Jalopnik: 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise

The Jalopnik Virtual Woodward Dream Cruise Live Picture Gallery

Ray Wert — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 22:59:58 EDT

Click "more" for how to add your photos and to see the gallery...

Be a part of our 2007 "Virtual" Woodward Dream Cruise by adding your very own pictures from your camera phone to our gallery by e-mailing them directly to pictures@jalopnik.com. We'll keep this gallery on top of the page through Saturday night for your classic car pleasure. If you're interested in seeing more cruisin' news — just keep checking the Woodward Dream Cruise tag.

If you're looking for our 2007 Woodward Dream ...

Ray Wert — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:00:00 EDT

If you're looking for our 2007 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage — head on over here.

Hoon Of The Day: Four Minutes Of Woodward Dream Cruise Burnouts

Ray Wert — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:10:44 EDT

Up in Pontiac at the Woodward Avenue loop, there's one spot which is guaranteed to make the ladies scream and the fellas cream — and our tipster John Harmon rocked it for us today, putting four minutes of burnouts together with a little bit of Steve Miller's "Livin' in the USA." But remember, it's all fun and games until the police show up. At least you know one of us is gonna be mad partial to the Spartan flags!

Related:
All our Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Cobra Commander'd Be Proud -- Snakes On A Dream Cruise

Ray Wert — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 12:15:00 EDT

Downtown Birmingham was chock full of fun during this weekends Woodward Dream Cruise, whether it was two of the Big Three getting their exnibitionist shwerve on or just sitting back with burgers from Hunter House — fun was had by the tens of thousands. But if you looked closely between the two tall apartment buildings towering over the corner of Woodward Ave. and South Old Woodward, you'd see something really cool — the Great Lakes Cobra Club annual meet, one of the largest showings of Cobras anywhere with usually over 80 replicas in attendance — and even a couple of real ones! Although this year the morning rain, as well as a lack of parking, cut numbers to around 60, it was still an impressive sight seeing all of Carroll Shelby's Ford V8 masterpieces sitting there in the summer sun of the late afternoon.

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Where's The Donuts, BMW Isetta?

Ray Wert — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 09:21:16 EDT

Well, another year — another Dream Cruise is over. But fear not, fans of the classic cruisers, we got so much fun stuff from this years Dream Cruise, we're gonna be dropping it like it's hot over the next day or two just to remind you of all the fun we had. Like spotting this modified BMW Isetta. And although we didn't get to see it happen, we just know this bad boy was built to make donuts. So if you happen to be the owner of this funny car, let us know the next time you want to rip loose in a Kroger parking lot. [Thanks to our Woodward-based bad-ass, wohho on this one!]

Related:
All our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Wert's All About The Party

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 19:39:42 EDT

So, we're about to end our ~~main~~ sober coverage of the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise. We hope you've enjoyed the ride — we know we have. The above photo is a "representation" of the type of fun you too could be having at next year's Dream Cruise — so by all means, stop by...next year. Not now. The party's full, and if you haven't been paying attention, you'll have to go back to the start to see all the fun we've had. We'll have some leftovers tomorrow though, so stop on by.

But also mucho thanks to James, wohho, Jon, and all the rest of Jalopnik Team Party Crash! Salut!

Related:
All of our smoking hot 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: This V-Dub Low-Ri-Der Rides a Little Lower

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:46:01 EDT

This may be the coolest VW minibus in the history of the world — and look, you saw it here — right after we saw it on Woodward Avenue the other night. Of course then we had to encode it and put it up on YouTube. But like, right after that — it was right here for you to see.

Related:
All of sweaty, hot and rain-drenched 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: The Chrysler Group Wants To Ram The Dream Cruise Down Your Throat

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:23:08 EDT

We covered the FoMoCo and General Dream Cruise exhibits yesterday, and now it's the German-American hybrids turn — and they want to prove, through sheer will — that they're the biggest and baddest of them all. Aww...isn't that just adorable? See for yourself. Of course if you decide not to look, Dodge has told us the "Raminator" will kill this small boy. Feel free to let his blood be on your hands. [Big Thanks to wohho for the photo work!]

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Wert'll Give You $10 To Touch Your Ferrari Enzo

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 13:43:26 EDT

Yet again, it's not just the classic cars that hit up the Woodward Dream Cruise — sometimes it's the insta-classics — like the Ferrari Enzo (no Stefan, you can't ride in it — we don't care what Dieter said). This million-dollar plus Ferrari is one of only two in Michigan, with the other belonging to former Red Wing Sergei Federov (he still owns a house here) — and we were just lucky enough our camera-stud James was quick enough to notice it while we were typing furiously away on our laptop at the Caribou Coffee between 13 Mile and 14 Mile on Woodward. All we've got to say to Tom Celani, owner of Motor City Harley-Davidson and this gorgeous Ferrari is, dude, just let us touch it. Please.

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Jay Leno's Tank Car Takes Woodward Avenue By Storm

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 13:16:14 EDT

The rains couldn't keep Leno's Tank Car from exhibition at the Woodward Dream Cruise, but the boys at Bosch were kind enough to drop a tent over it to make sure no damage would be done to the one-of-a-kind engine on wheels by the not-so-much torrential downpour. If y'all remember, his 9500-lb. hot rod's humongous V12 tank engine (1792 ci) was merely naturally aspirated, so Gale Banks and the boys at Bosch decided to fit the sucker with some twin-turbo action. The resulting 1600 hp and 3000 lb.-ft torque is nothing less than epic — but we'll let you judge that for yourself.

