Woodward Dream Cruise 2022 gets ready to rock, roll and rumble

Table Of Content

• So, where should I park? 🚗
• WXYZ Editorial: Why the Woodward Dream Cruise is so important to Detroit
• Dream Cruise takes place each year on the third Saturday in August
• Local man showcases restored 1972 Pontiac Firebird at the Woodward Dream Cruise
• Dinner date! This gift card lets you dine at Planet Hollywood, Bertucci’s, and more, now starting at $20.
• How to get SMART bus rides during the Woodward Dream Cruise?

Ferndale is also home to Mustang Alley, a sprawling buffet of every generation of the iconic pony car — and the largest car show on the 16-mile stretch of the Dream Cruise. In addition, the event website shared a Facebook account where the community shares more information about where visitors can find parking and other events. SMART bus encourages passengers to plan ahead before their trips due to possible delays leading up to the cruise and the day of the event. Attendees can hop on a free SMART dream cruise shuttle from 8 Mile to Pontiac.

So, where should I park? 🚗

In August 1995, Nelson House and a group of volunteers looked 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 highway. Groups like Tri Five are the backbone of the Cruise, with members attending in 2020 during the pandemic even as risk-averse corporations backed out with the official event canceled. With the pandemic in the rearview mirror, Posey says Tri Fivers from all over the country will be coming this year, including members from Florida and New York.

WXYZ Editorial: Why the Woodward Dream Cruise is so important to Detroit

The event caps off a week of festivities — starting with Roadkill Nights in Pontiac Aug. 13 — that includes charity events, car club parades and the Detroit Three showing off their latest wares. The Woodward Dream Cruise is the world’s largest one-day celebration of classic car culture that attracts over 1 million visitors, and more than 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, custom, collector and special interest vehicles. Behind the Woodward grandstands, attendees can also enjoy a variety of experiences on M1’s 87-acre property. Take a tire-smoking, tail-wagging, supercharged Dodge Hellcat thrill ride on M1’s 1.5-mile race track and skid pad. Or ogle displays of Metro Detroit's finest hot rods, muscle cars and trick trucks while noshing a hot dog and cola. Every year, the event draws in about 1.5 million people who can expect to see over 400,000 cars, including muscle, street rods, custom builds, collector cars and special edition vehicles participating in the cruise.

Dream Cruise takes place each year on the third Saturday in August

We're revving our engines, getting ready for the cruise. In addition to the photo galleries, videos, and news you'll find here, watch for live coverage Dream Cruise week on 7 Action News. The Woodward Dream Cruise is a spectacular experience to drive, or, merely watch and marvel from the sidelines.

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Ferndale officially kicks off the Dream Cruise on Friday, Aug. 19, with its annual Emergency Vehicle Show, 5 p.m. In addition to those familiar events, Ferndale will also have a Storyland of Floats featuring Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade floats, live rock music and an electric go-kart play zone for the rug rats. Rain or shine, the official event is the highlight of an unofficial summer of cruising along “America’s main street” as enthusiasts gather to celebrate the automobile on weeknights and weekends. The Cruise really gets rockin’ a week before with Motor Trend Presents Roadkill Nights Powered by Dodge at M1 Concourse in Pontiac. Prior to the organizing of the Dream Cruise residents of the west side of Detroit and the western Detroit suburban communities had been cruising Woodward Avenue since the 1940s.

On Friday and Saturday at West 12 Mile, official Woodward Dream Cruise merchandise will be available for purchase all day. The cruise runs along a 16-mile route through Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills, Bloomfield Township, Ferndale, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Pleasant Ridge and Pontiac in Oakland County. Learn more about the Woodward Dream Cruise at the official event website. Pfaff will be on a panel at the Dream Show including designers Kevin Byrd, Adam Genei, and Steve Mank. Tickets for the Show are $50 if you are over 18 years of age, $25 for 13-17, and free for kids under 12.

Birmingham — Here comes Detroit’s annual auto-palooza. The Woodward Dream Cruise was founded in 1995 and goes through nine Oakland County communities along 16 miles of Woodward Avenue. The event will happen on Saturday, Aug. 19, from 9 a.m. Food and drinks will be available for purchase on-site; no outside food and drink will be allowed. Official cruise merchandise will be available for purchase there as well. Pre-registering is available online or on the day of, sign-up will be available at  Shrine Catholic High School.

Dinner date! This gift card lets you dine at Planet Hollywood, Bertucci’s, and more, now starting at $20.

Passengers can board at any RED SMART or FAST bus stops along Woodward. To 5 p.m., this car show will take place in the Walgreens lot at Woodward Ave.  and surrounding streets like Haynes to Adams Road, Worth Street to Woodward and Webster Street to Adams Road. Birmingham shops will be open, and there will be sponsor exhibits for spectators to enjoy. Auto enthusiasts from all over the world, including New Zealand, Japan and Australia, flock to the cruise annually for a taste of car history in Michigan. There are all sorts of events throughout the weekend, starting Friday. They come out to cruise Woodward every year for the Dream Cruise with this '46 Chevy truck.

How to get SMART bus rides during the Woodward Dream Cruise?

The ad hoc cruising caused traffic jams on many summer evenings, automobile accidents and included many cruisers drinking and driving. With the organizing of the Dream Cruise most of these bad influences simply disappeared. Car enthusiasts can enjoy some classic cars before the main event from noon to 7 p.m. Anyone can participate although, those not driving a classic car are asked to stay out of the two right lanes nearest to the curb. Ford will have a second display in Berkley, where it traditionally shows off its latest performance vehicles.

The Dream Cruise is one of the largest outdoor automotive events in the world, drawing more than 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars from around the world. It links together nine cities on America’s oldest highway. Other community events along the route include a classic car parade in Berkley and the Pontiac Classic Car Show on Friday, and a Saturday Ford Bronco Show in Pleasant Ridge.

The show will feature over 50 Fords dating to 1932,  nearly 30 Lincolns and Firebirds, over 100 Corvettes, and more than 50 American classic hot rods. Visitors will be able to purchase food, and official Woodward Dream Cruise merchandise all day. It began as an effort by Nelson House plus a group of volunteers seeking to raise money for a soccer field in Ferndale. They also wanted to re-create the nostalgic era of the 1950s and '60s, with music and cars roaming down Woodward. The first year brought in 250,000 people and has grown each year since then. Big-finned Caddys, classic Corvettes, souped-up dragsters, and even the venerable 1997 Honda Civic Type R, which turns 25 this year, will be lined up bumper-to-bumper Saturday for the 27th annual Woodward Dream Cruise.

This year, kids will get in free, live music is expected and there will be shaded seating for 1,000 guests. In addition, there will be a live reveal about noon of Mobsteel's Lincoln Coupe. Mobsteel is a design company that focuses on manufacturing automotive aftermarket products.

Parallel to the M1 Concourse Car Club at the intersection of South Boulevard, Pontiac closes down a section of Woodward for street legal drag racing. Some of the country’s top drag racers are invited to bring out their rocket ships — past participants have included everything from dragsters to V-8-powered Priuses — for a daylong competition down a 1/8-mile track. The Woodward Dream Cruise is an annual automotive enthusiast event held in the northern suburbs of Detroit. Held each year on the third Saturday in August, the Cruise runs along Woodward Avenue, a major thoroughfare in the region, from Ferndale to Pontiac. Ushering in more than 1 million people and roughly 40,000 classic street machines to the region, spectators will line up along Woodward Avenue for a stretch spanning nine Oakland County communities this weekend. Today, the cruise takes over metro Detroit's most famous road as people flock to see classics, oddities and more.