Cruise, so we've assembled a gallery of our favorite detail shots for you. We wanted to show off some of the impeccable craftsmanship on the vehicles we came across, as well as show you what it's like to traverse Woodward Ave. amidst 1.5 million other car enthusiasts. If you've never attended the Woodward Dream Cruise, we hope these pictures will convince you to add it to your calendar for next year. A full gallery of detail shots from the Woodward Dream Cruise can be found after the jump.
So we've been cruising up and down Woodward Ave. for over an hour now and what we've witnessed is a plethora of soggy Dream Cruisers. The picture above says it all, as we know that most Cruisers would never dream of driving in the rain on any other day... except today. The 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise officially kicked off at 9 AM today and it's been raining almost non-stop ever since. While the showers do turn off and on unexpectedly, it's been a damp day so far to say the least. As you can see from our gallery after the jump, we did manage to snap a few pics of the action and we plan to hang around until the sun comes out... if the sun comes. If not, we're going to see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and then reevaluate our situation.
Chrysler introducing a special edition PT Cruiser the week before the Woodward Dream Cruise has become an annual event. This year the brand rolled out the PT Cruiser Pacific Coast Highway Edition, the twelfth factory-customized PT Cruiser in the model's history. This new special edition is powered by the company's 2.4-liter four-cylinder that produces 150 hp and returns 29 mpg on the highway, perfect Chrysler says for cruising down scenic routes like the storied Pacific Coast Highway.
Based on the 2007 PT Cruiser Touring, the PCH Edition is dipped in Ocean Blue paint and rolls on platinum-clad 17-inch wheels. Chrome trim dots the exterior on the grille, door handles, side molding and exhaust tip. A matching Ocean Blue spoiler also sits atop the vehicle's hatch. The two-tone interior is done in Slate Gray and Paste Slate Gray, while the seats get Ocean Blue Alias inserts that visually links them with the exterior color.
Chrysler's special edition PT Cruisers are usually an exercise in color coordination more than mechanical upgrades, and this year's edition is no different. The PCH Edition PT Cruiser will go on sale later this summer in limited production and retail for $20,735 with a manual and $21,570 with an automatic.
(More pics and Chrysler's full press release can be found after the jump.)
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