During the summer, Detroit’s Woodward Avenue is a popular place for flashy sports cars and powerful muscle cars to rev their engines and get into car trouble. Every year, tens of thousands of car fans gather on Woodward Avenue for the Woodward Dream Cruise, a moving car show on public roads open to everyone. There are a lot of different kinds of cars to choose from, from sleek exotics to recognizable American muscle cars to Japanese imports that drive on the right side of the road. Here are some of the most exciting vehicles we saw at the Woodward Dream Cruise in 2023. After the Ferrari Monza SP2 came out in 2018, new open-air supercars like the Aston Martin V12 Speedster and the McLaren Elva were released, but the Monza is still the most attractive of the modern speedsters. The Monza is very low to the ground because it doesn’t have a windshield. It is also sold as a single-seater SP1. This style makes me think of race cars from the 1950s. A 6.5-liter V-12 engine makes 799 horsepower and is found under the hood. Less than 500 Monzas were made by Ferrari, and each one cost about $1.75 million. One of the main draws was this white Lamborghini Espada hidden behind a building. Only 1227 of these two-door, four-seat grand tourers were made during their ten-year production run, which began in 1968. The impressively high hood of the Espada hides a 3.9-liter V-12 engine with 350 horsepower and a five-speed manual gearbox. The Dodge Li’l Red Express was a particular version of the D-series truck 1978. Its 5.9-liter (360-cubic-inch) V-8 gave it 225 horsepower, which was a lot of power back then. At the time, Car and Driver tests showed that the truck was the first American car to go from 0 to 100 mph. The Li’l Red Express was all about looks, with exhaust stacks that stood tall behind the cab like those on a semi-truck, an oak-paneled bed with a wood-lined floor, and gold graphics on the doors. 2013 was the first year for the 950-hp Ferrari LaFerrari, the 903-hp McLaren P1, and the 887-hp Porsche 918 Spyder. The Holy Trinity got its name from these three dream cars that plugin. Even though the 918 had more horsepower, it was the fastest car, and Driver tested, going from 0 to 60 mph in 2.2 seconds. They were only 918 made. The Ford Model T is slower than the other cars on our list, but its importance to history can’t be stressed. Ford sold about 15 million copies of the “Tin Lizzie,” so it wasn’t a rare car either. But seeing such an old car on the road is always interesting, and we learned the hard way the year before that they are shockingly brutal to drive. GT3 RS has always been the name for the most powerful Porsche 911s; the newest one is no different. The rear wing of the 911 GT3 RS has a drag-reduction system that comes from Formula One. This makes the GT3 RS a beast on the track, even though its 518 horsepower from its 4.0-liter flat-six engine isn’t the most impressive number among supercars. The price starts at a very high $225,250. Fans of trucks like this Dodge Power Wagon were delighted at Woodward, where some old cars had been beautifully rebuilt. When it came out in 1946, the Power Wagon was a vast piece of machinery and the first pickup truck to have four-wheel drive. The heavy truck was made until the late 1960s. It looked like military cars from World War II. The most potent version of Lamborghini’s V-12-powered Aventador is the SVJ, which has a 6.5-liter engine of 759 horsepower. The large air intakes on the hood and the pointy rear wing worked together to give the car a lot of downforces while reducing drag. The bright purple color of this model caught our attention. We saw another purple Lamborghini just a few cars down in the same parking lot. This one was a Diablo SE30 in a lighter shade of purple. In honor of Lamborghini’s 30th anniversary, this version was made with a unique body and a 5.7-liter V-12 engine with 523 horsepower. Only 150 Diablo SE30s were ever made. Even though the 1961 Lincoln Continental was 15 inches shorter than its predecessor, it was still more than 17 feet long. The sleek beauty of the Continental was enhanced by the coach doors and the large front end, which had several V-8 engines. This light pink version reminds us of the Frozen Berry glossy paint that Porsche offers for the electric Taycan. We were interested in this limited-edition Ford Bronco DR, which costs $295,000 and can’t be driven on public roads. The Bronco frame and 10-speed automatic transmission are still in the DR, but the V-6 engine has