2023 Detroit Tour Highlights Part 1: Classic Restos - Series 53

Fletch is back from his 2023 Detroit Tour and shares some of the highlights of this year's trip. The tour began with the Woodward Dream Cruise, a procession of 50,000 classic vehicles and a million spectators celebrating the automotive past in Detroit along a 20km section of road. It was a spectacular start to the tour.

The next stop was Greenfield Village, designed and built by Henry Ford in 1933, featuring nearly 100 historic buildings set on a beautiful 200-acre property. It feels like taking a step back in time, with Model T Fords running around the village streets and the homes and buildings of the period presented in pristine condition.

Just 50 metres away is the Henry Ford Museum, built back in 1929. Anything that Henry Ford liked went into his museum, including a massive Alleghany Steam Locomotive built in 1941 belonging to the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, considered the pinnacle of steam railroad technology and amongst the largest and most powerful steam locomotives ever built. The museum also boasts a replica of the Wright Brothers' plane suspended from the ceiling, power generators, and stationary engines, some of the largest in the world. This is a massive museum with a vast collection of machinery from America's past, and it's worth a visit.

Fletch was here ten years ago and rewinds the clock to a Classic Restos episode where he talks about the history of Ford side valve V8 as featured in the Henry Ford Museum.

Another great stop on the tour was Vanguard Motor Sales, a workshop focusing on classic car sales and the Vanguard secret warehouse, where around 200 pristine vehicles await sale or are sold and ready to be shipped. There is some real eye candy here for our motoring enthusiast crew.

David from the Visitors Bureau at the Tourism of Detroit oversees the Bubble Cars in Detroit. It is not open to the public; it's a high-security military store base, and inside are one-off prototype vehicles, lots of weird and wonderful stuff and some items that have been protected here for decades. 

Classic Restos previously filmed an episode featuring the Bubble Cars in Detroit and revisited the story and the incredible vehicles inside.

Stay tuned for more updates on the 2023 Detroit Tour in the next episode of Classic Restos.