Mopar Muscle Association UK

A couple of weeks ago myself and 5 friends had a cultural visit to the Motor City, the primary focus of the visit was Detroit Autorama Hot Rod and Custom Car Show, with a couple of days either side to take in other automotive heritage attractions, museums, etc

Some research in the months before came up with a list of things to do, with input from google, allpar.com and forbbodiesonly.com, etc, etc, we had a comprehensive list but no real plan

I also wrote to Chrysler about the current status of the Walter P Chrysler museum collection

Below is the reply I got … So at least something good will come of the collection in the future, but unfortunately nothing for us to see at the beginning of March

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From: US Customer Care <uscustomercare@fcagroup.com>
Subject: Re: Chrysler Product Information

Thank you for contacting the Chrysler Information Center. Your email is important to us.

It's great to hear of your positive feedback and interest in all things Chrysler.

I do regret to advise the Walter P. Chrysler museum has been closed. Its assets were sold to the Chrysler Foundation, a charitable arm of Chrysler Group, LLC.

While FCA US LLC Headquarters located in Auburn Hills Michigan is not open or available for public tours, the Conner Avenue Assembly Plant, the former production home of the iconic Dodge Viper, will get a second life as an internal meeting and display space that will showcase the Company’s concept and historic vehicle collection.

Renamed Conner Center, the former manufacturing facility, tucked in a Detroit neighborhood just south of the famed 8 Mile Road, will have space to exhibit 85 of the nearly 400 concept and historic vehicles that will now be stored onsite under one roof. Previously, the Company’s extensive collection was housed in several locations. This move will allow us to house all of our collection under one roof and have the space to share that history with our employees.

It is expected that the facility, built in 1966, could also open its doors to the public in the future, however at this time, there has been no announcements as such.

We appreciate your interest and I have taken the liberty of logging your feedback. Comments like yours are always a welcomed and important way of getting feedback and helps providing the greatest possible satisfaction for customers.

You are always welcome to call us directly with any further questions at the Chrysler Product Information Center by calling 1-800-247-9753.

Thanks again for your email.

Sincerely,

Jeff
Chrysler Information Center

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In the end we took in 7 museums, 6 derelict factories / buildings, 2 days at Autorama, 2 filming locations, 2 classic sales places, 1 giant tire, countless derelict houses, numerous dirty blondes (beer), good times.

I took 1800 photos, I won’t post them all, due to the unavailability of the Chrysler Collection, the trip leant more toward Ford and GM, however there was plenty of Mopar content at Autorama and the museums, i'll try to keep this as Mopar as poss

Here’s how it panned out …

Detroit #0 Wednesday 27/2

Long day, Manchester-> Amsterdam-> Detroit, with no direct flight from Manchester to Detroit, the most economic option was via Amsterdam, it worked well with only a 1.5h layover in Amsterdam the only slight annoyance was on route from Amsterdam to Detroit flying back directly over Manchester at 2pm after a 5am get up

One piece of advice I was given before we left was bring a big coat, check, a quick look at the forecast on arriving in Detroit revealed it would be sub zero for most of the week, -4C in the day, -13C at night, bearing in mind we had just had ‘summer’ in the UK at the end of February this was a bit of a shock to the system

We picked up our rental, a Yukon XL took the 6 of us and luggage no problem at all. Headed out through the snowy Detroit suburbs to our hotel, checked in and scoured the aforementioned list as I had also included some auto related eateries. We chose Fords Garage Restaurant as it wasn’t far, good choice, great food, great beer and great atmosphere. Atwater Dirty Blonde was the chosen local brew which proved to be a staple for the week ahead

Ford's Garage Restaurant is at 21367 Michigan Ave, Dearborn, MI
http://www.fordsgarageusa.com/locations/dearborn/

Very good Si and looked like a great trip, snowy and cool

look forward to more of great photos.

