2002 Dream Cruise Day Two

by Mark Phelan

Get all the 2002 Dream Cruise coverage here:
2002 Woodward Dream Cruise (8/16/2002)

With a full 24 hours to go before the Woodward Dream Cruise officially begins, metropolitan Detroit’s main north-south artery was already lined with viewing stands, corporate events, and cars ranging from scrupulously detailed vintage Ferraris to owner-restored Nash Ramblers. Cruisers and spectators spent Friday mingling and staking out their places for the weekend celebration of cranky old cars and the people who love them. Stay tuned tomorrow for more from Saturday’s cruising. – text and photos by Mark Phelan

Mustang Ranch
A herd of vintage Mustangs on the edge of the Ford paddock in downtown Birmingham. The yellow 1971 Mach 1 features a 429 cubic-inch V-8. It is one of just 626 1971 Mustangs built with that engine. Michael Troell of Garden City, Michigan bought the car “as is” two years ago. The blue 1970 Shelby Cobra Mustang convertible in the foreground features a 428 cubic-inch V-8.

Buick GNX
The blindingly fast turbocharged Buick GNX was one of the U.S. industry’s rare muscle cars in the 1980s. General Motors will be displaying this stock GNX at Athens Coney Island on Woodward Ave. a 1,000-hp GNX can be seen at GM’s pavilion in Royal Oak’s Memorial Park.

1957 Ford Fairlane Sunliner convertible
Owner Mark Schwartz, of West Bloomfield, Michigan, bought his Fairland in 1980 for $600. He paid $800 to have the car flat-bedded from Montana to Michigan, then bought a hardtop Fairlane for parts – including a 292 cubic-inch V-8 with a four-barrel carburetor – and spent the next eight years restoring the convertible. Schwartz says Ford built just one convertible Fairlane for every 10 of the cars it built with a retractable hardtop.

1959 Ford Fairlane Skyliner
Featuring Ford’s retractable hardtop, this Fairlane Skyliner sat in a back yard in Palm Springs, California for 13 years before owner Bob Marshall, of Plymouth, Michigan, bought it in 1983. He had it repainted, put in a new interior and rebuilt the engine and transmission. The car has its original engine, a 352 cubic-inch police interceptor V-8. It has about 166,000 miles on it.

Around the World in a ’49 Buick
This 1949 Buick Super Woody wagon completed an around the world in 80 days tour for vintage cars in 2000. The event began at London’s Tower Bridge May 1, 2000. The route ran south to Italy, then followed Marco Polo’s route along the Silk Road to Beijing. The 40 cars – ranging from 1960s European and US models to a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost – were airlifted to Anchorage, Alaska, and followed the Canadian Rockies down to Montana. They traveled east to the New York City area, and were airfreighted to Morocco. They toured North Africa, re-entered Europe in Spain, and finished the rally back in London July 18, 2000.

Anniversary Oldsmobile
This elaborate and beautiful chrome-laden dashboard was one of the hallmarks of the 1956 Oldsmobile Super 88 Holiday Coupe. Jim and Eleanor Sheldon, of Livonia, Michigan, bought the car in New Jersey a week before the 2002 Woodward Dream Cruise. A virtually identical Olds was the Sheldon’s first car when they were married in 1961. The Super 88 Holiday Coupe has a 324 cubic-inch 240-hp four-barrel Rocket V-8 with dual exhausts built into its chrome rear bumpers. The car has about 70,500 miles on its odomoter, and Jim Sheldon drove it from New Jersey to Michigan without incident.