Jalopnik: Woodward Cruising

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]

Reminder! Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Woodward Dream Cruise Edition Meeting Tonight!

Ray Wert — Mon, 07 Aug 2006 18:35:54 EDT

7:00 PM for anyone interested in helping us cover the Woodward Dream Cruise. Meet in the parking lot of Pasquale's. Wert will be there. If you need more info, e-mail him at the e-mail noted in the original post. That is all.

Help Me, Rhonda! Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Woodward Dream Cruise Edition

Ray Wert — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 16:55:43 EDT

It's that time of the year again, when thoughts turn to classic cars on Detroit's most sprawlerific avenue. That's right, it's time to get funky and clap your hands for the 2006 Woodward Dream Cruise. We're now just two weeks away from the most amazing of all amazing automotive events — and this year, we're actually planning ahead. And as we look at the plan now, we've got a lot of things to do...and little to no resources to do it with. For instance, we've got Wert in Metro Detroit...and we've got...umm...Austin's around sometimes and...ok, so that's all we've got on the ground. So that's why we need your help. So if you've got camera skillz, videocamera skillz, playa skillz or you're just fun to have around, then you too can be a member of "Jalopnik Team Party Crash: Woodward Dream Cruise Edition". Also...

...you've got to be able to work for zero money. Maybe a T-shirt, but really — that's not even set in stone yet. So maybe not even that. But fuck it, it'll be fun and you'll get your name up here in the bright lights for all to see. So, if you've yet to be effectively dissuaded, we've got a test for you. We'll be meeting this Monday (August 7th) at 7:00 PM at the sign you see above...we may even walk over to the bar and we may even buy a couple of pitchers. Look for the Detroit-based one of us, he's not that difficult to miss — though he does claim he'll be getting a haircut beforehand. If you've got any questions, or to RSVP so Wert's not sitting in the fucking parking lot for an hour and a half by himself (he's scared of the dark, you know) ship them on over to ray -at- jalopnik -dot- com. We're looking forward to seeing ya there! [Thanks to About.com's Detroit page for the great picture!]

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: Friday, June 23, 2006

Ray Wert — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 17:38:34 EDT

It's Saturday — and another gorgeous day in Metro Detroit — and since last night was so nice out we sent Wert out again to take a quick cruise down Woodward Avenue and take a look at some of the metal goodness riding down Metro Detroit's famed central boulevard by which all other boulevards radiate. Wert got out there a wee bit late (we think he was spending a bit too long downing pints at Redcoat) — so he only caught a couple in his targeting reticule — but what he did catch looks gorgeous. Take a peek.

Related:
More of our summer-long Woodward Cruising [internal]

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: Saturday June 17, 2006

Ray Wert — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 17:45:00 EDT

There certainly was some classic Detroit iron Friday night on Woodward — but it didn't stop there. Saturday night was just as nice — and we'd love to share it with you. We've got a quick picture gallery after the jump with the rest of the weekend's automotive ambience. So come and follow along as Jalopnik takes in the classic cruisers on Metro Detroit's Woodward Avenue. Remember to check back every weekend at our mini-site throughout the summer — or via the RSS feed.

Summer Cruising On Woodward Avenue: Friday June 16, 2006

Ray Wert — Sun, 18 Jun 2006 10:17:41 EDT

We're not going to mess this up with a whole lot of words — let's just say it ended up being such a brilliant weekend of wickedly good weather, we'll have two photo galleries up — one for Friday night and one for Saturday night. Here's our Friday night gallery — and check back later after your Father's Day steak fry for the second photo-journal. Remember to bookmark our mini-site or grab the RSS feed to keep up with the pictures as Ray cruises the metal mecha that is Metro Detroit's Woodward Avenue this summer.

Related:
More Woodward Cruising [internal]

Flame On! A 1954 Ford Farts Flames On Woodward Avenue -- Now That's What We Call An Introduction!

Ray Wert — Sat, 17 Jun 2006 23:53:45 EDT

Now this — this is what we call entertaiment — Woodward Avenue style! Here's some video Ray snagged last night of what we think is a 1954 Ford Crestline with a Chevy smallblock engine — but the really cool part? Fire! Fire! Fire!

So what, you may ask, was going on in Metro Detroit this weekend that they have cars belching fire? Well, here's the deal — although Woodward Avenue was always a haven to the cruiser class, it's been institutionalized over the past twelve years as a classic cruiser Mecca with the creation of the annual Woodward Dream Cruise. But what's made all of us car-crazies all the more crazy...

...is the unofficial dream cruisin' that's been going on outside of non-designated Dream Cruise weekends. It's now to the point if it's a summer weekend and even mildly pleasant out — the cars of the past will be out driving up the old Detroit by-ways — by the droves. So we've sent our own man from the D out to document the goings-on and report back to us whenever a clear evening allows the classic pistons to be a-pumpin'.

You'll be able to follow along all summer on our Summer Woodward Cruise at the mini-site we've set up — or, if you're RSS-inclined, here's the feed. Ray's first of many reports will be a picture gallery from this weekend you'll be able to see here tomorrow. These reports will culminate with the 12th Annual Woodward Dream Cruise on August 19th — and you just wait — we've got some special surprises in store. For the meantime, enjoy the flames of Ford.

New dream [Detroit News]
12TH ANNUAL WOODWARD DREAM CRUISE — ABOUT [Dream Cruise]