I attended the Woodward Dream Cruise held annually the middle of August in Detroit. The cruise stretches about eight mile from the Detroit suburb of Ferndale on Nine Mile and Woodward to Pontiac through about seven or eight communities. The event attracts over 1.4 million spectators and participants and attracts enthusiasts from allover the world. The actual date for the Woodward Dream Cruise is Saturday, August 15, but people start cruising Woodward Ave and its ten north and south lanes as early as Monday. Each day and night the number of cool cars increases with all sorts of vehicles from Model Ts to the latest Mustangs. The cruise represents all that is great about the Motor City.

Many companies hold open house to celebrate the week and we visited Classic Design Concepts on Wednesday night. The company's new headquarters is impressive as well as all the vehicles CDC has designed and built. Founder and President George Huisman has built a fantastic company, his exceptional styling is evident in all the company's products.  The open house was well attended with good food, good people and lots of interesting vehicle to check out.

Mustang Racing Technologies held their annual open house the Friday prior to the official day of the Woodward Dream Cruise. Since its founding in late 2002, President Scott Hoag has built MRT into a very impressive company offering high performance parts and service to Mustang and performance Ford owners. The MRT H-Pipe designed and engineered by Hoag who just happens to be a graduate engineer and former Mustang and Mach1 Program Manager at Ford, is impressive and puts out more horsepower than competitive X-Pipes. It also produces an awsome sound.

Since 1999 Ford has partnered with the City of Ferndale and sponsored Mustang Alley on Nine Mile. Always a fun event with car shows, great displays and live entertainment, Mustang Alley gets better each year thanks to Ford and people like Robert Parker, Fritz Wilke, Steve Ling and a host of volunteers. I had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Jim Farley, Ford Global Marketing Manager. During all the years I worked on the Ford business with J. Walter Thompson, Ford Division's communication agency, I never met a member of Ford Motor Company's senior management that was anywhere near the car guy Jim Farley. A true enthusiast,he loves performance vehicles, is a very astute marketer and one of the reasons Ford is introducing so many new products like the 2010 Mustang, Taurus, Taurus Sho, Fusion Sport, F-150 SVT Raptor. He truly understands the business and loves to talk enthusiasts, sine he is one himself. I was really fired up about Ford Motor Company and all its great products after spending time with Jim Farley. With Farly leading the marketing charge the present and future looks and is extremely bright.

The Woodward Dream Cruise is an event every enthusiast should attend at least once.