ROYAL OAK, Mich. (WXYZ) — If you really know the Woodward Dream Cruise, you know it isn't just about the cars, it's about the people and the stories behind them as well.
One of those people is Ray Miller from Farmington Hills. He attends the Dream Cruise every year with his 1959 Corvette he bought back in 1970 at the age of 13.
"At the time it didn’t have a motor in it that ran, it had no interior in it, it had a busted frame, frame was rotted out, so I restored it," said Miller.
Little did he know at the time that his first car, the one he poured countless hours into, would carry him through life's ups and downs.
Miller said when he got married, "I was 25 and we had it in the wedding party."
Now the 'vette is carrying him and his wife Sue all the way into retirement.
"I've had people interested saying, 'How much would you sell it for?" said Miller. "I tell them I'd never sell it, and it's true, I'd never sell it."
Now the $500 Corvette is priceless.
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Stories like this are a large part of what makes the Woodward Dream Cruise special to the over 1 million car enthusiasts who attend.
Like Maritia McGhee-White from Oak Park who told 7 News Detroit, "When you put cars together with the history of the individuals that own them, I’m in heaven."
Gary Hogness spends most of the Cruise outside Duggans on Woodward Avenue with his restored 1973 Volkswagen Beetle.
When asked what he feels when driving it, he said; "It takes me back to when I was 16 years old and the music's loud. It takes you back, it’s a time machine as it were. Anybody who is a hippie out there knows."
To Hogness, the Dream Cruise is just like his Volkswagen, pure nostalgia rumbling down Woodward Avenue.
"Takes you back in time, every time I drive it, I love it," said Hogness.
