Latest news with #WoodwardDreamCruise
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Michigan 'thrills n wheels' top Readers' Choice Awards. 5 attractions to check out
Five Michigan locations featuring "Thrills 'n' Wheels" have received recognition in USA TODAY's 10BEST Readers' Choice Awards for 2025. The Battle Creek Field of Flight air show, Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, Detroit Boat Show, Woodward Dream Cruise and Michigan International Speedway all were selected among the best places for car, air and boat enthusiasts. Here's a look at the top 10 in each category, and how Michigan attractions ranked: 1. Airshow London (London, Ontario) 2. Mid-Atlantic Air Museum's World War II Weekend (Reading, Pennsylvania) 3. Wings Over Houston Airshow (Houston, Texas) 4. Battle Creek Field of Flight (Battle Creek, Michigan) 5. Cleveland National Air Show (Cleveland, Ohio) 6. Florida International Air Show (Punta Gorda, Florida) 7. EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) 8. San Francisco Fleet Week Air Show (San Francisco, California) 9. TBM Avenger Reunion (Peru, Illinois) 10. MCAS Miramar Air Show (San Diego, California The Battle Creek Field of Flight, a midsummer aviation show and balloon festival, was considered the fourth-best air show among USA TODAY readers. For five days, spectators enjoy air shows of military and civilian aircraft, a twilight and night air show (among the largest in the nation), fireworks, concerts, a carnival, and hot air balloon launches. Field of Flight is an air show and balloon festival rolled into one — the largest of its kind in North America, USA TODAY noted. 1. Savoy Automobile Museum (Cartersville, Georgia) 2. National Corvette Museum (Bowling Green, Kentucky) 3. Revs Institute (Naples, Florida) 4. America's Transportation Experience / AACA Museum (Hershey, Pennsylvania) 5. National Automobile Museum (Reno, Nevada) 6. Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) 7. Museum of American Speed (Lincoln, Nebraska) 8. Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation (Dearborn, Michigan) 9. Petersen Automotive Museum (Los Angeles, California) 10. America's Car Museum (Tacoma, Washington) Named the eighth-best attraction for car lovers, the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation was started by one of the pioneers of the U.S automotive industry, Henry Ford, in 1929. The museum exhibits include flight, railroad, agriculture and automobile showcases, highlighting innovation and ingenuity in the transportation industry. 1. Newport Beach International Boat Show (Newport Beach, California) 2. Palm Beach International Boat Show (West Palm Beach, Florida) 3. St. Petersburg Power and Sailboat Show (St. Petersburg, Florida) 4. Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) 5. Detroit Boat Show (Detroit, Michigan) 6. Newport International Boat Show (Newport, Rhode Island) 7. Discover Boating Atlantic City Boat Show (Atlantic City, New Jersey) 8. Annapolis Sailboat Show (Annapolis, Maryland) 9. Discover Boating Miami International Boat Show (Miami, Florida) 10. San Diego International Boat Show (San Diego, California) The Detroit Boat Show was listed No. 5 in the Best Boat Shows in the U.S. It includes live music, educational workshops, boat driving simulators and of course, boats, ranging from 10 feet to 55 feet. Additionally motors, boat accessories and trailers are available for purchase. 1. Cruisin' The Coast (Mississippi Gulf Coast) 2. Triple Crown of Rodding (Lebanon, Tennessee) 3. MSRA Back to the 50's Weekend (St. Paul, Minnesota) 4. The Amelia Concours d'Elegance (Amelia Island, Florida) 5. NSRA Street Rod Nationals (Louisville, Kentucky) 6. Renaissance Euro Fest (Ridgeland, Mississippi) 7. Iola Car Show (Iola, Wisconsin) 8. Woodward Dream Cruise (Detroit, Michigan) 9. Eastern Division AACA National Fall Meet (Hershey, Pennsylvania) 10. Hot August Nights (Reno, Nevada) The 16-mile cruise fills Woodward Avenue on the third Saturday of every August. In 1995, the Woodward Dream Cruise started as a small fundraiser to support a local soccer field. Today, it's one of the largest one-day automotive event with some 40,000 classic cars and more than 1 million people gathering each August. It ranks as the eighth-best car show in the U.S. 1. Pocono Raceway (Long Pond, Pennsylvania) 2. Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, New York) 3. Chicago Street Race (Chicago, Illinois) 4. Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Las Vegas, Nevada) 5. Atlanta Motor Speedway (Hampton, Georgia) 6. New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Loudon, New Hampshire) 7. Dover Motor Speedway (Dover, Delaware) 8. Michigan International Speedway (Brooklyn, Michigan) 9. Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee) 10. Talladega Superspeedway (Lincoln, Alabama) NASCAR fans are familiar with the Michigan International Speedway, the wide 18-degree banks of the 2-mile raceway are located in the Irish Hills of the Wolverine State. Ford-backed teams have historically dominated the track, but GM and Toyota have edged their way into Ford's territory and the race is as competitive as ever, according to USA TODAY. Readers ranked the Michigan track No. 8 in the country. The USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards highlights the very best travel, food, drink and lifestyle. The panel includes industry experts who nominate their favorite attractions across a range of categories. Editors then vet the nominations and set a final list of nominees to be presented to the voting public. Jalen Williams is a trending reporter at the Detroit Free Press. Contact him at jawilliams1@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Henry Ford Museum, Detroit Boat Show, Dream Cruise receive USA TODAY notice
