2021 Woodward Dream Cruise - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

2021 Woodward Dream Cruise

Enjoyed our 27th straight Woodward Dream Cruise last week, which started in 1994 when Ferndale, MI Mayor, Pamela McCullough told resident Nelson House that their city did not have money for a soccer field, but encouraged him to start a fund raiser for a new field. So House and a handful of volunteers conceived the idea to relive and recreate the nostalgic heydays of the 50s and 60s, when youth, music and Motor City steel roamed Woodward Avenue, America’s first paved 4 lane highway. Expecting about 40,000 spectators, 250,000 showed up for that inaugural cruise. The annual dream cruise is now the largest automotive event in the world, drawing 50,000 classic cars and 2 million spectators along its 16 mile route from Detroit to Pontiac. Nearly 100 area charities benefit from the sale of official Dream Cruise merchandise and refreshments each year.

Click this link for previous blogposts about the Dream Cruise. And here’s a video of this year’s cruise. Note that our cruiser, a 2004 retro-Tbird, is shown at the 4:10 mark.

Unofficially, Dream Cruise Week starts out on the Sunday before when various car clubs caravan up and down Woodward. The Thunderbird Club we belong to typically has 30-40 classics for that Sunday cruise, which finishes with dinner at a local restaurant.

The heart of the Dream Cruise is the Irish restaurant pictured here. A local oldies radio station broadcasts out of the location all week and on Saturday, only plays classic car tunes.

Here’s Ted, my retired barber, aka Theo the Thief, touring Woodward in his ’49 Ford.

Here’s my favorite Dream Cruise photo as it shows a red ’62’ Chevy just like my first car documented in this previous blogpost.

Here are some more photos from this year’s cruise:

Say what?

Edsel in front of Berkley’s classic movie theater

Beast in show

A giant boar greets as you walk up behind this 1952 Ford truck turned Rat Rod. Approach it from the front and be prepared for sharp red metal teeth that encapsulate a giant drill bit. This is the Beast and Barry Robinson, 60, of Brownstown is the mastermind behind it.

He used to be into show cars but then got hooked on finding unique additions to the truck. Like the whiskey barrel he has in the cab that holds the gas tank and the glass skull that retains radiator overflow.

“I’m having more fun with this than the fancy cars,” he said.

It’s easy to miss fun, spooky additions to the truck at first glance. There are lasers that pop out of the eyes and mouth, for example. Inside are rats stuck in traps, on the back sits an artillery shell topped with a red light and for extra oomph it has school bus “stop” tail lights.

Perhaps the best feature: “When you go over a big bump the teeth chomp,” Robinson said. “It’s made to look all rusty but it’s almost all new parts. It will never be finished. It’s a work in progress always.”

Fun times along Woodward - till next year.

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