Cruisin' the Original Woodward Avenue (MI) (Images of America) - Softcover

Ambrogio, Anthony; Woodward Heritage Team

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0738540455 ISBN 13: 9780738540450

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing, 2006

Synopsis

In the 1950s, cruising swept the nation. American street became impromptu racetracks as soon as the police turned their backs. Young people piled into friends’ cars and cruised their main streets with a new sense of freedom. Pent-up desires after the hardships of World War II plus a booming economy fueled a car-buying frenzy. To lure buyers to their particular makes and models, automobile companies targeted the youth market by focusing on design and performance. No place was that more relevant than on metro Detroit’s Woodward Avenue, the city’s number-one cruising destination and home of the world’s automobile industry. Barely 50 years earlier, Henry Ford rolled his first Model T off the assembly line at Piquette and Woodward, just south of where cruisers, dragsters, and automobile engineers ignited each other’s excitement over cars. This unique relationship extended into the muscle car era of the 1960s, as Woodward Avenue continued to reflect the triumphs and downturns of the industry that made Detroit known throughout the world.

About this title

About the Author:

Funded in part by a grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s National Scenic Byway program and with guidance from the Woodward Heritage Team, Detroit writers Anthony Ambrogio and Sharon Luckerman interviewed numerous local historians, automobile engineers, automobile museum directors, and Detroiters who cruised during these extraordinary decades.

About this edition

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0738540455
• ISBN 13: 9780738540450
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128