Auto blog

Cruise Woodward Avenue with Autoblog's Dodge Challenger Hellcat

While Autoblog was consumed by coverage of the increasingly important Monterey Car Week last weekend, there was another big even going on. The Woodward Dream Cruise is significantly lighter in terms of news, but there's no denying that it's a far bigger, and far more egalitarian than what the wine-and-cheese crowd experience on the links at Pebble Beach. The Dream Cruise crams tens of thousands of cars and over a million spectators along a four-lane ribbon of asphalt between Ferndale and Pontiac, MI. What's remarkable aren't these numbers, though, so much as the distances they travel. Owners and admirers come from far and wide, across the United States and in some cases across the globe, to take in the spectacle. This year, local radio and television coverage featured fans that traveled from Japan, Australia, and Europe, just to take in the cruise. Of course, we realize that not everyone can make the pilgrimage to Woodward Avenue. With that fact in mind, we decided to bring a bit of the Dream Cruise to Autoblog with a time-lapse video of the cruise route. You can experience the good (a Lamborghini Gallardo, Chevrolet Chevelle, and Oldsmobile Cutlass 442), the bad (the traffic jams), and the ugly (no, your 2003 Ford Focus does not qualify as a classic, get the hell out of the cruiser lanes). So join us, as we turn off 8 Mile Road behind the wheel of our 2015 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and run north, through Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Royal Oak, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Bloomfield Township, and Bloomfield Hills, before ending up on Wide Track Drive in Pontiac.

Fort Worth Police investigating officer for using pepper spray on bikers

A Fort Worth Police officer was placed on administrative duties after video surfaced showing him allegedly spraying pepper spray at a group of passing motorcyclists during a traffic stop over the weekend. An officer with the FWPD pulled over one of the group's chase vehicles, a red Dodge Ram, that was escorting riders in case of a crash or mechanical troubles. The video, shot from one of the motorcyclists' helmet cams, caught the FWPD officer exiting his vehicle and, before approaching the truck, spraying something into traffic at the group of riders. WFAA News 8 spoke with the men responsible for the video, Jack Kinney and Chase Stone, via Skype from Longview, TX, on March 13. "It's the last thing I would expect to see," Kinney told the station. "His intent was to hit the bikers for sure, there's no doubt about it," said Stone. "His intent was to send somebody down, if not to cause a major accident with that spray". As the video went viral, receiving more than 200,000 views in 15 hours, people shared videos showing the group of motorcyclists riding in an irresponsible manner through traffic right before the alleged pepper spray incident. Fort Worth Police say they received numerous calls about the pack of riders from motorists on surrounding highways, with complaints ranging from weaving in and out of lanes to popping wheelies through traffic at high speed. News 8 asked Kinney and Stone if it was possible that the officer felt threatened. "If you're worried about safety, why would you pepper spray a large group of bikers like that?" asked Kinney. The Dallas Morning News identified the officer as W. Figueroa. Worth Police released an official statement about the incident late on the afternoon of March 13. They stated that the officer in question, a six-year FWPD veteran, had been relieved of his patrol duties and placed on desk duty pending the investigation. FWPD Corporal Tracey Knight also made a statement indicating that pepper-spraying drivers in oncoming traffic is not a department-sanctioned tactic. News Source: WFAA News 8, The Dallas Morning News Government/Legal Dodge RAM Safety Truck Motorcycle Police/Emergency Videos Sedan road rage bikers

1970 Hemi Challenger is a family heirloom with serious muscle

Petrolicious turns up the emotion in its latest video about a family's connection to their 1970 Dodge Challenger. The orange muscle car that gets the spotlight here is a remarkably beautiful vehicle, but the story of a father and his sons at the core of this clip might leave you feeling a little misty eyed. Juan Escalante is the current owner of this Challenger, but it belonged to his dad first. Juan's father spotted the iconic muscle car during the 1969 Detroit Auto Show and had to have one. He soon placed an order for the orange '70 Challenger R/T with the rare combination for that year of a 426 Hemi V8 and a four-speed manual gearbox. The family even brought the coupe with them when they moved to Venezuela in 1972, and local fans dubbed it El Hemi. However, parts were scarce for the muscle car in that country, and it returned to the US in 1996 for a restoration. Now, the rumbling Challenger with its Coke-bottle profile and black hood is the world's most awesome family heirloom for the Escalantes. In this poignant video, Petrolicious shows how the coupe connects Juan to his father. Related Video: