[PICS] The Corvettes of the 2022 Woodward Dream Cruise

Aug 22, 2022

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[PICS] The Corvettes of the 2022 Woodward Dream Cruise

Photo CreditS: Steve Burns

In the metro Detroit area, the 3rd Saturday in August is essentially a holiday. It marks the high point of the summer for many gearheads. That mid-August Saturday is the annual home of the Woodward Dream Cruise.

The Dream Cruise began nearly 30 years ago as a fundraiser for a Ferndale ball field. It was a way to celebrate the car culture and the city that put the world on wheels. From its humble beginnings, the Dream Cruise quickly morphed into the world’s largest 1-day car event.

The event takes place over an 8-mile stretch along each side of historic Woodward Avenue. Woodward was the first paved road in the U.S. In the muscle car era, it became famous for cruising in whatever ride you had. Cruising morphed into the occasional “performance test” between stop lights. It wasn’t uncommon to see metal from the Big 3 like Hemi’s, L88’s, Cobra’s, and more lurking the avenue seeking their next victim.

Cruising Woodward fizzled out as the muscle car era faded but stormed back in 1994 when the Dream Cruise was born. As we mentioned, the event officially falls on the 3rd Saturday of August, but eager cruisers hit the streets days, weeks, and even months ahead of that. On the day of the actual event, you’ll find an estimated 40,000 collector cars and nearly 1,000,000 people taking it all in. Cars can be found on the Avenue, parked in lots along the route, in city parks, and downtown areas. Finding words to fully describe a 16-mile, multi-city rolling car event are hard to come by.

Our 2022 visit took us back to our preferred stomping grounds of Royal Oak and Birmingham. After hitting Corvettes and Woodward last Wednesday and cruising the streets on Friday, we spent cruise day on foot wandering our way from 13 Mile to 15 Mile and back. Early day weather was nearly perfect with a mix of sun and clouds. As the temps rose, so did the humidity, which spawned some late-day showers. Even with the intermittent rain, crowds remained strong all day long.

Corvettes were everywhere this year. It seemed like every time you looked up, another of Zora’s offspring was driving by. We spied Corvettes from every generation, but C8s made up most of the cars we saw this year.

Chevrolet Performance was set up in their usual spot in Royal Oak and showed off all the latest goodies for Corvettes, Camaros, and trucks. Their display included a 2023 Z06 and a Stingray cutaway display as well. Chevrolet itself was set up further up the street with their EV lineup right along Woodward. Behind that, their Corvette Z06 and Corvette Evolution displays were stuffed full of people all day long. The Z06 stage featured a pair of new Z06s for the crowds to ogle. Periodically patrons were treated to the siren song of the LT6 revving its brains out.

We say it every time, but if you’ve never been to the Woodward Dream Cruise, you owe it yourself to get there. It’s truly like nothing else you’ve ever experienced. Until then, enjoy our 2022 Woodward Dream Cruise gallery below.