August is the most important month on the calendar if you’re a car enthusiast in the United States, featuring both Monterey Car Week and the Woodward Dream Cruise. It’s a week of debuts, drives, and automotive drama. The only problem is that, historically, they’ve been on the same week.
Our pal Zack Klapman has done Monterey Car Week the last few years, but did a live show with The Smoking Tire at Woodward Dream Cruise for the first time. His take after going to Detroit was that it was the better car show for the 99%, which is to say most car enthusiasts.
It’s an interesting view, because I don’t think most of the people you find at Monterey Car Week are in the 1%, though the participants do skew wealthier.
Above is the full video podcast. If you want to listen to it, you can click the player below.
Alternatively, you can go to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or you can use the RSS feed and point your favorite Podcast player at it.
Car Week Or Dream Cruise?
“I think most people would enjoy being at Woodward, more than they would Car Week, especially once you’re over a certain age,” explains Zack on the most recent episode of Carbage Time.
[Ed Note: One of the cool things about Car Week is that there are designated shows, whereas Woodward involves lots of walking up and down that fabled street. So I bet old-timers might prefer Car Week, though I, as a Detroiter, personally am and have always been a Woodward Dream Cruise diehard. I used to go every night during the summer; I’d just drive whatever junker I had at the time, get some dinner, and sit on the side of that street, ogling at amazing machines. I miss it, which is why I’m so amped about next year! I really hope Pontiac still allows burnouts. -DT].
“There’s no tickets sold, there’s no line, there’s no wristband,” says Zack. “You can drive your car in the parade, or you can be a spectator on the side of the road with no restrictions.”
That’s true. I’ve never been to the WDC, though the videos I’ve watched make it seem like quite the scene. I also like the fact that you can participate, which is something we have figured out how to do at Car Week but is not easy.
What I like about Car Week is that there are just so many things to do, and probably the greatest collection of cars anywhere at any one time on the planet. The Quail is the new Geneva Motor Show, so it’s where all the new exotics are debuted. The Rolex Motorsports Reunion has remarkable race cars driving around on the track. Both the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and the Concours d’Lemons unearth some truly remarkable cars you rarely see.
Goodwood manages to capture a lot of Car Week vibes, and has the benefit of being more geographically compact, although it splits into two events: FOS and Revival.
So what am I doing next year? Both! The Concours moved a week early, which shifted Car Week, which means that it’s now possible to attend both events.
I was at the Pebble Beach thing for the first time this year and while it was amazing, it did get me thinking that the whole “distribution of wealth” thing in this country has gone completely haywire. Insane collectibles, McLarens and Ferraris clogging up the streets of town, and $40M for a car that no one likes. Sooner or later, the guillotines will come out.
Monterey has always been bashed as an elitist thing – and, mostly, it is! Just look at the photos from the Pebble Beach show (the people, not the cars…). But, weirdly, over the past decade, what was once the “co-anchor” event of “The Week” has morphed into borderline obscurity, and that’s the vintage racing at Laguna Seca. First off, Laguna is an amazing track, and very good for spectators. Then, since there are about 18 different race groups (split between Friday and Saturday), there is a vintage car for everyone. Want America Muscle? They’re all over the place: in 100%-muscle Trans Am race, and they ate also scattered in other race groups. And there are the American-Muscle-powered Can-Am and Formula 5000 racer cars. Want some European flavor? There are Porsches, Alfas, Bizzarinnis, Alpines, Ferraris, etc scattered among the street car classes. Every other year they have Formula One or Formula Junior or Formula Atlantic. And the pit/paddock area is open to the pubic, so you can right up-close-and-personal – and some of the car owners love chewing the far about their cars. And the tickets are a relative bargain. You get to see 500 amazing, super-cool vintage race cars in one spot! And – best part: they’re not parked on a lawn, they’re being raced on one of the coolest tracks in the world! Now, definitely one key element that makes Car Week so horrible – and seemingly only for rich folks – is the hotel prices. But, a hotel in Salinas is a 30-minutes-outside-of-town solution – as is camping at …Laguna Seca (if you can get a spot which is not easy).
Sadly, the Dream Cruise has turned into a bloated, obese, obtuse, overwrought, overweight, over-commercialized crowded cluster fuck of insane inane stupidity.
There was a Waffle House style brawl this year at Duggan’s Irish Pub.
