2011 Woodward Dream Cruise – Mustang Alley
The highlight event of late summer in south-east Michigan is an event that any car enthusiast or motor head dreams of. If you’ve never heard of the Woodward Dream Cruise, imagine a rush hour traffic jam along a four lane wide road with traffic lights every mile. Sounds horrible doesn’t it? Okay, now replace all of those cars with badass muscle cars, classic cars, rare exotics, modern super cars, and the craziest things that can you imagine with wheels and a steering wheel. Oh, and also imagine them doing random burnouts and exhaust sound offs while spectators gaze on from the side of the street. This is the type of event that can only be expected from the Motor City that is Detroit. This is more than just your average American car show and cruise-in. The Dream cruise is so vast and infamous that it attracts people from all over the United States and Canada as approximately one million people attend each year to spectate and cruise. All of this is done in the interest of honoring the automobile and where people can showoff their rides and cruise the infamous Woodward Avenue along a route stretching from Pontiac to near downtown Detroit.
Along the route is the city of Ferndale, where every year Ford hosts an event simply known as Mustang Alley along 9 mile road. I’ve been to the Dream Cruise many times before, but never Mustang Alley. Essentially Mustang Alley is a massive meet up of Mustangs in the heart of downtown Ferndale along with Ford sponsored exhibits, music, raffles and fun for enthusiasts. The event is free for spectators and $20 for those wanting to park their Mustang diagonally on both sides of the street. By simply logging on to www.mustangalley.net and pre-registering your name and Mustang you were reserved a parking spot and were free to come and go as you pleased for whenever you felt like going cruising. After visiting Mustang Alley I can definitely say that if you’re a Mustang enthusiast this is an event you don’t want to miss.
Ford billboards along Woodward Avenue advertising the Mustang.
I arrived just after 8am and joined a traffic jam of Mustangs slowly pouring into downtown Ferndale. After finally parking I met up with a few friends from TMS (www.themustangsource.com) and walked up the street to check out the events. I really liked how the Mustang’s of different years were mixed together and it definitely made the walking much more interesting. At the center of the event was a massive Ford stand that included a selection of cars on display including a 2012 Boss 302 Laguna Seca in Grabber Blue, 2012 Cobra Jet, Boss race car, and a 2011 FRPP/Whipple supercharged Mustang 5.0 which would make runs on a dyno every half hour or so. There was also a Ford Racing tent where you could order certain parts such as axleback exhaust and you could even choose to have it installed by a Ford Racing team on a lift under an adjacent tent. Ford also had a small stand in the middle of the alley next to Woodward Avenue to show off the new Focus ST concept.
Towards the end of the day Ford raffled off a selection of prizes, most notable including a set of 19″ SVT GT500 wheels that came with struts, shocks and also front brakes, Boss 302 wheels and tires, and a very cool 2012 Boss 302 office chair. Around 5pm we left Mustang Alley and finally headed out for a cruise, unfortunately shortly after a severe thunderstorm rolled through and washed the cruise out for the rest of the afternoon and so we called it a day. Overall it was an awesome day and I highly recommend any car enthusiast make a trip to the Woodward Dream Cruise and Mustang Alley in Ferndale.
Photo’s I took at Mustang Alley 2011.
Website: www.woodwarddreamcruise.com
Website: www.mustangalley.net
Mustang clIQ 