My Hot Rod Father's Day Weekend Spent with my Pop

For the past few years on Father's Day weekend I would head down to Bowling Green, KY for the Hot Rod Reunion. This year was different for a couple of reasons. The first one being that my Dad was invited to display his car at the prestigous Eyes on Design event on the grounds of the Edsel Ford Estate and I didn’t want to miss that, PLUS the move of the HRR to National Trails didn’t excite me. So I stayed in the Motor City for a weekend of fun car activities and I thought I’d share the weekend's adventure with my HAMB pals.

Saturday afternoon, after taking Dad to a tasty lunch at a local burger and malt place, OldBobSign and I headed to the eastside of town to a yearly driving event called the Gratiot Cruise. Gratiot Ave was to the Eastside of Detroit what Telegraph Rd was to the Westsiders and what Woodward Ave was to all of us….thee place to cruise, then and now. Lots of cars crusin' up and down a two mile stretch and lots parked.














Little did this guy know I was going to splash his photo all over the internet. Cool bike and I told him so.


After a couple of passes back and forth, we decided to stop at my pal Frank's place. He was having an open house with all kinds of food and drink. Perfect stop to cool off on such a hot day.




He’s one of the nicest guys and readily agreed to look at the front suspension of Larrys new ’32 and give his opinion on what corrections needed to be made.




Lots of Frank's pals and customers around and some pretty cool looking rides

 

I’m going to make a little comment here about not judging a book/shop by it’s outer covering. By looking at one of Frank’s rides you would think this guy does only “streetrods” and some folks might not have stopped or given his shop a second look BUT you never know what’s inside a guy's place and what you can learn from said shop.
















Another customer’s car. Boy, I’d love to get my hands on this.



Couple more while we were headed out.




Back to the house in time to shower and pick up my Dad and head over to what ended up being the highlight of my weekend. It’s a place I’ve wanted to visit for years but since it is not open to the public, it’s only accessible by invitation, I’ve never gotten the opportunity until now. To say I was excited would be putting it mildly.

The GM Heritage Center was opened on Saturday nite for folks that would be displaying their cars at the Eyes event the following day.


We arrived about 6pm and I would say about 50 folks were there. We ran into Guy, AKA GZ here on the HAMB, and had the pleasure of his company while walking around. They had a speaker that informed everyone what to expect the following day, answered questions, then we were on our own to wander around and check out the cars. The speaker told us that only about 10% of GM’s collection is under this roof. The rest are either in other warehouses, at the GM headquarters downtown, or at other car events on loan.

This greeted us in the lobby

 

Once inside the doors….
If you're not a Corvette fan you might want to just skip ahead little doggie.
I am, so you’ll just have to bear with me.






















Lots of memorabilia on the walls






At this point I said to the guys I felt like I was inside my hot wheels carrying case. I was shocked how many cool concept cars were there.

 

Wouldn’t this look GREAT in the foyer of DOC’s new pad










Guy was a wealth of knowledge regarding these cars. This one was driven regularly by a local socialite. It was often seen on the streets of Grosse Point. Was probably my favorite there.








Notice the lack of people. Most of the folks that were there left after the speaker gave us the info on the next days events. I was shocked most didn’t stick around longer.

 

Left to right
Guy, GZ on the HAMB in the blue blazer; Werner Myer in the yellow shirt, owner of one of the most prestigious Corvette restoration shops in the state if not the country. He’s a retired GM designer. Has some AWESOME Corvettes in his shop. Roadstar works for him. Then my Dad Jim, and then Larry, OldBobSign on the HAMB in the car shirt.


About this time one of the employees came up and mentioned it was closing time. I was bummed. Took awhile to walk back up to the front.








I was told they change out the cars every so often. I’m so looking forward to my next visit.

Sunday morning was an early one. Anyone who knows me well knows I don’t like to get up early. Dad wanted to leave at 6:30am and he’s the type that if you're not ready he’ll leave your ass behind. Needless to say we were at the end of my driveway at 6:29am waiting for him to pick us up. I guess I can’t complain, even an early day at a car event beats not going at all.



We headed out to the very prestigious, invite only, Eyes on Design Auto Show on the grounds of the Edsel Ford Estate. The show featured more then 200 vehicles and benefits the Detroit Institute of Ophthalmology, a non-profit group that helps visually impaired people. The top award is given by a group of visually impaired folks who “judged” the cars with their white gloved hands. It’s quite an impressive site to watch them “look” at the cars.

There is a different “theme” each year for the classes and this year it was Areodymanic so each class was AERO this or AERO that. Each class had about 6-10 cars in it. One of the cool things about this show was the layout. A few of the classes, the “Fabulous Fins” and “something Fastback”, had the cars displayed with their fins and backs to the crowd. Made for a very unique, cool looking class layout. (I can’t believe I didn’t take an overview shot of them )

Just to give you some sort of idea on Edsel Ford’s place. They offer tours of the house throughout the day and well worth the $8 admission price.

This is one side of the back of the house that faces the water. (Lake St Clair)


This is the other side of the back of the house that faces the water


This is the side entrance near the kitchen areas. Probably where the employees entered


One of the last photos will show the front of the house.

For those that might not be familiar with Dad’s ’56 Olds….ride height, no bags


Once inside the show this setup greeted guests


This firetruck was pretty cool

 

Just to the left of the entrance to the estate where spectators enter is the carriage house which is open for viewing. I ended up getting my hand slapped. No photos are allowed inside any of the buildings. The one on the right was Edsel’s car and the one on the left was his wife Eleanor’s. It was specially designed and built so she could enter gracefully with her hat on and didn’t have to bend her head.