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
The 10 Coolest Cars We Found in Ford's Official Heritage Fleet
Since its founding in 1903, the Ford Motor Company has churned out a vast array of iconic, historically significant, and boundary-pushing cars. Yet, shockingly, Ford didn't have an official collection of historic models in the United States until very recently. The automaker has now crafted the Ford Heritage Fleet and invited us to check out some the special vehicles it has gathered in Dearborn, Michigan. Ted Ryan, Ford Heritage brand manager, explained the collection's genesis. On a trip to England last year, CEO Jim Farley was blown away by the Heritage and Innovation Centre in Daventry, which commemorates Ford's history in the United Kingdom with a library of artifacts and more than 100 vehicles. The visit prompted Farley to email his American colleagues, imploring them to create a vehicular archive of the brand's history in its home country. The team started completely from scratch since Ford didn't have a tradition of holding onto vehicles in any organized way. Ryan began by writing a "collections policy," a guide to what vehicles to keep, what not to keep, and the key reasons for retaining significant vehicles. Then the team rounded up cars, finding them in warehouses, tucked away in back corners of factories, and attracting donations from Ford diehards. The intent of the Heritage Collection isn't to create a museum but rather to fashion a fleet of vehicles that can be used to tell the Ford story through marketing and other promotional activities. The fleet, which hides behind a nondescript door in the automaker's headquarters, will be used for employee events—such as bringing in designers for inspiration—and will be trotted out for major events, such as the Woodward Dream Cruise. The U.S. fleet joins the U.K. archive as well as collections in Germany and Australia tailored toward Ford's market-specific efforts in those countries. Ford will also use the fleet to document its most important vehicles and will upload additional content to its Heritage Vault website, a vast online database of photos, press releases, and brochures for nearly every vehicle Ford has built until the early 2000s. There were roughly 50 vehicles present when we visited, and while we could easily wax poetic about nearly every car there, we've distilled the following list to the most intriguing vehicles in the collection. This silver Mustang packs an unusual heart. Instead of the traditional V-8, this prototype features a 5.8-liter V-10 engine developed by a skunkworks team alongside the 2005 GT, as Ford mulled directly challenging the 10-cylinder Dodge Viper. The V-10 was crafted from a pair of 4.6-liter V-8s, with Ford chopping off the front two cylinders of one engine and attaching them to the other. Since Ford didn't have a dedicated engine control module for this motor, it used two separate processors—one for each bank of cylinders—and tuned the processors as if they were each controlling an inline-five. Ford said the project still runs, putting out about 400 horsepower and reportedly capable of some epic burnouts. The shiny Airstream concept was built in collaboration with the famous camper/trailer company of the same name, meant to emulate Airstream's iconic chrome mobile homes. The futuristic exterior—with cameras instead of sideview mirrors and asymmetrical doors—hid an equally forward-looking powertrain called HySeries Drive. This experimental setup was a plug-in-hybrid hydrogen fuel cell, which drove the wheels via electric motors and replenished the battery by either the hydrogen fuel-cell system or plugging into a charger. The F-150 Lightning wasn't Ford's first crack at an electric truck. In fact, the Ranger EV, built from 1998 to 2002 and largely leased to fleet customers, was Ford's first production EV. The unassuming bodywork hid a single rear-mounted e-motor and a nickel-metal hydride battery weighing 2000 pounds. Ford says this Ranger EV still works and currently has a range of about 40 miles, down from around 82 miles originally. Even cooler, the Ranger EV's original charging equipment has been preserved, showing just how far EVs have come in two decades. Of course, Ford had a whole array of GTs, including the first three preproduction models for the 2005 GT—VINs 001 through 003—as well as a 2017 model with exposed carbon-fiber bodywork. But the coolest was this GT Mk II, a track-only version of the GT that drew on lessons learned