Woodward 2009: Invasion of the Smarts
Woodward 2009: Invasion of the Smarts - Click above for high-res image gallery
Typically, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, Michigan, is a gathering ground for classic American cars, trucks and motorcycles. As you can see from our coverage of this year's festivities, the 2009 edition was little different from past years... mostly.
We noted some sort of concerted effort from the Smart Fortwo crowd to add a German flair to the proceedings, and we saw license plates represented from at least four states. Although we didn't get a good count on just how many of the diminutive little city cars made the pilgrimage to The Motor City, there were at least a few dozen in a row at one point traveling down Woodward Avenue, and we had our digital SLRs locked and loaded with fresh memory cards at the ready to capture the event. See for yourself in our gallery below.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kristospencer 9:49AM (8/18/2009)
I live a quarter mile from Woodward and the epicenter of the annual Dream Cruise event, but I haven't attended it in years. I enjoy classic cars as much as the next guy, but the stench of carbon monoxide is so noxious that I stay indoors while it's going on. As for the Smart Cars I'm glad to see them out en masse, but isn't the nose mural of Einstein a bit, er, "on the nose"?
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Epyx 10:05AM (8/18/2009)
"stench of carbon monoxide"
Carbon monoxide, is a colorless, odorless and tasteless, yet highly toxic gas. I doubt you are smelling CO.
Ghen 10:59AM (8/18/2009)
Epyx:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUee1WvtQZU
cWj 10:23AM (8/18/2009)
So, did you guys like actually hire somebody to take pics at this thing or is it just a Sony Cyber Shot on a tripod on a timer?
Is this the news that happens daily or just a bunch of photos shot at once and "story-ized" once a day for ab and abg?
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RSVDon 8:20AM (8/19/2009)
Yep, saw every one of them roll by and also hated every one of them. I still haven't understood the want to own such an expensive, small car with no amenities or benefits for your money.
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MD 3:24PM (8/19/2009)
Really? No amenities and expensive? What other car offers ~40mpg, leather, climate control, power everything, AND is a convertible for $19k? It's not THAT much slower than a Prius, either. Some more competition will definitely help the segment though.
Henry 11:04AM (8/19/2009)
Smart owners are starting to get on my nerves. Toyota Pious owners are smug about their vehicle, but at least they can say they own the best hybrid vehicle out there.
The Smart is a small, but inferior vehicle. The fuel economy should be better than it is, there should be an EV option, the transmission shifting sucks, and they are ugly (unique and eye catching, yes… butt ugly).
I can’t wait for better mini vehicle to reach the US so that there can be a head to head comparison.
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