Thanks to my good friend Warren Cosford, who invited our family to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, for the weekend, we were able to attend the fourth annual Woodward Dream Cruise, across the river in Detroit.

The Dream Cruise promised 10,000 hot cars from all over the U.S. and Canada. Typically, the event is attended by 750,000 people. No doubt, this would be the largest, most impressive collection of Detroit iron ever gathered in one place at one time.

Warren, his seven year old son Dylan, my ten year old, Mark, and I arrived at the gates of the State Fairgrounds in Ferndale at 8:00 a.m., ready to beat the throngs who would arrive later.

A lone security officer at the gates told us the gates wouldn't open until 9:00. The Dream Cruise home page had said 8:00 a.m., so he used his two-way to call the organizer, who came to the gate and apologized for the error and reaffirmed, with regret, that the gates would open only at 9:00. Disappointing, but we weren't leaving just because someone key-punched an 8 instead of a 9.

Mark, Warren and Dylan

We decided to hang out with the gathering crowd. As we waited and chatted with the people around us, we could see, through a wire fence, the approach road to the fairgrounds, and the officials directing the entry of display vehicles.

The rumble and crackle of a full tilt street-Hemi signalled the arrival of a '69 Plymouth Barracuda. This was going to be good!

A couple of hundred 50s and 60s cars rolled into the fairgrounds while we watched.

Classic '55, '56, and '57 Thunderbirds, 427 cammer Fairlanes, Shelby Mustangs and AC Shelby Cobra replicas gave a hint of what was to come from the Ford camp.

MOPAR fans wouldn't be disappointed either. Super Commando Belevedere GTXs, Daytona Chargers, Hemi 'Cudas, Challenges, 340 Swingers and the odd late model Viper or Prowler pulled in.

One bad sounding (remember, that means good) early Corvette made it's way to the display area around 8:30, joining the frey with a split-window '63, a '65 String Ray and later 'vettes.

Finally, the gates opened and the crowd spilled onto the fairgrounds, ready to begin a day filled with cruisin' machines of the highest order.

Meanwhile, the boys were already hungry, so it was off to the concessions.