The Muscle Car Wars Continue! Top Chevy Man Ed Peper Thinks Beating Dodge, Ford To Market With The Camaro's "Very Important"

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 11:15:40 EDT

At the little GM soiree at Athens Coney Island last night, we got a few moments with Chevy's general manager, Ed Peper. We had only one question for Ed — how important is it gonna be to beat the competition to market with the Camaro? Ed had one answer — "It's very important." So what's that mean for the Camaro-loving enthusiast crowd? We don't know 'cause our camera ran out of memory. D'oh!

Related:
More Muscle Car Wars; 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Danger! Blogging While Wet!

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 10:40:00 EDT

We've walked, like the postal service, through rain and wind and a lack of adequate sidewalks, down Woodward Avenue from where we filed our initial reports at the Birmingham Starbucks at 15 Mile. So what's happened in the interim two hours? Two things. The first is that it's fucking wet outside. The second thing is that although we're inside the fine Caribou Coffee between 14 Mile and 13 Mile, we're fucking soaked. As we made the one and a half-mile trek down Woodward Avenue, the rain didn't let up (it actually intensified from spittin' to heavy drizzle) and there was only one thought going through our minds — when are we gonna see the hot chicks on hot classic cars. Well...

...we weren't able to find any of that yet. So instead, we're going to spend an hour or so while the weather gods make up their minds, posting some of the best and brightest we came across in our Team Jalopnik Party Crashing over the past couple of days. So sit back, relax, and we'll dry out.

Related:
All our wet n' wooly coverage of the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Scion's A Dead Car Walking!

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:58:28 EDT

Are we the only ones who find it funny that the Toyota bargain brand, Scion, not only has shown up at this motown mecca of mechanized 'merican transportation, but that its Woodward Dream Cruise outpost is at a Funeral Home? Just curious if anyone else is giggling a little.

Related:
More Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: GM's Rick Wagoner Talks Dream Cruise

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:00:00 EDT

We had the opportunity to hit up a GM event for a short while last night at Athens Coney Island right along M-1 in Royal Oak. We've got a few things we'll be showing you in a bit — but what we've got spun up above so far is all about Rick. You see, GM's Rick Wagoner knows all about the Dream Cruise — and according to him — GM knows all about using the Dream Cruise as a marketing tool. That makes sense...it's such a lovely time to talk about cars built by GM, Ford and Chrysler over the past 40 years — a chance to remind people of all of those positive experiences they had back in the day when cars drove big, fins were even bigger...really, any way possible they can find to tug on heart strings a bit to push sales. Both GM and Chrysler seem to understand this — they're pushing the msucle cars baby, and they want the two million plus attendees to know it (in case you're wondering what we're talking about — check through all of our coverage of this week's beginning of the muscle car wars). But we feel like one of the automakers isn't playing along...which one is it? Wait...it's on the tip of our tongue...it's...

...FoMoCo! Thanks Bill — we were all set to start up a "Renaissance of the Big Three" story arc — and you frigging had to go and kill it by idling all those plants. That Ford — such buzz kills.

Related:
All of our steamin' hot 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Cruise: Cruising Come Rain Or Shine, But Parking? That's A Toughie!

Ray Wert — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:07:35 EDT

The two biggest issues at any Dream Cruise are always the potential for rain and the potential inability to find parking. That's one of the reasons we were up at 5:00 AM to hit the streets and byways looking for spots to ditch our ride and make a walking cruise down Woodward Avenue. Just our luck, the rain decided to get up early too. But that's allright, that's ok — thanks to a tip from one Jalopnik reader late in the evening last night — we've got some covered parking, which is where we took the above pic of Woodward Avenue, drenched in rain. It only took us driving through three police barricades to get there, and the use of reasons like "Dream Cruise host committee" (lie), "Press" (obvious lie), "Grand Marshall's little brother" (come on now!). Despite our blatant fibbing, we got into this little alcove of dryness without more sweat than we usually do. However...

...since we'll only have the Wert-mobile there, and we'll be exposed to the elements — it does us little good. However, Chuck and Jerry on the boob-tube this morning (plus a liberal dose of weather.com) tell us the rain's expected to clear up sometime soon this AM — and that's good, cause the thing is — the rain doesn't stop coupes — but it certainly ain't so peachy for our friends sporting drop-tops.

But if you're looking for spots to hit up today along M-1, the Detroit News has the scoop on where to be on this most storied of storied avenues. They point out all the obvs spots — and then check back here throughout the day where we'll be pointing out the not-so-obvs ones — just keep hitting refresh on our Woodward Dream Cruise mini-site. In addition, Spinelli will be providing some love throughout the day (thanks to camera-shy cam-man James LaMoreaux's pics) with something really special. We got a tour of Ed Meurer's amazing car collection out in Farmington Hills yesterday. The man must own more than 100 classic cars, many of which Spinn'll be spinning up for our readers throughout the day. Of course, if the rain continues it may end up being the only thing you see today, other than perhaps a tour of Woodward's best and brightest coffee shops.

Navigating the avenue [Detroit News]

Related:
Our ever-expanding Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

Police, Help! GM's Trying To Eat Athens Coney Island!

Ray Wert — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:39:13 EDT

We're only kidding, kiddies — please stop crying — GM's really not attacking the Woodward Dream Cruise — that's just "Camp GM" over at the Athens Coney Island, and try as we might, the security would not and could not let us into this Woodward Avenue hot-spot. But fear not friends — there was more to see from the hulking General from Detwa — like the "triangle," the triangular-shaped patch of land next to the "555 building" in Birmingham — where Chevy's going to be holding court from now until the sun goes down tomorrow night. Check out our gallery to see where the fun stuff is before you head on out tomorrow.

