2016 Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise

This past August I went to Detroit for the annual Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise and spied this absolutely beautiful 59 Bonneville.  I definitely have a huge case of envy!  

Hi, my name is Don Weston and I am driving this car.  I used to own it and now borrow it every year from the current owner in Michigan to drive in the "Berkley Cruise-Fest" Parade which occurs on the Friday evening before the actual "Woodward Dream Cruise" which is always held on the third Saturday in August.  The picture was taken in a cemetery at Woodward and 12 Mile which is used as a staging area for the parade. I purchased this car in 1977 from a junkyard in Washington State and restored it.  The body was solid but the engine was completely destroyed and I had to put in an engine from another 59 Bonneville parts car that I found in a junkyard here in Arizona. Then I sold it in 1982 and it has had three owners since then.   It is also the car featured on the cover of John Gunnell's book on the history of the Ponitac Motor Division.  However, the car was incorrectly painted white when that cover picture was taken.  It has recently been repainted Vanguard Blue.  It was painted Concord Blue when I owned it which was the color it was when it was new.   The current owner who lives in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan has owned the car since the early 1990s and also owns a red 59 Bonneville convertible.

Don,
Thanks for providing such detailed background info on such a stellar automobile.  I wish that I could have seen it up close and stationary but every time it came into view it was rolling (and I don't blame you for that!)  Woodard is a great event(s), hope to see you there next year. Here are some additional pictures that may be of interest to members of this website.

If you double click on each picture, I think an enlargement will appear.

Thanks for the kind words Bob.   Look me up next August and I will give you a ride!   My email is donald.weston@cox.net  I recently purchased my 7th 59 Pontiac owned over the past 51 years.  The blue convertible was no. 4.   I grew up in Highland Park Mich. just three blocks off Woodward and cruised Woodward in 1964-65 in my first 59 Pontiac which was a StarChief.  Back then the GTOs were all new cars and actually quite common along Woodward.   I worked in a Sunoco Gas station part time while in High School and we has a customer who has a 3 year old 59 Pontiac StarChief in Sunset Glow.  That was in 1962 and I fell in love with 59 Pontiacs then even though I didn't get my license until 1963. Finally got enough money in 1964 to buy a 59 off a used car lot for $450. It was a low mileage car in mint condition but it still only took about two weeks for me to blow the transmission due to racing!

The 2017 Woodward Dream Cruise and Berkley CruiseFest parade the evening before the Cruise Were a lot of fun again this year. Drove my old Blue convertible as always. Lots of beautiful classic cars but did not see another 59 Pontiac the whole time. Saw one 60 Pontiac Bonneville convertible however.

Don, firstly, I loveeee the Woodward event, but due to nasty weather predictions for the event this year my friends and I canceled at the last minute our plans to make the 10 hour trek to Detroit. Hey, everyone knows that many car guys keep their cars at home when the slightest chance of rain exists (Not me of course...afterall it's just water right, hahaha) but it is a long way to go for no shows. My goal is to cruise side by side with your blue beauty the entire circuit.  I'd be ok with second fiddle doing that.  Glad that you perservered.

Weather for the Berkley Cruise-Fest parade on Friday evening was beautiful.   Same for the Woodward Cruise on Saturday the next day.  I only drive the 59 Convertible in the Friday night parade not the cruise on Saturday. The gridlock on Woodward on Saturday is horrible due to all the modern cars making it extremely slow going for the classics so I quite driving on Saturday long ago.  However, if you want to be in the parade on Friday night you will need to register your car with the City of Berkley, Michigan in advance.  You can't register at the parade itself Friday night.   So contact them around next April and they will send you a registration form.  In past years there has been as many as four 59 Pontiacs in the parade but more recently it has only been me so it would be nice to see another 59 in the parade in 2018!

Don,
With the weather forecasts that I was seeing, I am extremely surprised that the weather was as you described but glad for you.  Thanks for the info on the Friday night event...who knows, I just might make it happen next year!

Keep on rolling!

Don,
It was pleasure meeting you in person last month at the 2018 Dream Cruise and having an opportunity to see that beautiful 59 convertible up close.  It is a real beauty and I will attempt to past another picture of it for the benefit of others.

I will also attempt to post a picture of another stunning 59 that I saw at the upper end of the cruise route in Pontiac, MI.


Best regards,

Bob