Horsepower, Burning Rubber and a Cast of Characters Hit the Motor City

On August 18th, 2012 more than a million people and tens of thousands of classic cars are expected to descend on Woodward Avenue in Detroit to take part in the 17th annual Woodward Dream Cruise. Here are a selection of images from last year’s Dream Cruise.

The Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, Michigan is the world’s largest one-day automotive event, drawing about 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars each year from around the globe. A throwback to the 50s and 60s, when people cruised in their cars along Woodward Avenue looking for friends or a street race with other hot rods, the WDC was the brainchild of Ferndale, Michigan resident Nelson House. A plumber by trade, House came up with the idea for modern-day cruise to help raise money for a children’s soccer field. Organizers initially expected 30,000 or 40,000 people to come to the August 19, 1995 inaugural cruise on Woodward Avenue in Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Berkley, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak and Birmingham but about 250,000 actually showed up. Now the WDC is the largest single day classic car event in the world, and brings in over $56 million annually to the Metro Detroit area.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 at 9:58 am. It is filed under Detroit Stories, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.