Related:
Ford's Big Bold Woodward Dream Cruise Exhibit [internal]

Ford's Big Bold Woodward Dream Cruise Exhibit

Ray Wert — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:25:51 EDT

We here at Jalopnik are all about giving our readers the inside story — no matter how silly that inside story is — and of course we're all about sending Wert running around like a crazed squirrel searching for his nuts. That's why we've gone and sent Wert down to downtown Birmingham, and set back a few thousand feet from Woodward Avenue, to snap pictures of the boldly erected FoMoCo exhibit for you to feast your eyes upon — all before the estimated two million car-crazed lunatics planning to attend this years crazy car cruise get a chance to do the same.

Related:
The on-going saga that is the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Wert's Got A Full Tank Of Gas, A Half Pack Of Starbucks DoubleShot, and He's Wearing Sunglasses. Hit It!

Ray Wert — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:53:27 EDT

So we realized last night that Wert's gonna have to get some sleep, and last night he tried. Unfortunately, when he's ingested four Starbucks doppio espressos in a 6 hour period — it's much more difficult than just "going to sleep." And no, the liquor didn't help much either. But, since it worked so well for him yesterday — we've dropped a couple of double shots down our Detroit man's throat — and sent him out to do his task, because there's now only 24 hours to go before the big Cruise starts. So with that, here's his last daily pre-Cruise update before the big day. Remember that you can check out where he's been and keep up with all that's to come by checking out the mini-site we've set up for the live-blogging tomorrow of the world's largest one-day classic cruise in the world, or if you'd prefer, here's a tech-friendly feed for your fave reader. With that said, click the jump for Wert's remaining 24 hours covering classic cars:

• We now know the answer to the question "How much is a jaywalking ticket in Royal Oak?" — and the answer is $35. Don't do it, dudes...use a cross-walk during the Dream Cruise.
• There's a private viewing of the REX timerunner day planner auto collection today — Wert's gonna be trying to crash it and get some pictures for you.
• We actually agree with Daniel Howes this morning. We never thought we'd be saying this...and it's very difficult for us to say, but...Howes...is...absolutely...right. There, that wasn't too difficult. Ok, maybe it was.
• What is with The Car Connection finally starting to cover the Dream Cruise on Friday? Where were they all week?
• We almost had the chance to ride in the Camaro trailer yesterday — but like all cruising on Woodward Avenue, when it's two days out — it's pretty much impossible to actually cruise the Avenue's so packed. [Thanks to GM/Chevy race babe Jan Thomas for trying, though!]
• If for some reason you want to get away from the Dream Cruise — the Detroit News can tell you how not to be here.
• So where's the place to be tonight? It's gotta be the General's exhibits in front of Athens Coney Island — they're opening 'em up early for the public at 6:30 pm this evening. Wert'll be there at 6:30, and so should you. In case you're looking for Wert today, he'll be at the Starbucks on Woodward and 13 Mile Rd. from around 6:00 AM until noon. After that, he'll be like a roaming gnome — except 6'3" — so e-mail him at ray@jalopnik.com to find out.

By the way, in case you're wondering — the picture's of the new traffic "Crow's Nest" installed this year down in Ferndale at 9 Mile Rd. and Woodward.

Related:
All our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Nick's Buick Regal Grand National

Ray Wert — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 09:07:34 EDT

Nick here is going to talk to you today about his Buick Regal Grand National. This guy grabbed us as we were snapping some pictures of the black-as-night muscle cars as they were ready to head out and cruise Woodward Avenue, and urged us to take a look at his intercooled piece of motown metal. And we're glad he did — as he gives us the story of how an intercooler works, and why the Grand National gets attention at the tracks — and why it should be getting more.

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Bike Moves!

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:42:43 EDT

Out past the cornfields where the woods got heavy
Out in the back seat of my 60 chevy
Workin on mysteries without any clues
Workin on our night moves
Tryin to make some front page drive-in news
Workin on our night moves
In the summertime
In the sweet summertime

—Bob Seger, "Night Moves"

With the congestion on Woodward Avenue during the week-long Pre-Cruise, and especially on the Saturday of the Cruise itself, it'll often make more sense to hoof it than to try to drive it. Even better than hoofing it would be to bike it, and we can't think of a better bicycle to be on than this custom piece of glowing metal. Not only is neon the thing on this here ride — it's also got XM Sirius radio, stereo speakers and a DVD player — and for a price far lower than anything you'll be seeing out on the streets! But expect to see this bike every night from here to the wee hours of Sunday morning — cause it'll be seen even with the Night Moves. [Thanks to volunteer photog wohho — who points out that sadly the rider of said contraption had no mullet.]

Related:
All our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Wert Are You?

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 19:17:59 EDT

Wert'll be on the prowl for cool classics to capture on film, but his home base tonight will be the Birmingham Starbucks until 7:30 (what can he say, parking's cheap in the land of expensive but pretty things). Catch him there with your classic car — or drop him an e-mail at ray@jalopnik.com to let him know you'll be stopping by.

Related:
All our mad-hot 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

Rub One Off Over The Muscle Car Wars: The Camaro Takes A Wish

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 17:48:53 EDT

The banner above currently adorns the south side o' the "555 Building" in downtown Birmingham — and we guess it begs the question — what are our other two wishes? Well, since we're on the subject of automotive masturbatory pleasures, how about a Dodge Challenger R/T, a Ford Mustang GT and a quarter-mile down a cruise-cleared Woodward Avenue? Oh baby, we are totally getting into this whole muscle car war. Excuse us while we find some toilet paper.