Detroit #1 Thursday 28/2

Amazing day at the Ford Rouge Factory tour of the F-150 Dearborn Truck Plant and The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation

A 10 minutes bus ride takes you from The Henry Ford to the Rouge Factory. The walking tour of the Dearborn Truck Plant, where the new aluminum-alloy-body Ford F-150 truck is made. A 1/3 mile elevated walkway, provides a unique bird’s-eye view of the plant’s final assembly line, where robotics, parts delivery and skilled workers build one truck per minute …

More info …
https://www.thehenryford.org/visit/ford ... lant-tour/

The F-150 Dearborn Truck Plant was also featured on National Geographic Megafactories series …

The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation isn’t just cars, or Ford, housed in a stunning building there’s an eclectic (and some a little odd) mix of exhibits associated with innovation or innovators. There’s a handful of Mopars including a Turbine Car, Goldenrod and Wienermobile. We went for the full experience including a 1.5h guided tour, well worth it, there’s that much in there that on a self-guided tour you wouldn’t be able to take it all in

the Ford Rouge Factory tour and The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation are at 20900 Oakwood Boulevard, Dearborn, MI

More info …
https://www.thehenryford.org/

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing.

The Ford museum certainly looks a lot different from when I visited in 1991.

That Ford Mk IV in the last pic was at Goodwood a few years ago.

Detroit #2 Friday 1/3

another fantastic day in the Motor City

first stop a quick visit to National Parts Depot in Canton for a few parts for a mates Chevy G10 Van, no parts purchased, most unhelpful!! Off to O’Reilly’s later in the week then

next stop the home of Motown from ‘59 to ‘72, Hitsville USA, the nickname given to Motown's first headquarters. A former photographers' studio located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, MI, it was purchased by Motown founder Berry Gordy in 1959 The photography studio located in the back of the property was modified into a small recording studio, Studio A, and the Gordys moved into the second-floor living quarters. Within seven years, Motown would occupy seven additional neighbouring houses
https://www.motownmuseum.org/

then on to The General Motors Heritage Center, which serves as a showplace for the vehicles of the GM Heritage Collection, as a corporate conferencing and special events venue, and as the permanent home for the corporation’s collection of historic literature and artifacts which document GM’s rich history of innovation. Located in an 81,000 square foot facility in Sterling Heights, MI, the Center has more than 165 vehicles on display. Each of the vehicles in the Collection illustrates a design, technical or sales milestone or accomplishment in the history of General Motors or automotive history. Entry is by application only and they only open when there’s a group of 30 or more, not open to the public for individual visits; however, the GM Heritage Center can be reserved for group tours, conferences, meetings and special events
https://www.gmheritagecenter.com/

then down to the Ford Piquette Av Plant. As the birthplace of the Ford Model T, the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is recognized as one of the most significant automotive heritage sites in the world, at 461 Piquette St, Detroit, MI. we arrived at 3.40pm having looked up it closed at 5pm, but winter hours they closed at 4pm, so they only charged us $5, fair enough, one of the guides Tom said he would take us round for a whistle stop tour of all the key things, wow what a place, 2 hours later we left, Tom is a true gent staying on after time to show round the 3 floors of the museum, he was happy to answer any questions and didn’t try to hurry us along at all, never seen so many Model T’s in one place, they had a mock-up of the first static production line, it was like a private tour as everyone else had left for the day, fantastic place
https://www.fordpiquetteplant.org/

followed by an eye opening drive round some of the derelict factory sites, former Cadillac Stamping Plant on Piquette Av closed in the ‘60’s, former Packard Plant on E Grand Blvd where the iconic bridge collapsed a few weeks ago, Saw this man walking a goat, building in the background is the derelict Ford Highland Park Plant on the corner of Woodward Av and Manchester St where they built the Model T from 1920 on the first moving production line
https://detroithistorical.org/learn/enc ... park-plant

Great pics and looked an interesting trip...

Detroit #3 Saturday 2/3

headed downtown for Detroit Autorama at the COBO centre. We got rejected from the first car park we headed for, can only guess that the Yukon was too tall as cars and smaller SUV’s were being let in, we found another place round the corner $10 for the day, show tickets were $21 or $19 if you bought them from O’Reilly’s. the upper hall is massive, like all the NEC halls rolled into one, and then some. Saturday show times were 9am to 10pm, we went in just after 9am and left about 8pm spending the whole day on the upper floor intending to do the lower floor Sunday

with hundreds of cars on show I’ve only included the Mopars here, I’ll post a link to the full set at the end when I’ve got that sorted. Some truly stunning cars from all marques. The standard of the builds either vying for the Ridler award or for another award is incredible. The design that goes into them, and the passion and sheer amount of work always impresses me, seeing the design and fabrication limits that get pushed with these builds