Love on the Avenue.(Column)(Woodward Dream Cruise car rally)(Event overview)

By most estimates there were a million and a half people at this year's Woodward Dream Cruise. Between the folks driving their prized rides along the 16-mile-long route on Woodward Avenue, those who were set up in lawn chairs along the curb (libation in hand) and the throngs walking the hottest stretches-between 11 Mile and 14 Mile Roads-there wasn't a square foot to spare.

Add to the festivities car company exhibits and parts and accessories makers jammed into every available parking lot, many of them handing out free trinkets. I heard someone call the Cruise "Woodstock for cars.'' It was a love-in all right, the old-fashioned kind.

You'll get a glimpse of the Cruise elsewhere in this issue, but nothing can capture the moment and mood of Woodward except being there. AutoWeek was, with a hospitality compound stretching half-a-block, car tunes thumping from a big sound system and models handing out love beads and free issues.

And of course we had cool cars: a special Ford GT in a rare factory paint scheme that evoked the Gulf Petroleum-sponsored GT40 Le Mans race cars of the mid-'60s. And a bevy of magnificent hot rods courtesy of our friends from Motor City Hotrods. No trailer queens, these; ...