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: A Fleet Of Buick Grand Nationals And A GNX Get Their Cruise On

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:25:03 EDT

"Dedicated to the preservation and performance enhancement of turbocharged Buick V6-powered vehicles." —Michigan Buick Turbo Club

We ran up to the Moose Preserve, a local watering hole north o' Square Lake Road on Woodward Avenue, for a quick drink with a PR maven from one of Detroit's biggest badges, and in the parking lot noticed a gathering of some cars we hadn't seen much cruising from yet — Buick Regal Grand Nationals, and lo' n' behold, a specialty GNX edition. We felt pretty damn lucky to get a glance at a fleet of the turbocharged performance vehicles that spelled the end of the 80's side of the modern muscle car era. If you haven't had the chance to see one of the GNX sedans up close, let's just say this — these cars are known for their performance, and more importantly, over-performance as the under-rated GNX outpaced the factory's power claims: 0-60 mph in just 4.7 s with a 13.4 s/104 mph quarter-mile. According to folks out in the lot last night, these numbers made the GNX the fastest production sedan ever built. Although there was only one GNX there, all of those Grand National's made for one pretty sight on a Wednesday night before the Dream Cruise.

Michigan Buick Turbo Club [Hemmings.com]

Related:
'Angry Buick' is Not Necessarily an Oxymoron [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Pimp My Mustang With TeeVee!

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 11:19:26 EDT

You get a lot of customs running up and down Woodward Avenue during the Dream Cruise, and even now as we're in "Pre-Cruise" mode — so you're apt to see some pretty snazzy shtuff. But this could quite possibly be the weirdest set of amenities we've seen out of a Dearborn-produced car. Because although we've seen LCD's dropped into just about every part of a car — this is the first time we've seen them in a wheel well. To us, this seems rather — err — pointless? But hey, more power to ya, bruthah — just switch on some Tigers baseball, aight?

TV's, TV's and more TV's!!!!!!!! [VWVortex]

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Royal Oak Police Are Still Teh Suck

Ray Wert — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:58:49 EDT

Ok, so what have we learned so far at this years Woodward Dream Cruise — or at least the week leading up to it? Hunter House has, by far, the best slider burgers in the known universe. We've also learned not to jaywalk — or at the very least, don't get a ticket for jaywalking in Royal Oak (by the way, still looking for extra legal advice here — any takers?). We've also learned there's a major-league difference between "rat rods" and "hot rods." More than anything though, we've learned the importance of never underestimating the ability for people to organically create enthusiast groups around just about any car possible, as you'll see later today when we profile the Michigan Turbo Buick Club. But for the meantime, kick back in your lawn chair and check out Wert's latest update from the side of M-1, aka, Woodward Avenue:

• Ford's fuel cell ride is fresh n' clean n' peppy as it cruises down Woodward — so sayeth Mark Phelan. Of course, this is the same guy who called the "Challenger" a "Charger."
• The Detroit News has a pretty neat little map of all the Woodward Avenue sights, sounds n' stuff — print n' clip if you're coming to visit.
• We've now got battlin' blogs — the Detroit News has joined the fray with its entry into the blogorrhea that is automotive weblogs, joining the already established (for at least five days now!) Freep-branded typepad site. We think it's still simply adorable...they're so cute when they're young.
• So where will Wert be today? Well — he'll be down at the RenCen at 1:00 to show some love to Chevy's new-for-2007 something-or-the-other, and then he'll be live-blogging from over on S. Old Woodward this afternoon in scenic downtown Birmingham. If you've got a classic car you'd like to have profiled by us here on Jalopnik, send him a quick e-mail at ray@jalopnik.com and we'll get you set up right! He'll also be at the Royal Oak Starbucks for a few hours this evening, so hit him up there as well. [Special thanks to James on the photoshop chop above — the faces of the innocent have been obscured for their protection]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: What's The Difference Between A "Rat Rod" And A "Hot Rod?"

Ray Wert — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 14:31:09 EDT

Sometime before we finished up our evening in the company of one of Royal Oak, Michigan's finest , we made a new friend by the name of Bill Jagenow from Brothers Custom Automotive. Jagenow's driving what to one of our untrained eyes is a "rat rod," a term that came from an article written in Hot Rod Magazine by Gray Baskerville about cars painted in primer. And although a lot of rat rodders do not consider their cars to be rats, but actually "hot rods" we've yet to meet someone who so vociferously argues the point as Bill here does. Check...

...out the video to hear Bill explain it for himself, but the gist , as a fellow Jalopnik-ite explains in the video, is that he didn't customize the jalopy to look old, it just wasold. Ok, fair enough — so there's no external mods made to look delapidated — but it's still got plywood and mexican blankets for upholstery and although he's got a couple of "security modifications" — you know, like a fire extinguisher and encasing the drivetrain (it's still frigging sitting there next to your leg) it still is rat-like. But as long as Bill here's happy with it — he should call it whatever he likes. All we know is it's cool as hell, and we've got to see some more of his stuff.

