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Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Although Doug and Rob had some idea of all the events going on, especially for the Corvettes, Doug cemented things by talking to a group from Texas who were also staying at the Radisson. During the morning there was an opportunity to go to the GM Heritage Collection, which is right next door to the building where they do a lot of the testing of design ideas. When we left for the tour, GM had blocked off a lot of the parking lot at the Radisson for their own use, but there were only a limited number of Corvettes there yet. For a $10 contribution to a charity, we were allowed free reign of the Heritage Collection for a couple of hours. As can be seen in the many photos, the collection combines concept cars with historic vehicles. Rob photographed some of the informational plaques so you can tell what you are looking at. While wandering around, we found Leonard Buote or he found us. He and Carol had arrived in Detroit about July 23^rd or so, and were staying with Carol's cousin not far from the collection. He called Tom Nagle to see where he was and Tom arrived just as we were leaving, but in time for a partial group photo. Leonard had already left to get Carol and they wanted to take us to a local "Irish Pub" for lunch. They were going to pick us up at the Radisson in their truck, which seats 6. (Leonard towed his 66 across country in his trailer, so now we had a vehicle to go places together and the Buotes wanted to show us the best of Detroit and the Dream Cruise. They did an excellent job of it.) So we headed back to the hotel to find that the parking lot was full and there were vendors. We were all interested in the Galli folks who made special shirts for the event with your exact car and your name on the front. They also make jackets with either the front, the back or the side view of your car, with your exact license plate, and all the details down to the blue calipers on a Jetstream blue ZR-1. Obviously we spent some money there before we headed out for lunch. We had seen the restaurant the night before. The top floor is open all the way around in summer and is a popular place for the Dream Cruise. All of the tables are reserved for Cruise watchers from 5pm on.

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