from competing with the GT in endurance racing like the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Developed with Multimatic, only 45 Mk IIs were built at $1.2 million apiece. The Lincoln C concept was an unusual foray for the luxury brand, hinting at a potential compact hatchback with premium pretensions. The curvy exterior features a stepped rear end—somewhat reminiscent of the early-2000s Renault Mégane—but the real highlight was the elegant cabin, with a front bench seat, a hollow steering wheel, plenty of wood trim, and an ornate flower design on the seats. Lincoln envisioned an EcoBoost 1.6-liter four-cylinder providing up to 43 mpg, but the C concept never reached production and Lincoln subsequently shifted toward exclusively selling SUVs. Ford had been mulling the Bronco's return long before the latest generation arrived in 2021. This blocky 2004 concept debuted at the Detroit auto show and paired a squared-off body with a short wheelbase for classic Bronco proportions. A 2.0-liter turbo-diesel under the hood was paired with an "intelligent" four-wheel-drive system. Ford even boasted of a nitrous-oxide injection system for short boosts of power. The Bronco concept would later star in Rampage alongside Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The Cobra R is among the rarest high-performance Mustangs, with a limited run of just 300 units. The aggressive body kit—a bulging hood, protruding front splitter, and towering rear wing—announced the 5.4-liter V-8 engine, which sent 385 horsepower and 385 pound-feet of torque through a six-speed manual gearbox. Ford also ripped out the radio, air conditioning, and rear seats to save weight and reworked the suspension and brakes to make the Cobra R the ultimate track-ready Mustang. This beefy Ranger is the Lightning Bolt, a one-off pickup truck prototype that stuffed the supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 from the second-generation F-150 Lightning under the hood of Ford's mid-size truck. The motor was good for 420 horsepower and 480 pound-feet of torque, and with the Ranger weighing roughly 1000 pounds less than its F-150 sibling, the Lightning Bolt would certainly be a hoot to drive. Many of the vehicles in Ford's collection carry massive engines, and the 427 concept is no exception. Although the front-end styling would appear on the first-generation Fusion, this sedan concept was powered by a 7.0-liter V-10. The extensive use of aluminum—for parts like the block, positions, and cylinder heads—meant the V-10 weighed nearly 70 pounds less than the Cobra R's V-8. A six-speed manual gearbox sent 590 horsepower to the rear wheels. We'll conclude with yet another powerful, rear-wheel-drive, manual-transmission sedan concept, the 2007 Interceptor. Once again, the concept's styling would influence a production car, the 2008 Five Hundred that would soon be renamed Taurus. Sadly the Interceptor's "Cammer" 5.0-liter V-8 from Ford Racing didn't make it into the production car. Built on the same platform as the Mustang, the Interceptor was E85 compatible, produced 400 horsepower, and was hooked up to a six-speed manual. You Might Also Like Car and Driver's 10 Best Cars through the Decades How to Buy or Lease a New Car Lightning Lap Legends: Chevrolet Camaro vs. Ford Mustang!
Yahoo
18-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
These Sea-Doos Cruise Down The Road
⚡️ Read the full article on Motorious It's always amazing the ingenuity of some guy in his garage. While we constantly are reminded what professional shops with all kinds of resources can do, it's still always more entertaining to see what Mr. Average Joe can pull off with some time and patience. That's what these Sea-Doos converted into road-going scooters are all about and the result is absolutely amazing. Check out the Motorious Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms. We can only imagine the kinds of looks these two get as they cruise down the road. They've taken these customized rides to all kinds of events, including the Woodward Dream Cruise and Daytona Bike Week, where no doubt the crowds have really gotten a kick out of seeing watercraft driving on pavement. Just going around town, the long stares and disbelieving gawkers have to be entertaining. As you'll see in the video from Wheels Through Time, these two brought the Sea-Doos converted into two-wheelers by the museum to show them off. Ken says he saw builds like these before on the internet, so that's where he got the idea. From there they figured out what kind of scooters would fit inside the Sea-Door Bombadiers they acquired, which required surprisingly few modifications. With 150cc four-stroke air-cooled engines and a low curb weight, these rides look like a fair bit of fun, but you're not going to win many races, which isn't the point of the build anyway. As is the case with any good build, the details on these are the icing on the cake. Little things like the 'Scoot-A-Doo' graphics on the sides not to mention the other decals really make these fun to keep admiring. Check out the video to learn more about these Scoot-A-Doo builds and see them in action.
