Woodward Dream Cruise Returns with Ford Sponsorship

The 26th annual Woodward Dream Cruise with Ford sponsorship is back on for this summer starting 21 August 2021, the Dearborn-based automaker said late today. Not surprisingly the original 1966 Ford Bronco is the featured heritage* vehicle, this year’s celebration of automotive culture and driving fun is set to kick off Aug. 21.

Ford Motor Company and Detroit’s main artery share a history. At his Ford Piquette Avenue Plant, Henry Ford developed and produced the first Model T’s a few hundred feet from Woodward Avenue, which made became the first paved road in America. (Ford Bronco Production Underway at Michigan Assembly Plant, Ford Bronco Sequel Appears with First-Ever Four-Door, Truck Wars – 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 470hp V8)

In addition to Bronco models old and reborn, Ford will also display the all-new 2021 Mustang Mach-E GT all-electric SUV, the all-electric 2022 Ford F-150 Lighting and the recently revealed Ford Maverick compact pickup truck – the first standard full-hybrid pickup in America that will be built in Mexico.

As the largest employer of American autoworkers in the Motor City  – Ford Motor Company’s presenting sponsorship of the Woodward Dream Cruise is notable. It attracts more than 1.5 million – it’s  claimed people and more than 40,000 cars from all over the world. This year marks the fourth straight year that Ford will sponsor the event, which General Motors previously dominated.

*Heritage, noun, in automaker marketing lingo is an old vehicle that was abandoned under brand management or other follies that is reincarnated in an attempt to regain the customers lost or jettisoned. In the case of the Bronco SUV, code-named G.O.A.T. for “goes over all terrain,” it debuted as an off-road 4×4 on 11 August 1965 and was dubbed “a completely new line of sports-utility vehicles” – arguably the first reference to an SUV by an American manufacturer. Bronco died in 1977 as the SUV market was being developed by Jeep.