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: The Ford GTX-1 Proves Cruising Ain't Just For "Classics"

Ray Wert — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 13:00:46 EDT

We've always said the Dream Cruise isn't just for "old" classic cars. Sometimes a classic car is classic because there's only one like it, and it makes a man want to drop to his knees and weep. We were lucky enough to find something cruising Woodward Avenue last night with a "wow" factor even we couldn't contain. It's a Ford GTX-1, the convertible variant of the Ford GT. The supercar sans roof was a specialty vehicle created specifically for the 2005 SEMA convention. And although you may be able to get a Genaddi Design chop-top of your own for $38,000 (on top of the base Ford GT price of just shy of $150,000 — get it fast, supplies are limited!) — we can gurantee you won't be getting one quite like this. That's because the GTX-1 you see above is the actual concept car built by the boys at Genaddi for the SEMA show. That alone gives it an estimated street value of upwards of a cool million. And lookie here, we even got to see it fill up at the Shell station — and with a capless fuel filler at that! And no, Bill Jagenow of Brothers Custom Automotive is not a liar.

GTX-1 [Genaddi Design Group]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Royal Oak Police Show Us What Not To Do On Woodward Avenue -- Wert & Co. Get Jaywalking Tickets

Ray Wert — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 12:21:22 EDT

Although yesterdays update was fairly run of the mill — despite the el Camino parked out front of Hunter House — now that the one-day Dream Cruise is officially un-officially becoming a one-week long Dream Cruise, things are starting to heat up on Woodward Avenue. But as you can see by the ticket over yonder, there are certain things you still shouldn't do — like jaywalk. Although we're not even for a moment going to admit to whether it was a fair cop on the part of the Royal Oak cop, we will say this — kids, don't jaywalk during the Dream Cruise — you could potentially put a motorcycle cop in the hospital if you're not careful, and find yourself on the receiving end of the ticket-wielding man (or woman). But — if any of our loyal Jalopnik readers happens to be a Metro Detroit attorney interested in helping a certain Jalopnik associate editor and a certain Jalopnik commenter (wohho, you know who you are) out of a fine-paying civil infraction pickle, by all means please feel free to drop us an e-mail. That said, let's get on with the show — click the jump to find out where Wert'll be and a bit of the "what's goin' on."

• Well, as we said yesterday, its "fin-fest" tonight over at Potbelly's at 6:00 PM...where the Cadillac LaSalle Club will be congregating. We'll be driving, thank you — no more pedestrian-related tickets for us.
• If you haven't caught all of the coverage so far, now's a good time to catch up by checking out and bookmarking the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise mini-site and for the geeks, drop this into your feed reader.
• We've heard from the folks at the General that they've got a "sneak preview" of GM vehicles and exhibits at the Athens Coney Island, that'll be open to the public Friday beginning at 6:30 p.m. The exhibit will feature 24 automotive icons including; a 1931 16-cylinder dual-windshield Cadillac touring car, a 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge, the 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Racer, the turbine-powered Firebird I concept car and a 1956 Saab Sonett SS. They've also included a replica of the 1954 Cadillac Series 62 coupe that finished third in class at the 1954 La Carrera Panamericana Mexican road race. It was recently restored by the General's Performance Division, and the '54 Cadillac will be driven this November in the 2006 version of the race. [Hat tip to Jan T. on this one!]
• Although the sign we've got up here is photo-chopped, there are now Dream Cruise signs running up and down the Avenue — all yellow — and all apparently paid for by WOMC and Motor City Casino.
• The Freep's got make-your-own mirror dice. We're somewhat underwhelmed — and to be fair, if we see anyone sporting them, we may very well mock them — a lot.
• Apparently the Freep thinks we're popular — although no one ever sits at our table during lunchtime.
• We met up Murray Pfaff of Pfaff Designs last night, the man's cool as all get out — and he's gonna show us his "FYR MKR" tonight — something we've been looking forward to for a while.
• Wert'll be out again in full force for you to show off your classic, custom or cool car on Thursday night — just head on over to the Starbucks in downtown Birmingham from 5:30PM to 7PM if you're interested in having us profile it. Or set up an alternate time with him yourself by e-mailing him at ray@jalopnik.com.

Related:
All our coverage of the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: WTF, It's Only Tuesday!

Ray Wert — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 11:06:28 EDT

So yesterday was quite possibly one of the most amazing sights we've ever seen on Woodward Avenue and it got us into thinking this will be one of the largest Woodward Dream Cruises we've ever seen. That's because, as you can see in the video above, even though it's 9:30 PM, all of Woodward Avenue's eight lanes are chock full o' classic cars and not-so-classic cars checking out the extremeness of it all on Metro Detroit's most storied of storied byways. Whether it was a "Michigan Santa Truck," or a classic Camino, Camaro or 'stang — or of course, you could be rockin' a 90's Land Rover — you just need to ignore the drunk boomers making out. Get a room, you two!

Related:
More 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

One, Two, Three, Four -- Chevy Don't Want A Muscle Car War?

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 21:00:11 EDT

It's only day one of the muscle car wars, and already we're hearing about one of the pony-makers backing off. This is totally not what we wanted to hear as we get ready for the titans of Detroit to do battle like the Jets n' Sharks of old. To bring you up to speed, this morning the Chevy Camaro Dream Cruise trailer made an impromptu guest appearance and drive-by of a Chrysler PR event talking up a Dodge Challenger give-away promo. After taking that white-gloved slap, Chrysler's PR top dog Jason Vines dropped a grenade into the Chevy PR trenches this afternoon, reminding newly-deputized Chevy PR chief Terry Rhadigan that the Challengers made it to the event under their own power — and needed not the trailer seen carrying the Camaro of old and new. So of course we were expecting Terry to show his stuff, and drop a haymaker onto the German-American hybrid automaker. Hell, we would have settled for ignoring Vines all together and making a sneak attack on the Mustang-loving city of Dearborn to catch FoMoCo unawares. Instead...

