Woodward Dream Cruise for 2006

Ah… Woodward – the utopia of car event’s for a large number of car hobbyist’s in North America – the truly “car crazy” folks. However, I am always amazed at the number of people that are not aware of this major event.

So, when I mention car shows, this normally conjures up images of classic cars older than the mid-1970’s. If you’ve ever had a chance to attend any of these shows, you will typically see anywhere from 10 to a few hundred cars - if you are lucky. Some major shows will show 1,000 to 1,500 cars spread over a few acres that you can wander through for an entire day. People wander for hours, taking pictures, admiring the artistic handiwork of people to recreate or enhance memories from an earlier time. Oh, and don’t forget the tender feet at the end of the day!



So, what does this have to do with Woodward? Well, Woodward is a different beast. First of all, Woodward is the strip where street racing began from what I am told. According to my sources, you can normally expect more than a 40,000 vehicles at this show, and more than a million spectators! The pictures don't do the show justice, because these pictures were taken just after 2 days of rain, so the crowds and cars are still thin at this point. But imagine 4 lanes northbound and 4 lanes southbound, all jammed with cars - for the length of the 20 mile stretch (about 30 km)!!



I wouldn't have believed that there were so many car crazy people in North America. I mean, sure, there are those of us with gas pumping through our veins, but I wouldn't have believed that a show of this type would have attracted more than a million people! People standing or sitting 6 or more rows deep for most of the length of the 20 mile strip. Spectator stands. Folks throwing water on the street and egging drivers to do burn-outs. Case in point - a few years back my wife joined me on the trek. As we approached a hospital zone, my wife looked over at me and clearly indicated that I better not do anything stupid (guess I've demonstrated my need for speed on a number of occasions). So we get to the emergency entrance of the hospital, and there are patients in wheel chairs with IV's hanging off and nurses standing behind them! I behaved.... About a mile down the road, there were nuns standing outside a convent watching the parade!!

Now the cars. Not just classic muscle cars. I’ve seen Model-T type cars, race cars, exotic luxury cars like Ferrari and Lambourgini, customized construction vehicles, early century commercial vehicles, bikes, buckets, sausages on wheels, and more!





Well, that might put the show in perspective, and why I enjoy it. I haven’t been to it for a few years now, so when my wife suggested that she would go with me again (what was she thinking!! - and what was I thinking!!), I made last minute plans to attend with friends from the Niagara area. Since my 67 GTO is sitting in my garage waiting for me to replace it’s fuel pump, fuel lines, and potentially the feed from the gas tank – I ultimately decided to take the 69 convertible. In order to make the trip safely, I needed to replace my tires with new rubber. The car was now in good condition to go...

Believe it or not, while the car is a fair size - it can only handle so much luggage in the trunk... Annette, are you reading this? ;-) I packed my customary tools, some cleaning supplies, and a fresh pair of underwear. After I managed to squeeze her stuff in - we were off!

Well, we got as far as past the airport (about 30 miles) when I noticed major smoke behind me while passing a garbage truck. I quickly cut people off to pull off the highway. After opening the hood, I found the inside coated with a nice layer of hot oil. It shouldn't rust now! The problem was that I couldn't find the source with all the smoke. Grabbed the tools and started tightening the valve covers, which is where I suspected the oil was coming from. A quick call to the Niagara crew supported that assumption. I dried off as much as possible, and headed on to the next highway exit. Everything seemed fine, so we continued.

While we were winging it down toward the border, I heard a loud engine approaching from the distance - similiar to an airplane approaching at a very fast speed. I had a similiar experience on the Autobaun in Germany, but you are never prepared for this. We were moving along at about 60-70 mph (110-120 kph) when a Porshe turbo Carrera BLEW by us. Our walkie-talkie immediately burst to life. We agreed that the guy had to be doing in "excess" of 150 MPH!!! Awesome. I know where he was heading!

The border sucked - as always. These cars, or passengers, don't tolerate mile(s) long traffic jams and very hot conditions. Andy overheated just before the border. Without a cell phone or walkie-talkie, we didn't have a clue what happened to him as we would have to re-cross the border and go through the line to hopefully track him down. For all we knew, he could have been enjoying a cavity search at the border. We waited for about a half-hour when he finally showed up. Seems he also ran low on gas.

Oh, and by the way - guess who we caught up to at the border!! Yup, the Porshe...




And that wasn't to be the only problem. Larry and Jill's Lemans was running hot and stalling. Seemed that the engine was starving for fuel. A not so-quick stop at a local auto supply store for hoses to bypass the filter fixed the problem. Following is a shot of Larry in his natural position on his back...



These guys are always teasing me about using a GPS to navigate us on these trips. In this case, instead of taking us along the last stretch of highway, she (yes, she) brought us through a street toward our destination. I think that she intentionally re-routed us so that we would stop at that auto supply store, where Milt Shornack just happened to be picking up some supplies. What an honour to meet one of the Pontiac legends. He was kind enough to drive home and give Larry a fuel pump in case that turned out to be the problem.

Well, we finally made it to the hotel. What should have been a 5 hour trip ended up being a 10 hour trip.... The next day it rained, so we hit the fabric store - which is one of my wife's passions. Did I mention anything about the size of the trunk? ;-) Did I mention rain? And rain? And rain? It finally cleared up toward the evening on Saturday, and the streets of Woodward quickly started to flood with people and cars.

I will re-post this blog as more pictures make it this way. I've heard that it is illegal to take pictures while you are driving...