been changed with a Coyote 5.0-liter V-8. The DR’s unique Multimatic springs and 37-inch BFGoodrich tires help it move faster on rough desert ground. The angular bodywork of the De Tomaso Pantera held a variety of Ford V-8 engines, which gave it both tremendous Italian style and American power. During the 20 years it was made, about 7000 Panteras were made, but the older ones, like this one, are considered more valuable because of their better looks. The 2017 BMW M3’s already controversial design is made even more so by the track-focused CS model, which has black highlights on the hood, a red border around the grille, and an outlandish shade of green. Compared to a standard M3 Competition, much carbon fiber helps cut the weight by about 75 pounds. The 3.0-liter inline six adds 40 horsepower to the 543 horsepower overall. At the Woodward Dream Cruise, you can see almost every part of car culture. Several lowrider gangs drove down the road, showing off their excellent hydraulics. People yelled as they did their bouncing gymnastics, and when they stopped, we could see how much work went into making these complex custom cars. Porsche used the 4.0-liter flat-six engine from the 911 GT3 in the GT4 RS to give the Cayman all its capabilities. The Cayman GT4 RS has a 9000 rpm engine that makes 493 horsepower. During tests by Car and Driver, the car could pull 1.11 g on the skidpad thanks to its aggressive aerodynamics and sticky tires. Even though American metal was the most common, some interesting Japanese cars were there, like this Toyota Land Cruiser. The Land Cruiser 70-series came out in 1984 and was made with many different body styles and engines. Still, the truck is made in the Middle East. The Yemeni flag on the grille leads us to believe that this model was brought into the country from Yemen. In a 2021 Car and Driver test, the Ferrari SF90 Stradale beat the Porsche 918 Spyder by going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than 2.1 seconds. It shouldn’t have been a surprise since the plugin hybrid V-8 engine puts out an impressive 986 horsepower. This picture looked great in this deep green color. The BMW M3 is the standard for sports sedans, and the E30, which came out in the 1980s, was the car on which it was built. To participate in the German DTM series, the four-cylinder engine sent 192 horsepower to the rear wheels through a five-speed stick shift. People now think the E30 is one of the best M3s ever made. The Jaguar SV Project 8, a 300-unit road-legal race car with a 592 hp supercharged V-8, was built around the XE sedan. To beat the car lap record at the Nürburgring, the SV Project 8 had a track kit that removed the back seats but kept the rear doors. The big and powerful Bentley Brooklands stood out in a crowd of low-slung supercars. Only 550 of these luxurious coupes, linked to the Arnage sedan and Azure convertible, were made from 2008 to 2011. This beast cost $348,085 and had a 6.8-liter V-8 and a six-speed automatic gearbox that sent 530 horsepower to the back wheels. Ford changed the name of the latest Mustang’s high-performance version to “Dark Horse,” it looks pretty scary in person. We recently drove a 2024 Mustang Dark Horse and thought it was an excellent way to say goodbye to the 500-hp V-8 muscle car with a six-speed manual gearbox that was available as an option. Some fans were unhappy that the 2017 Ford GT didn’t come with the supercharged V-8 from the previous generation, but we’ll never get tired of the GT’s beautiful design. The GT has slots cut into its body so that it can cut through the air with the least amount of resistance. Even though it wasn’t the fastest roadster of its time, the BMW Z8 had a cool look inspired by the elegant 507 from the 1950s. With 394 horsepower from its 4.9-liter V-8, the convertible could go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds, but the Z8 was always more of a big tourer than a sharp canyon carver. Even though the Cadillac CT5-V and CT4-V have both had their most potent versions called “Blackwing,” only one car has ever had the Blackwing V-8. The 4.2-liter, 550-hp V-8 engine in the CT6-V was made for that car, and it gets the big sedan to 60 mph in 3.8 seconds. Over two years, only 875 CT6-Vs were made, and the hand-built powertrain died along with the CT6. The Porsche 356 was the company’s first model, and its simple, flowing shape is still a crucial part of its design concept today. This picture, in particular, which is cream-colored, caught our eye.