...we got a denial that Chevy was doing anything to toy with the Dodge little pony. Reliable sources — including the driver of the Camaro trailer — have told us they were just travelling down Woodward Avenue minding their own business on the way to an event in the tiny community of Pleasant Ridge for a "ceremonial opening of Woodward Dream Cruise festivities." Sure, what-ever. We know it was intentional — and hell, if it wasn't — it should have been. And where the hell has FoMoCo been? Come on guys, get your Mustang in gear over there — there's a battle a-brewin'.

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: Show Us Your Cars!

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:35:41 EDT

If you've been following Wert's coverage so far of the hoopla leading up to the Woodward Dream Cruise, the biggest single-day automotive spectacular in the whole wide world, you'll know he's kinda been all over the place. Well, since we've got him by the short n' cur—err—since we know the guy who signs the paychecks, we've asked him to sit down in one spot for a while, and he's there now — waiting. What's he waiting for? Why you, ya big silly. If you've got a classic, custom or "special" car and want us here at Jalopnik to run a profile on it, stop on by the Starbucks over at 13 Mile Rd and Woodward Avenue — he's been told to wait until 7:30 PM tonight — and he'll be there from 5 PM to 7:30 PM on Thursday too. [You can also e-mail him @ Ray -at- Jalopnik -dot- com to set up another time.]

So...sit Wert, sit! That's a good Wert!

Related:
All of our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

The Muscle Car Wars Are On! Chrysler's Vines Fires A Salvo At Chevy PR Newbie Rhadigan

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:50:00 EDT

Looks like this Muscle Car "cold war" just turned hot — and just in time for the world's largest single-day classic car cruise. To recap — earlier today at a Chrysler Group press event, the PR peeps from Chevy made a point of letting the Chrysler folks know that they were stepping on the Generals turf by driving their bowtied Camaro trailer past the event — almost goading the Chrysler Group into a West Side Story-like knife fight. And oh-ho-ho, it worked. The chief PR man from the German-American hybrid has stepped up to the plate with a comment, and he wants Chevy PR newbie Terry Rhadigan to know exactly where his little pony and Chevys little pony stand (or drive):

Response from "your boy": Yo! Notice the two Challengers, including the concept-to-be- production-in-08, drove into our event while the two Camaros had to be towed. And Mr. Rhadigan, I'll get you buddy!
-Jason Vines

Oh boy, we're totally taking bets for a concept car versus concept car drag race down Woodward Avenue at high noon this Saturday at the Dream Cruise. But since they're both concepts, stop light to stop light won't quite work, so we guess it'll be the first one to 50mph, or whichever motor falls first from the engine bay of the pony.

Of course FoMoCo could try to spoil with a Shelby 'stang. Anyone got Charlie Holleran's number out in Dearborn?

Who's Tweakin' Jason Vines And Challenging Dodge?

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 14:30:00 EDT

So our boy, Chrysler PR man extraordinaire, Jason Vines, was looking rather worried there behind the Dodge Challenger concept car at the PT Cruiser and Dodge Challenger press event this AM. At the time, we couldn't figure out exactly why — and although it seemed like he was looking at something over on Woodward Avenue we'd had too little caffeine to justify something as simple as turning around and looking. It wasn't until we were glancing through main-man-with-the-cam James LaMoreaux's photos a few minutes ago that we realized why he was wearing such an annoyed face. Click the jump to find out what was driving by.

That's correct — the General was engaging in a bit of tweaking of the German-American hybrid by driving by in the made-for-the-Dream-Cruise Camaro trailer we saw all weekend long. But since Dodge got the laugh last time, confirming the pony's return well before the Camaro, it only makes sense that Chevy'd be engaging in some good ol' fashioned nipple twistin'. But remember, the Challenger will probably get the last laugh, because Dodge's announced its pony car will be a 2008 model year vehicle — versus Chevrolet's 2009 model year release of the Camaro. Of course, we've no idea what the new man at the helm of Chevy PR, Terry Rhadigan's — or Camaro PR-stud Travis Parman, for that matter — got up their sleeves next. Be on guard Jason, the General's a-comin' for the maker of the General Lee.

UPDATE: Vines has a response!

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: The 1956 Chevy Bel Air Nomad

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 13:46:33 EDT

We've left one Starbucks already this morning due to an ant infestation, and as we were on our way to a non-infested coffee shop / wifi spot to resume our bloggorhea-like coverage of the hoopla leading up to the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise, we happened upon this little gem on the corner of 13 Mile Rd and Woodward Avenue. It's a beautiful restored 1956 Chevy Bel Air Nomad complete with an Edelbrock engine. Although the Nomad first appeared as a Corvette-based concept vehicle in 1954, the two-door wagon was assigned to the Bel Air series and given a unique body and trim specifically for the model. And oh, that trim — especially the fins. As the owner explained to us:

"...you can always tell the difference between the 1955, 1956 and 1957. The 1957's fins go much higher, but the 1955's...well...they look like a part of a woman's anatomy."

Make a guess which piece of the female anatomy he meant. Farago, no fair cheating.

Related:
All of our 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise coverage [internal]

No Free Mustache Rides From Dr. Z -- How About A Free Dodge Challenger Instead?