Some nosepicker in a truck ran red light and broadsided another vehicle.
It’s out of control.
But all is not lost.
We locals know you don’t go to the Dream Cruise on Saturday. You go the week leading up to it.
This may be correct, but I will point out that if the 1% are 49% of the attendees, they are still drastically over-represented while still not being “most” of the people.
The Dream Cruise is for anyone and everyone. There is a little bit of something to tickle everyones fancy. Want exotics? Got it. Want classics? Got it. Want a Delorean? How about 6 in a row? V8 Swapped BMW Isetta? Got it. I even saw a furry driving a 90s Buick!
I grew up in the Detroit metro area and got my license back when the Woodward Dream cruise was just “cruising.” I left the area in the early 80’s and keep meaning to get back there some day, but something always seems to get in the way. Oh well, maybe next year.
Did somebody just call a Studebaker Avanti ugly?
First car I fell in love with!
Guess you had to be there…
No one walks up and down Woodward, you drive until you find your friends then park and watch everyone else drive. When I lived two blocks froom Woodward I would walk to it, across the street to the park with the small show, then mill around before walking back home. Every other year I’ve driven whatever I had at the time, and ratty old XJ, Scion tC, Saturn Ion, either of my Civics, even a Jeep Compass.
I’ve been saying this for years. Don’t get me wrong I like a Concours style events. I miss the American Concours at St Johns and Eyes on Design is an amazing show.
It comes down to the editorial department of the Autopian. Even when some of them worked for Jalopnik I always thought there was a preference to go to Monterey rather than The Woodward Dream Cruise. I always disagreed with that because Dream cruise is an event for the people, Monterey is a high class, high grade show and I feel like some staff just wants to be around celebrities and cars are a secondary topic.
That seems a little unfair, given the cars present in Monterey. There won’t be a Bugatti Royale or three Alfa BAT cars at the WDC. Or a lineup of IMSA race cars or a one-off Mercedes concept car or…etc. Yes, it’s crazy expensive to go to the Councours and it’s a pain in the ass just to find a hotel room in the area. But the cars truly are amazing.
No most of the things you mentioned are more likely to be at Eyes on Design Nice one day event on Fathers day in Grosse Pointe. Though I did see a Stirling Moss SLR at the Troy Traffic Jam
I grew up in Metro Detroit, so I’ve been to the Dream Cruise probably a dozen times. My Dad would take my brother and me every year. It’s awesome. So approachable. I remember one year in particular; he had a 1996 Plymouth Grand Voyager (it must have been 2002 or thereabouts) that was his vehicle when Mom got a new Caravan. Dad drove us in the Dream Cruise with the sliding doors open (we were buckled in, of course). That was just about the coolest thing my 11-year old self could imagine. The Dream Cruise is awesome and I highly recommend it.
Never been to Car Week; at this point in my life, I could take it or leave it.
Short Dream Cruise Rant:
I live and grew up within walking distance of Woodward, and have been there for the beginning.
At first, it was fantastic. Very organic, down to earth, everyone there for a good time. I used to have a 1970 Electra 225 convertible, so it was the definition of the perfect cruiser.
Then, the event got bigger, a little more corporate. Ford used to take over downtown Birmingham, and then on Old Woodward, just a gumball machine of cars on display, all makes, models, etc. Stunning.
But the cruising itself started to get harder. It started to become a great big traffic jam. I once made the mistake of trying to ride a 1971 R75/5 in the cruise, and all I was doing was hurting my hand and baking over a hot idling engine. People would be doing burnouts, and inevitably, someone would always lose control and crack up what was once a nice car.
The cruise started to become a week long affair, which was and is actually pretty cool. We’d go out in the evenings, and it was like the old days.
Circa 2016, it really started to get political. Then you also get stuck in that traffic jam, and can’t see a goddamn thing because you’re behind or next to a monster truck with trump jizz all over it blocking the views, and reminding everyone that there’s always someone who comes to a party to ruin it. I think it was last year that there was a huge display at the old Burger King on the east side of Woodward near 13 mile, like a flatbed that had a trump diorama that played “battle hymn of the republic” on a loop.
