Woodward 2011

It looks like Jeep and Activision Publishing are continuing their successful partnership, placing battlefield-ready Wranglers in the Call of Duty video game series and selling a real-life version to gamers who wish to shuttle themselves to and fro in rough-and-tumble off-road-ready opulence.

If the muscle car era started in 1964, only to be reinvigorated in the last decade or so, we need a tidy way to label all those memorable cars that came before or don't have the massive cubic inch engines needed to qualify for the muscle category. We'll just call 'em classics.

What separates an old car from a classic? In many cases, not a lot. Beautiful sheet metal, a legendary powertrain or world-class performance could make a world of difference, and so can attention to detail.

When we think Woodward Dream Cruise, thoughts of muscle cars and golden oldies pass between our ears. But while we're all about the painstakingly restored classics, there is always a little room in our hearts for anything emanating from the land of misfit rides.

In case you hadn't noticed, Detroit is smack dab in the middle of America, and what is America if not welcoming? While the Woodward Dream Cruise may celebrate the heyday of The Motor City's own brand of classic machinery, there's a good bit of foreign influence as well.