A few paces into the show was a very nice pedal car collection








The came the tent with artwork that would just knock your socks off






They also had a pretty cool little model car display




They had breakfast for all the exhibtors and that’s where we ran into Kevin Tully. I think he was as shocked to see me there as I was to see him. Chatted for awhile then headed out to look at cars knowing we’d see him in the hot rod area near Back Seat Betty.

This certainly isn’t my fathers Oldsmobile

 

These three get me excited every time I have the pleasure of viewing them














Later in the day they were opened up


This next generation Camaro has been making all the auto events in the Motor City on the back of a car hauler for almost a year now. It was nice to finally see it on the ground, up close and personal




A rare B400






This won its class

 

This was the Rod & Custom class
My good pal Rod Dotten’s Rivi. He did all the work himself


















This was Dad’s spot. He was in the Pro-Touring class

Our view from our chairs


And if you walked straight out…


The had quite a few sports classes as well




And race classes

 

I think one of the most popular classes, and this is just my opinion based on how many people were milling around the different areas, was the Traditional Hot Rod Class

My pal Fred Dudek owns the following two


His wife mary looked so cute driving the roadster in that morning.





This belongs to Bob, I forget his last name. Nice guys, has quite a few “traditional” styled cars in his stable








The HAMB was well represented


The imfamous Back Seat Betty was in attendance….and WON the class!!! Well deserved! Congrats to the whole build team.














My good pal Guy, GZ was there with his CA barn find. It was wonderful hanging out with you sweetie. The wine was a nice touch, thanks.

 

Dick Forton just finished this. For those that might not recognize the name, Dick Forton is the man in charge of the Detroit Autorama entries for upstairs.




Toward the end of the day they had the “awards” ceremony. All the picks in the different classes were driven up to the front of the house where they had bleachers set up for viewing. Two MC’s talked a little about each car. Was very interesting. The BEST was Back Seat Betty of course…..good thing I have a digital camera now. I would have spent a small fortune on film processing.


Kevin waving to the crowd


They chose a select few to park in front of the house for future promotional shots








Driving out of the grounds. Yes there were trailered cars there BUT so many were actually driven it was quite refreshing to see at this caliber.


Eddie Micheal’s Cord took the best of show award or whatever this event calls it




All in all a most perfect way to spend Fathers Day with my pop.

 

Nice shots Denise,....... Thanks for posting them.

 

I'd be there as long as I could! thanks for the pics, a friend here got to visit Heritage last summer, I'm still jealous

 

Boy,
Thanks for sharing the pictures.
I have never done the Detroit-Dearborn car thing.
I made reservations today at the Hyatt for the Dearborn Anniversary.
We have a special car to take to this!
Looking forward to seeing everything this August.

 

I Need To Come Live With You. You Always Go To The Coolest Events!

 

And in a dress too...looking good girl.

DD

 

No kidding! Lookin' good Denise!

Thanks for the killer pics, as always. I'd love to visit that GM place...after seeing your pics, it's now high on my list!

Killer post!

~Scotch~

 

When I was with Hot Wheels, I was a guest of GM Styling and got to visit each studio and see what was in the oven (this was 2002, I think). Great experience, but I never even knew the Heritage Center existed. A real treat for you, I would think, and a super review. Thanks!

 

Denise
Absolutely, positively your best post ever!

 

WOW! What a weekend!

Spectacular photos, experienced eye, articulate commentary - what a pro! Denise, you have a real gift for capturing the "soul" of any event you attend and the HAMB is a much better place because of you.

Thank you!

 

wow!

 

Denise got legs!

Hugs,


jerry

 

Wish I would have known you then, I could have showed you the local car stuff. The invite is open the next time your in this area.

 

Geeeze you guys, if I would have know this was going to be the reaction for wearing a dress I would have posted photos YEARS ago of me in one.

Thanks for the compliments xoxox

 

Denise,
Great coverage. I'm bummed that I couldn't make it (I was tryin!). Caught GZ unwinding at Aubreys, he gave me the highlites.

I've seen a few of the trucks that are in the GM collection, they are Ridler nice.

Lucky you.

Scott.

 

Awesome coverage of a great week-end, on behalf of all us mere mortals; THANX! luv ya, Lee

 

Nice post D,

Sounds like a wonderful fathers day!

 

Wow Lady,

Now that's what I call "Comprensive event coverage" Nice work. Thanks.

 

<TABLE id=HB_Mail_Container height="100%" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0 UNSELECTABLE="on"><TBODY><TR height="100%" UNSELECTABLE="on" width="100%"><TD id=HB_Focus_Element vAlign=top width="100%" background="" height=250 UNSELECTABLE="off">Darlin Deniz. Thanx again for letting me live the good life thru your lens. Congrats to Dad for being chosen to have the great 56 included in the event. A great treat to share a Fathers day with your dad at such a lucious affair, its nice to get a little taste of the upscale life now and then. The estate is super gorgeous, its so cool of them to share with the public , such a treasure. and Yes!!, Daddys lil girl looked extra lovely.-Sololobo/Roadburners of Omaha
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See, I knew that despite having plans for that weekend, I could count on you to do all the "leg" work so I could still see it.

Congrats to your father also for having such a nice ride to have been invited to attend the show. Top notch car!

Excellent post!

 

Denise

Thanks for sharing the pics! Very cool. I'm glad to see you spend time with your dad. Very admirable.

RGV