The first year of the pandemic, IIRC, the official cruise was cancelled, but again, because the Cruise became a week long affair, and people were in the cars anyway, people still were out cruising. But the Oakland County Republican Party co-opted what would have been the Dream Cruise and called for a MAGA cruise in support of trump and some other republican candidate. So fuck that. They took an event where the only debate should have been “Ford vs. Chevy” and turned it into more trump bullshit, and the act of showing up would be taken as support for MAGA and a protest of some kind.
It did used to be about the cars, and a celebration of Woodward, and it still is, but damn, people, it’s like we can’t have nice things…
Man, I agree with this. I’m local to the area too and actually skipped the Dream Cruise for MANY years, especially around the MAGA times. The last 3 years now I’ve been back, and just this year my crew and I noticed a lack of Trump and other Christian Nationalist propoganda (like abortion billboards and demonstrators for all the kids to see….) there was hardly any of it. I saw 1 DJT flag the entire day, and we camp at 14 and Woodward so pretty much see most of it.
It was refreshing. It’s still VERY crowded, and I say the best times to go are the week leading up to it including Friday and Friday night. It’s worth another shot I think you’ll dig it.
I grew up near Monterey so Car Week has been there my whole life and I can drive there. Woodward is something I really want to experience at some point even though its across the country from me.
Old David: Woodward!
New David: Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? Monterey.
Anonymous Person: Elcofest!
I grew up through the Muscle Car era and never was really interested in cruising or burnouts. Uncatalyzed exhaust gives me a headache and makes my eyes burn. So, I guess it would be MCW for me. Certainly not both within days of each other. The truth is I will probably never go to either. But I do like reading about them.
How many front engined Fieros did you see during car week? Advantage Woodward
Woodward Cruise, It’s free, no registration, variety of cars of all sorts.
I feel like Goodwood is most up my alley, although between Woodward and Car Week it’s definitely Car Week. I grew up in muscle car country and I’m largely over it as I’ve seen enough tri-fives, Chevelles, Mustangs, Corvettes, and the like for a lifetime. With Car Week I’ve got the Vintage Historics and Concours d’Lemons at a very minimum and I do appreciate the Bugattis, Duesenbergs, Hispano-Suizas, and the like even if I know they are permanently out of reach.
I went to Goodwood for the vintage days, and it was… unreal. You’ll never go to any event ever again and think it’s good. It will ruin you in the best way.
Right now my must-see car-events each year include the 12-hour of Sebring in March, Vintage Torquefest in Dubuque in May, the Goodguys show in Des Moines near July 4th, the Concours d’Elegance show also in Des Moines, the 6-hour at Road America the first weekend in August, and two distinct local small-town show-and-shines in the Fall.
Sounds like I need to add a couple more to the calendar!
How about both of them, even if it takes multiple years to check them off? Add Speed Week at Bonneville while you’re at it… All are special in their own ways and each has its own appeal.
Meh.
Supporting your local Cars and Coffee is where it’s at.
You wanna travel?
Go to a Cars and Coffee in a town an hour or so away and meet a bunch of new people.
support your local cars shows or there will not be one
I’ve been thinking about this too. Living in San Diego, Car Week is much easier to get to and sure enough I’ve been twice. Also it’s an entire week as opposed to Woodward being one day.
Both times I’ve attended Car Week as a regular schlub slumming it to free or cheap events and I still had a good time. That said, high dollar hypercars and pre-war stuff doesn’t interest me much so it was mostly semi-old iron that got my attention.
Which is why I think I’d really enjoy Woodward, plus the reasons Zack mentioned. Lots more stuff that is up my alley. But, it’s much harder for me to get to.
I want to sell my Lemons car next year and I’m going to try to make it road legal and take it to one of these two events. Both seems unlikely.
What?! I’ll remind you that this year you were there as part of a multiple-trophy-winning* team** that swept aside all*** of the competition at two of the most prestigious**** events of the entire week!
*Two.
**Of two.
***Not even remotely true.
****See previous note.
Officially, the Dream Cruise is one day (3rd Saturday in August), but I always get there AT LEAST on Thursday evening. There’s so much going on in the build-up that it’s much more than the one day. In fact, many years my favorite part of it is Friday night.
You don’t really have to walk a lot if you don’t want to. I’ve brought people who weren’t overly mobile, and they had a helluva good time.
I absolutely love going to the Woodward Dream Cruise.
when I lived in Metro Detroit my wife got mad at me because I would go to woodward every night that week