Cashing In: Woodward Dream Cruise gets new name originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Event Alert: January Calendar of Automotive Events

Event Alert: January Calendar of Automotive Events originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 21 Dec 2008 15:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Event Alert: December Calendar of Automotive Events

Event Alert: December Calendar of Automotive Events originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 29 Nov 2008 20:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Event Alert: November calendar of automotive events

Event Alert: November calendar of automotive events originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 02 Nov 2008 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Will the Nav direct you to a coffee joint? New Volvo safety systems originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 10:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

VIDEO: Live from Woodward, the video montage originally appeared on Autoblog on Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gallery: Gratiot Cruise Imports

Gallery: Gratiot Cruise odds and ends

Autoblog takes on Gratiot: Imports, odds, and ends originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Click the image above to view the high-resolution Gratiot Oldies pics

With the success of the Woodward Dream Cruise over the past 10+ years, Michigan has earned the designation of "World's cruising destination." To many, Woodward makes sense since it is the oldest thoroughfare in the Motor City, but for five generations of Michigan east-siders, Gratiot was the original cruising hot-spot. My grandfather, dad and I all headed for the avenue named after Fort Gratiot, looking for young ladies or trouble, and usually striking out with both. Tuners have been hitting the scene since before any of the Autoblogers were born, with everything from forced induction to louvers, ground effect lighting, or mag wheels. Since it is southeast Michigan, most of the cars are of domestic nature, but in recent years import tuners have also had their time in the spotlight.

To understand the sheer volume of classic cars in the southeast Michigan area, this past weekend there were two massive classic car shows, plus parking lots full of reconditioned metal in various cruiser hot-spots like Eddie's Drive-In and a local bowling alley. Cars from the '30s-'50s started the classic car craze, and there were plenty to see on Gratiot avenue. Some were a work in progress, but others were highly polished, mobile history with chrome and fins-a-blazing. We were able to grab quite a few shots of these beauties, and they're available in the huge high-resolution gallery below. Make sure to tell us which vehicle you thought was the best. Enjoy!

Gallery: Gratiot cruise oldies

All photos Copyright (C)2007 Chris Shunk / Weblogs, Inc.

Woodward cruise tuneup: Hundreds of cars line Michigan's Gratiot Ave. originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

It's no record, but 13 Paganis is still epicly cool originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:23:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Talk about a piece of history. On eBay is the last of the Mellow Yello Chevy Luminas from Days of Thunder. Before Katie and TomKat, before Mission Impossible, before Tom thought it was okay to jump up and down on couches with Oprah, back when Tom still made sense to most of us, there was Days of Thunder -- arguably the first movie to make NASCAR a mass market proposition. Days of Thunder is also where Tom met Nicole Kidman. The seller says this is the car used for closeups, documented by Hendrick Motorsports (which prepared the cars for the film) and that Tom actually sat in its seat and used its steering wheel. The press release listed with the sale indicates that the car has 650 HP. The seller doesn't mention that, but really -- it's Tom, it's Nicole, it's NASCAR, it was the best of times. Need we say more?

[Source: eBay]

eBay Find of the Day: Days of Thunder Mellow Yellow #51 originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 May 2007 19:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

On a Saturday in August every year, more than 1.5 million people and 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, exotics and collector cars descend on Detroit for the Woodward Dream Cruise. The Cruise is a 12-hour petrol-powered ode to 50s and 60s and the days when Woodward Avenue -- the Boulevard of Dreams! -- was the heart of Cruising, USA. Now in it's 12th year, the entire cruise and the satellite events that surround it during the weekend are being protested by a 63-year-old retired schoolteacher named Joellen Gilchrist.

Her complaint is that the Cruise is environmentally unfriendly, and her protest is part of the Step It Up campaign that has an admirable goal -- to convince Congress to reduce carbon emissions by 80% in time for 2050 -- that targets "the world's largest one-day celebration of car culture." The Cruise features vehicles from before the passage of the Clean Air Act, so they aren't sterling examples of eco-friendly motororing. But as AutoblogGreen rightly points out, most of the vehicles in the Cruise don't get many miles outside of events like the Cruise and the random joyride. While she aims to keep her protest friendly, even humorous, it might make more sense if she simply protested the commuters headed to and from work every day. This kind of enthusiast event, however, provides a target that will be sure to get some attention.

Intriguingly, even The Sierra Club has remained on the sidelines. The Club hosts a Green Cruise the weekend before -- sans motorized appliances -- and the folks who don't like the cruise simply spend the weekend out of town.

[Source: Detroit Free Press via AutoblogGreen]

Kill the Dream Cruise! Retired teacher wants to end Woodward's fun run originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.