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 11:36:20 EDT

Other than the PT Cruiser PCH Edition, the big news out of the Chrysler shindig this morning next to Duggan's Irish Pub on Woodward Avenue was the answer to apparently one of the most asked questions on the "Ask Dr Z" website. Although we were hoping more for the answer to the question, "Do you give free mustache rides?" — the question Dr. Z's minions answered today was still pretty good — "How can I win a Dodge Challenger, or another Chrysler Group product?" The press release below the jump can give you all the details how you can win one of nine Chrysler Group cars — three Jeep Wrangler Unlimiteds, three Chrysler Sebrings, and yes, three Dodge Challengers — we were more impressed with the hooplah surrounding the giveaway — including the dubiously legal driving of a non-street-legal car down a small stretch of Woodward Ave. In fact, so impressed were we, we dropped the pictures into a gallery for your enjoyment — and probable evidence for prosecution by the Royal Oak Police Department.

Consumers to Win All-new Dodge Challenger, Chrysler Sebring and Jeep® Wrangler Unlimited in Dream Car Sweepstakes

* Chrysler Group Sweepstakes is next phase of popular "Ask Dr. Z" campaign
* Dodge Challenger T-shirts to be sold at Woodward Dream Cruise; proceeds to Gail Purtan Ovarian Cancer Research Fund

Royal Oak, Mich., Aug 15, 2006 -

How can consumers win a Dodge Challenger — or an all-new 2007 Chrysler Sebring or Jeep® Wrangler Unlimited? By asking Dr. Z, of course.

Consumers can enter the "Ask Dr. Z" Dream Car Sweepstakes between Aug. 15 and Sept. 4 by going to www.AskDrZ.com, after visiting any Chrysler, Jeep or Dodge dealer showroom. George Murphy, Senior Vice President - Global Brand Marketing, Chrysler Group, announced the Dream Car Sweepstakes here on Woodward Avenue, kicking off the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise.

"The Woodward Dream Cruise is all about dream cars and is the perfect place to introduce the 'Ask Dr. Z' Dream Car Sweepstakes," Murphy said. "The 'Ask Dr. Z' campaign has resulted in positive consumer feedback and increased brand Web site traffic, and we're building on that by driving even more consumers to www.AskDrZ.com and ultimately increasing traffic in Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge showrooms.

"We believe consumers will jump at the chance to win Chrysler Group's dream vehicles — the Challenger, which looks right at home on Woodward; the completely-redesigned 2007 Chrysler Sebring, and the latest rendition of a true American icon, the 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited," Murphy added.

A total of nine vehicles will be awarded: three all-new Dodge Challenger models, three all-new 2007 Chrysler Sebring models and three all-new 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon models.

Dodge Challenger
Unprecedented public response to the Dodge Challenger concept resulted in Chrysler Group announcing last month that after nearly 35 years, the Dodge Challenger will return as the ultimate modern American muscle coupe.

Set to debut as a 2008 model in calendar-year 2008, the Challenger will feature the long hood, short deck, wide stance and two-door coupe body style that distinguished the iconic Challengers of the 1970s.

Chrysler Sebring
With the all-new 2007 Sebring, Chrysler is creating inspiration in the common car. An all-new mid-size sedan, Chrysler Sebring combines stunning design with interior craftsmanship, high levels of safety and reliability, exhilarating performance and excellent fuel efficiency — all at a surprisingly affordable price. Sebring also features many class-leading technologies not available in the mid-size segment.

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited
Featuring a one-of-a-kind, four-door open-air design, the all-new 2007 Jeep® Wrangler Unlimited expands the Jeep experience to new dimensions. With room for five adult passengers — a Wrangler first — and the most cargo space ever offered in a Wrangler, the Unlimited combines class-leading off-road capability with everyday practicality.

Ask Dr. Z campaign
The Dream Car Sweepstakes is the next phase of Chrysler Group's "Ask Dr. Z" ad campaign that focuses on consumer benefits of the best of American and German Engineering and Design — and specifically on the innovative design, quality, reliability, performance and fuel economy of Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge vehicles. The campaign's spokesperson is DaimlerChrysler Chairman Dieter Zetsche.

In the first six weeks of the campaign, there have been more than 600,000 visitors to the Web site and more than 4.2 million questions have been answered.

"The 'Ask Dr. Z' campaign has driven our brand Web site traffic up consistently by 15 percent over June and our Web leads have increased by 27 percent," Murphy said. "And recent Millward Brown research shows that 83 percent of in-market consumers find Dieter credible and believable, and 73 percent stated they understood Chrysler Group vehicles combine the best of American and German engineering and design — additional evidence that our message is getting through.

"Furthermore, IAG Research — a third-party service which measures advertising effectiveness, reports that the campaign is significantly outperforming almost every IAG automotive norm," Murphy added.

Chrysler Group at Woodward Dream Cruise
The 12th annual Woodward Dream Cruise — billed as the largest one-day celebration of car culture, attracting approximately 1.7 million people and more than 40,000 cars — takes place on Saturday, Aug. 19. Located in the Northwood Shopping Center at the southwest corner of 13 Mile Road and Woodward in Royal Oak, Chrysler Group will host a variety of interactive, classic and concept vehicle displays.

Various Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Mopar® merchandise and apparel will be sold at the displays — including made-for-Woodward "Dodge Challenger - It's A Go!" T-shirts. Proceeds from the shirt sales will be donated to the Gail Purtan Ovarian Cancer Research Fund at Karmanos Cancer Institute.

