Thursday at the 2013 Dream Cruise

In Wednesday at the 2013 Dream Cruise, I reported that "WXYZ has returned to Woodward Avenue in Royal Oak to cover the Dream Cruise on location" and "[b]oth the classic cars and their admirers were already out in force."  That was even more true yesterday, as WXYZ showed in their location segment from yesterday's lunchtime broadcast, Passion draws dream cruisers together.

Nima Shaffe reporting on passion drawing dream cruisers together.

For more of the cars briefly glimpsed in the opening, here's the raw footage in Dream Cruise Cars.

Chopper camera flying over dream cruise cars.

As a smart aleck wrote in a comment, "so, are you buying any gas?"

WXYZ continued their coverage that evening with Rollin' down Woodward.

Jeff Vaughn rollin' down Woodward.

I'm already seeing a pattern, as Jeff Vaughn not only got to test-drive the new Mustang in the clip, but also test-drove an electric Smart Car in Ann Arbor earlier this week.  He also reported on Green Cars for Earth Day.  I suspect he'll be driving more cars for WXYZ in the future.

I drove down Woodward briefly yesterday afternoon, and the street view Vaughn and his camera operator is very much like the one I got then.  "America's Main Street" was already a parade of cars and spectators.  I also drove down Woodward today, and it's even busier.  Expect a report on today's cruising overnight tonight or early tomorrow.

Finally, note all the people from outside Metro Detroit and even out of state who are participating.  WXYZ expanded on that theme with Out-of-towners arriving to take part in the Dream Cruise.


The tourism angle is an important one for the local economy as well as the image of Metro Detroit.  It's also one that WXYZ likes to report, as seen in The Dream Cruise attracts visitors: Saturday at the 2012 Dream Cruise, Part 2.  If anything, people traveling here might be an even bigger story this year.