Thursday morning our first stop was at the beautiful Meadow Brook Hall. This 110 room Tudor style estate was built between 1926 and 1929 by Matilda Dodge Wilson and her second husband lumber baron Alfred Wilson. Her first husband was John Dodge of Dodge brother’s fame who had passed away at a young age. Our tour at Meadow Brook took us through the home and we were amazed at the craftsmanship involved in the construction. It was the kind of change of pace that we enjoy on many of our Road Tours.
After lunch we headed to Pontiac and the new M1 Concourse. We were greeted by Brad Oleshansky who had the vision to start such a massive undertaking. Located on the site of a former GM test facility, M1 now is home to what is described as “Car Heaven on Earth” Construction has been completed on phase one of high end private garages which are basically condos for cars. Phase one is sold out at $80,000 per unit. Phase II units are available at $180,000 each. The prices go up from there. It is important to keep in mind that these are not ordinary garages.
Also on the property is a 1.5 mile road course that is available to the garage owners. Plans are in the works for a retail area for shops and restaurants. There are plenty of auto related events in the planning stages for M1. While we were visiting workers were getting ready for the huge Roadkill Nights event that was scheduled to take place on Friday and include drag racing on Woodward Avenue in front of M1. It was an interesting visit with Brad and the plans for M1 are fascinating. We appreciated the time that he spent with us on Thursday.
On Friday we had our final drivers meeting. Many of the Road Tourians headed back up to the M1 Concourse for the Roadkill event. Others headed down to Ferndale to visit the Ford Performance display and Mustang Alley on 9 Mile Road. The activities on Woodward were really gearing up by Friday afternoon and our parking area and hospitality tent were ready in Memorial Park in Royal Oak. The Roadkill event brought out thousands of spectators to M1 and the drag racing was hot by all accounts.
Saturday was the day we had been waiting for and the Woodward Dream Cruise was as great as ever. The weather was perfect and our special parking area was at ground zero for all of the excitement. With over 800 vehicles in Memorial Park there was plenty to see within walking distance. A mile north or south on Woodward gave you are real eye opening look at the scope of this event. One million people and over 50,000 special interest vehicles cruising and parking for 12 miles of Woodward Avenue is a sight to behold. The Autopalooza.org Road Tour was a fantastic week of fun and adventure and the Dream Cruise was the perfect way to top off the tour.
In less than two weeks we head to Nashville and then on the Pigeon Forge and the Shades of the Past Hot Rod Roundup which this year includes the Triple Crown of Rodding. The ARP/Street Rodder Road Tour summer rolls on with three more tours to go.
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