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: The Hunter House And The El Camino, Two Perfect For Words

Ray Wert — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:55:00 EDT

Only a one in a million moment could have paired two of the most amazing things in our life in the same picture. An El Camino and The Hunter House restaurant on Woodward Avenue in downtown Birmingham. This must mean only one thing — and just like Jake and Elwood Blues, we've been tasked by some heavenly force to cover the 2006 Dream Cruise...as well as eat lots of the famous burger joints sliders. So we've delegated the task to Wert, and now with just four days left until the largest single-day classic car cruise in the world, here's the first daily update:

• As you already can see from the above picture, Hunter House is already all set up for the throngs of metal-hungry classic-car-watchers that'll be milling about. And as the son-in-law of the owner, Al Papazian, told us yesterday afternoon

"we've had tents up for a few years now, usually for a private party — but this year — [as the automakers] cut back, we're open to the public throughout the Cruise. And we know we'll need the tents, because as long as the weather's nice, we're feeling like it's going to be bigger [than previous years]."

• And speaking of grease in the AM — Chrysler's got something cooking this morning at 8:00 AM, and although we'll be out at Duggan's on Woodward Ave to cover it — somehow we doubt its green eggs and ham. Actually, we hear it'll be the Challenger, testing its concept legs on the grand boulevard that is Woodward Avenue. Check back here this AM for our full coverage.
• There's already so much classic metal out on the streets. If you haven't caught some of the coverage so far, now's a good time to catch up. Also, remember to bookmark the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise mini-site and for the geeks, drop this into your feed reader.
• A little bird let us knew that if you're a fan of fins, the place to be is Potbellys over between 13 and 14 Mile Rd on Wednesday at 6 PM. That's cause it'll be the gathering spot for the Cadillac LaSalle Club.
• We hear that the Freep has a blog too — and although we offered to show them ours, they wouldn't show us theirs. Oh well — we still think it's adorable! And look, it's on typepad!
• So where will Wert be today? That's a good question especially if you've got a classic car and would like us to profile it — you should send him an e-mail. It's ray -at- jalopnik -dot- com — or you can IM him at RWert3. He'll be starting in Royal Oak today, playing around there and then heading north as it starts to get warmer — much like Michiganders in general.

Related:
More on the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise [internal]

2006 Woodward Dream Pre-Cruise: The 1963 Plymouth Belvedere "Elwood" Police Edition

Ray Wert — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:50:30 EDT

One of the cooler finds out on the not-so-mean streets of Metro Detroit this weekend has to be this 1963 Plymouth Belvedere with a 6.6 liter 400, done-up for the boys in blue looking for the brothers Blues. The car with the same name as the butler, was re-built by John Hammond, a deputy sherriff in Tennessee, as a tribute to the Blues Brothers and the Mount Prospect Illinois Police Department. John ended up selling his beloved "Elwood" to finance some of his other fine projects, which is one of the reasons why it's now up here in Michigan with a new owner and available for us to yell "Illinois Nazis!" at the top of our lungs. And as Wert says, the best part's the license plate — "STOLEN1."

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: Chevy's Building The Camaro?

Ray Wert — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 23:03:30 EDT

We guess Chevy just enjoys preaching to the converted — it's our only explanation why we've now seen a car carrier driving up and down Woodward Avenue pre-Dream Cruise with a Chevy Camaro concept and a classy classic Camaro, closely followed by the above billboard truck twice in the past two days. The billboard shows the new Camaro along with the tagline:

"When you're really good in a past life, you come back as yourself."

Setting aside the obvious that this is proof positive of Chevy casting away to the wind the jesus-lovin' "American Revolution" tagline in favor of a tagline more inclusive of the Camaro's legions of hippie and liberal-leaning followers for a Buddhist dogmatic principles tagline of "A Circle of Life Revolution" — isn't this display truck kind of like signing (sic) to the choir? We mean, Woodward Avenue's lined each night before the Dream Cruise with thousands of auto enthusiasts — people who generally keep up with auto news. Do we not think they've allready heard the Camaro's back — or was this for the two people who haven't yet heard? Seems awfully pricey to us.

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: August 11, 2006 -- Part II

Ray Wert — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 14:35:54 EDT

Why yes, we do believe there's more. Anyone want to play spot the classic car? Feel free to play in the comments...on this or any of the rest of the Woodward Cruising posts. Also remember to keep checking the mini-site as we get ready for the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise next Saturday. We've got a whole team of Jalopniks storming the Cruise with cameras and videocams blazin'. We promise we'll own coverage of the classic cruise, and you won't want to miss an instant of it. That said, here's some more classic cars captured by our and our cohorts' cameras. And yes, today's letter is most definetly "C" — as in "Cruising Cars." [Thanks to AJ for the help!]

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: August 11, 2006 -- Part I

Ray Wert — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 11:23:58 EDT

We're now one week away from the official day Metro Detroit's set aside for classic cruisin' — the 11th annual Woodward Dream Cruise. But like all good "sports," there's totally a need for practice. We headed out into the setting sunlight to witness some of the best and brightest classic cars we've seen down this stretch of asphalt since around this time last year. Although we spent way too much of the night racing down Woodward in a Dodge Ram 1500 Mega Cab, scaring the kiddies who weren't able to read the side of the truck and see that, yeah, it's got a HEMI, we did manage to capture some of the fun. Actually, there was so much classic car action on Woodward not only couldn't we keep up, but we've actually split last night's photos into a threesome of Detroit love. Here's the first of the series. Check back later today for the rest. As always, to follow our misadventures, keep hitting refresh on the Woodward Cruising mini-site, or for the geeks like us, drop the tag into your fave feed reader.

Related:
More Woodward Cruising [internal]