Relevance of Detroit's "Dream Cruise"

[Centurion]

Peter DeLorenzo has written an excellent piece on the Detroit "Dream Cruise", posted at his autoextremist.com website today.

http://autoextremist.com/index.shtml

His "rant" makes me wish -- more than ever -- that I could be there. For those of you who are fortunate enough to attend, please enjoy and let us hear about any noteworthy Buick sightings!

[The Old Guy]

Brian

I used to run a Caddy powered Chev out of "Teds" drive in back in the 60s and the cruise of today is nothing but a parking lot for too many people in SUVs that would not know how to build a car if they were paid .

You aren't missing a thing, and if you do run the cruise, you'd better have a REALLY GOOD cooling system.

[Aaron65]

Hey Joe,

Are you going to Flint Saturday...I won't be bringing my '53 (see post-war tech forum) But I will be bringing my Skylark...

[The Old Guy]

Aaron

I will be at "Back to the Bricks" thursday ,friday and saturday. We hwve cruises from Grand Blanc to Flint tonight and friday, and the saturday thing will include free "T" shirts to the first 1000 entrants, and lots of activities all day long

[raleets]

Brian,

Joe is oh so correct concerning the "Dream Cruise". It has become more like a nightmare!

If you call "cruising" going 10 to 15 mph, then stopping every 50 to 100 feet, then you would be a happy camper.

But, if you DON'T cruise, then be prepared to pay anywhere from $50 to $100 for the priveledge of parking your vehicle on some greedy persons property so you can watch the SLOW parade go past all day.

I, as a professional DeeJay, had the opportunity to work the Dream Cruise for seven years. When "Back To The Bricks" in downtown Flint was organized, I jumped at the chance to "stay home" and be with all my civilized local friends. I will be spinnin' the tunes tomorrow night and all day Saturday in downtown Flint, and lovin' it!

Having gotten to know you a little bit when we were in Seattle for the BCA Board of Directors meeting, I am confident you would NOT truly enjoy the Dream Cruise.

Keep cruisin',

Bob Leets

[GMPARTSMAN]

Hey, not to hijack this thread, what's "Back to the Bricks" all about. I haven't heard anything about it, and I'm about a half hour away! And staying away from Woodward on Saturday, don't need to test my cooling system out!

My Buick's not driveable at this time, is a Pontiac welcome?

[BUICK RACER]

All makes and models welcome, prior to 1987, check out this web page:

Back to the Bricks

Also ABC12.com

ABC12

[The Old Guy]

Back to the Bricks is whe greatest idea to hit the scene in years! Friday there will be 6 sites in the Flint area that will host a mini=show, and at 6PM all the participants will head for downtonwn Flint . The downtown area will be blocked off and there will be activities until 10 PM.

Saturday morning at 10AM anyone with a 1987 or older car, or a "special interest" car will be allowed in for the day. There will be Flame thrower , low rider, and neon contests with cash prizes. The first 1000 cars in get a free "Back to the Bricks "T" shirt" and there will be food and goodies available until 10 PM

[rivgs]

Bob, I love your DJ name, Leets backwards is "Steel".

[Guest 70 Electra]

Brian,

I, too, read Peter Delorenzo's excellent piece on the Dream Cruise. I had the chance to speak with him in person this week and told him how it made me ready to break out my American flag! The event is truly a 'celebration' of the amazing history of the American automobile.

(Did you see his severe "thumbs down" to the Royal Oak police chief Ted Quisenberry? Every year this guy is in the news with some story that ignites the cruisers. This year it was the allegation that historic license plates are being misused and are only valid for the day of the official cruise!)

But back to the Cruise.... Although officially a one day event, it is really over a week long. I was fortunate to have been there every night starting the Saturday prior to event day, and all day Thursday, Friday, and event Saturday. Each day gets busier, and the best driving is actually early in the week. (Obviously, if you choose to hang out near the epicenter of the event, you will find it is most congested there.)

I normally take one of my old cars down (or go in a friend's old car) each day through Friday. Usually we do actual cruising on Sat-Wed. On Thursday/Friday we primarily park our classic and watch the other cars, moving to new spots throughout the day. On Saturday, I don't even take an old car....but I spend a 12hr day walking to, looking at, and talking about the beautiful and varied cars on display and on the road.

I've been there every one of the 13 years the event has occurred, and great weather this week made this the best ever. I saw more out of state plates than ever, too: PA, NY, NJ, NH, VA, MO, TX, GA, TN, KY, plus the usual OH, IN, WI, Ontario plates. I spoke to many of these people, and NO ONE was disappointed...on the contrary, they were overwhelmed! The first timers all plan to come back again and to tell all their friends! Estimates of the crowd were 1.2 million, and the cars are in the 30-40 thousand range. It continues as the world's largest car event, and amazingly is still "free."

I'm a surprised that a few on this forum seem to find the event a disappointment. It probably has to do with expectations. If you expect to zip up and down the street, without anything but a traffic light to stop you, you need to get down about a week before the event. Remember that although it's called a "Cruise", Saturday is as much about shows and static displays as it is driving.