Wow! More egalitarian than the Marquette County Fair baking competition? More democratic than the contest to name the Pontiac G8 ST? I guess we've got to forgive Detroit Free Press cheerleader Mark Phelan for doing what he does best (as far as we know). And I suppose writing negatively about "the Cruise" (how str8 is that?) would be the very definition of "churlish." But forgive me for saying that Woodward's panoply of pistonheads isn't exactly my cup of leaded gasoline. It's just too painful to see so much rolling proof that a once-proud American industry has joined Fonzie in the Shark-Jumping Hall of Fame. The fact that Paul Eisenstein (my good pal from The Car Connection) has glommed-on to the event with an alt power parade does nothing to convince me that Detroit's glory days lie ahead. "'If it's loud and fast, it's good,' said 19-year-old Alex Bui of White Lake Township. He planned to cruise in his tuned 2006 Honda Civic." And there you have it.
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Wow I’m so shocked you’re writing something negative about the Dream Cruise. (I’m being sarcastic) Do you like anything? This site should be called TheTruthAboutHaters. You make fun of Detroit’s “cheerleaders” but how is their unwavering optimism any worse than you’re unwavering pessimism?
joe_thousandaire :
Wow I’m so shocked you’re writing something negative about the Dream Cruise. (I’m being sarcastic) Do you like anything? This site should be called TheTruthAboutHaters. You make fun of Detroit’s “cheerleaders” but how is their unwavering optimism any worse than you’re unwavering pessimism?
I don’t hate. OK, I do. But only hypocrisy, unbridled greed and incompetence. And not necessarily in that order.
And yes, cheerleading is worse. It’s soooo facile. Besides, as Benjamin Franklin said, it’s better to be a pessimist and pleasantly surprised than to be an optimist and constantly disappointed.
I don’t think Wagoner, Mulally, Nardelli, Goshn, Watanabe, Wiedeking, or Reithofer are going to be driving down Woodward with their corporate flags waving. Instead, you have regular car owners who like cars coupled with an audience of people who like to look at cars. I would hope that these pedestrian-gearheads do not represent the unbridled greed and incompetence of a few people that most feel fit to vilify for the woes in Detroit.
Benjamin Franklin was also a proactive individual who was not content to sit on the sidelines. He was not merely content in writing criticism of the status quo – but acted to make the changes in the venues where he was passionate. His legacy shows that he didn’t use pessimism as an excuse to preclude his interest in making change. He simply held realistic expectations. You could easily make the argument that constant criticism of all things is also facile. The potential benefit of the Best and Brightest are still squandered if all they do is take the easy path where they resort to only writing thoughts and criticism. To add value, there must be an effort to enter the playing field and navigate to a position to make an impact.
Don’t get me wrong, there can be a constructive level of pessimism since it prevents expectations from getting out of hand. But the Dream Cruise is hardly an exhibition of the banner waving of the “dying Detroit.” Where else do you see classic Porsches, R8s, and big block Chevys all intermingled?
RF – just enjoy the event and pretend you’re an 8 year old kid looking at some cool cars. It’s a good feeling.
Amen to what holydonut said about Ben Franklin, and another amen to what he said about the cars.
If it’s not actually more democratic than the Marquette Co. fair baking contest, it does at least draw people from farther away (few people from as far away as NC bother entering the baking contest) and it does draw a weird and wonderful array of motorized transport.
OK, Phelan is facile, (a facile journalist – I’m shocked, shocked…) but this is just a parade of owner’s rides. It’s a feel good event. It’s an outdoor rolling car show. How much depth is to be expected?
The American auto industry has jumped the shark, but that fact isn’t related to the dream cruise. This is the 14th Woodward Dream Cruise, and both Fonzie and the D3 jumped the shark long before 1995.
You’re an honest man – what you’ve written is churlish.
Robert,
You hit the mark so often that even people like us working in the US Auto industry log on, interact and enjoy what goes on TTAC. But maybe, just maybe, you should try to view the glass as half full once in a while.
I took my family down to Woodward for the very first time yesterday. After months of gruelling hard work, bad news, shock at losing friends and colleagues and unimaginable stress on our families, it was nice to be reminded that there is a world of cars and entusiasts out there who just love to see and be seen in great cars (from around the world by the way – anyone see the Mercedes 300SL Gullwing?!)
Keep up the good work TTAC – but remember, this industry has a soul and the vast majority of us working in this industry and observiing it, love it for that reason. Woodward reminds us of that fact. Best wishes,
Jamie1
Robert, I’m going to have to agree with holydonut and jamie1 on this one. I was down on Woodward on Wednesday and Saturday night, and had a ton of fun. Its normal people, enjoying their old cars in the street, for the one week that noise ordinances and “displays of speed” don’t seem to be on the cops radar.
I do think you need to lighten up just a little on this one. Where else will you see Ferraris, Fords, and the Fast and Furious crowds out together having fun forgetting they usually all hate each other? That right there could create peace in the middle east (ok, maybe not).
Now what you said about just being reminded of the US auto-industries once proud stance was true; I saw so many late sixties and early seventies mopars that I loved, then realized not much in their [Chrysler’s] current stable is exiting. But whereas I’m just a sideliner, perhaps the actual auto execs that stroll down will notice the same thing, and given a glimpse of a glorious past be challenged to do something about the future.
Speaking of Mopars, I am the only one who thought the percentage of Mopars on Woodward was highly disproportionate to the number of them actually sold (compared to Ford and GM) back in the day? Not that I’m complaining, but it did seem odd.
I’ll go out on a limb and say the cruise is better off without certain people. Let the true enthusiasts come out and enjoy the spectacle; the haters can sit at home and enjoy women’s handball on NBC.
I too was at the Dream Cruise, I’m never going back Birmingham or Royal Oak for the Dream cruise again.
It sucked, people were cruising in Golf carts that looked like classics, the right lanes were full of 2000 Chevy Impalas and Chevy Uplanders, along with other cars nobody cares about. People in ghey stock jeeps covered with every chrome accessory you can get for TJ were cruising. The dream cruise has lost its soul, its not about cars, its a carnival.
Next year i’ll probably try out Pontiac, or just drive up to Flint where the cars are parked and you can look at them on the Bricks.
Whoever dreamed up the colour scheme for that car must have been on one hell of a trip – Yuk