EASTPOINTE — “Burn the rubber, burn the rubber,” yelled a boy sitting in a chair under a canopy at Chesterfield and Gratiot; he was just one of many spectators on the avenue to get revved up about the cruise.

The 10th annual official Cruisin’ Gratiot event June 14 followed a day of poor weather, but the sun shone throughout the day for the crowds on the sidewalks watching the cars and the classic car owners who rode the avenue with their convertible tops down.

“It was a great event, an increase in attendance, great crowd behavior,” Mayor Suzanne Pixley said.

“The city looked fantastic,” she said. “People take a lot of pride in this city, and it showed in every direction, but especially on Gratiot. City employees worked very hard to get the city ready and cleaned afterward, and it showed.  They deserve a lot of respect for a job well done.”

Classic cars spanned the entire cruise route, whether parked along the avenue with their hoods up for better viewing or circling the cruise lane. A rainbow of colors, shapes and styles of vehicles were out, and, of course, fuzzy dice were hanging from rearview mirrors.

One Chevy Bel Air had a tray on the window with a mug, sunglasses and a burger simulating an image from an old carhop. Another vehicle on the avenue was a limo decked out in Detroit Red Wings items including a mock Stanley Cup.

Live bands performed in some hot spots like the Oddfellows tent, and other music could be heard from car stereos or other sites along the strip.

“We’re dancing to the jailhouse rock,” played at one point along the way and two people were indeed dancing to the music.

People spent the day in a variety of ways along the avenue. One group set up a full-size grill at Owen and Gratiot, allowing the smell of burgers to waft down the sidewalk. 

To cool down, people stopped along the way to buy refreshments from stands or from people selling pop and water from coolers.

“Hot dogs, one dollar,” hollered a little girl at one spot on the side of the street.

Another girl was eating a pink puff of cotton candy, which might have been a hit with some other “pink” ladies at the event.

Pretty in pink
A 1955 pink Thunderbird sat in the parking lot of the Cloverleaf with a little doll in pink, pink dogs on the back and signs that stated “Princess Parking Only. All others will be Toad” and “Barbie Doll Avenue.”

Car owner Pat Wiegand of Macomb Township didn’t leave the pink to the car either. She dressed up in pink, as well, along with her companion.

“You gotta have all the accessories,” she said and showed off a pink fluffy stuffed dog in her purse.

“This is my hand puppet,” she said. “I wave at everybody.”

Her car gets a lot of attention.

“It always does,” Wiegand said. “My husband restored it from the ground up. It took him three years. It was a labor of love because he only likes to work on Chevys.”

That labor of love took 40 samples of pink paint before it was the right color.

“He painted it to match a poodle skirt I had,” Wiegand said.

Mustang owner Larry Michael came out for the fun wearing his “Route 66” T-shirt.

“I have a lot of friends here,” Michael said. “We all race cars. It’s our hobby.”

Children like the event too, as one even drove the strip in his miniature hot rod on the sidewalk and teens glided by on skateboards.

Other children performed karate demonstrations for the crowd outside Sen I Do Karate on Gratiot.

The event even appeals to the dogs. German shepherds, retrievers and a Doberman pinscher and one special Chihuahua, who decided to take a ride in his automobile.

“Peanut the Dog” donned a leather biker hat with a pink feather boa around the neck before hopping in his remote vehicle and taking a spin. The little dog in the little car had people stopping in their tracks to watch.

The event doesn’t just attract car owners and the spectators who like to roam the avenue. Artists like to bring their creations to the event.

Mike Gothe of Warren was there selling crafts made using license plates including birdhouses, state plaques, a map of the United States and ducks.

“We got license plates from all over the country,” he said. “There’s about three of us that tinker with it. I work out in my garage.”

When he’s out in the garage, his wife will yell to him, “What are you out there banging on now?” he said.

He and another retiree from Roseville sell the items out of Fraser.

It was the first time Gothe brought his items to the Gratiot Cruise in Eastpointe. They also go to car swaps and other events, but only if those aren’t too far away.

Some of the smaller items were going over well at the cruise.

“This is my second large batch of birdhouses,” Gothe said.

Some people even like to sell cars at the cruise, which seems fitting, and someone was selling an old Coke machine that once sold the pop for 10 cents at Charles R and Gratiot.

Others use the event to promote nonprofits — for example, there was a booth set up for teen outreach.

'Carputer' turns heads
David “Ernie” Brostek of St. Clair Shores brought out “Carputer,” which is what he calls his 1991 Ford Escort GT that is completely covered in computer chips. This is the third year he brought the car out, but he also brought something new this year.

Brostek’s towering robot, also covered in computer hardware, stood on the side of the sidewalk and turned his head back and forth as the onlookers passed by.

“I worked on this for about 12 months, spread out over two years,” Brostek said of the car. “I just had this idea of doing a big project and I thought about doing an art car.”

He started collecting old computers, which he said took a great deal of time, and would get donations from computer stores. He said sometimes he’d come home at night and someone would have left computer parts on his doorstep.

Because he had so much left over from the car project, he decided to do the robot, too, which also lights up at night.

He said he gets quite a few double takes from people walking by and has taken pictures of people’s reactions in the past.

It took about six months to work on the robot, which turned out larger than he had anticipated.

“It just seemed to take on a life of its own,” Brostek said.

Kind of like the cruise itself.

You can reach Staff Writer April Lehmbeck at alehmbeck@candgnews.com or at (586) 498-1043.