Cruising Michigan Avenue, Where It All Began – The Spiritual Birthplace of Ford’s Mustang

DEARBORN, MI - Car cruises are now a staple of summer across these United States. Whether organized by a regional club, a local business, or embraced by an entire community, car shows and cruises celebrate America's love affair with the automobile in almost every town and city along good ol' highway USA. Perhaps nowhere is this "car love" more evident than in Detroit - the place that put the world on wheels.

Here in The Motor City, we are likely best-known for famed Woodward Avenue and the annual "Dream Cruise" along a stretch of "M-1" that heads out of Detroit to the northern suburbs. Billed as the largest single-day automotive event on the planet, the Woodward cruise attracts tens of thousands of collector cars and nearly a million people every summer. But there are other big cruises on major Detroit area thoroughfares, such as Gratiot Avenue, Telegraph Road, and Michigan Avenue, held for various reasons. And one of them carries some significant enthusiast history that you may not know about.

The Michigan Avenue Cruise is an event that connects a few special locations for Blue Oval fans. For one thing, it's the road that spans the front lawn of Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn; for another, it stretches all the way to the home of the global Ford Focus at Wayne Stamping & Assembly and the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, MI. And there's another spot - little-known but hugely significant - that we'll talk about a bit later.

This was the 5th Annual Michigan Avenue Cruise, again traversing five of Detroit's western suburbs - Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Inkster, Westland, and Wayne. At various locations along the cruise route, enthusiasts gathered at the side of the road - with the more-prepared auto admirers set up with lawn chairs, cold beverages, and strategic shady spots from which to view the daylong parade of Detroit Iron.

One favorite hotspot was in downtown Wayne, which provided a fun, "Main Street" feel for onlookers to line each side of the avenue. Cruise fever was in full swing here, especially at a namesake eatery called US-12 Bar & Grill, which had music playing for a sprawling sidewalk party that was set up as a backdrop to all the cruising machines.

Down the road a bit, Ford Racing set up a "meet-n-greet" at another hotspot - a car show and gathering at Jack Demmer Ford, just across from the Focus assembly plant. As the live band jammed and picnic food was available hot off the grill, visitors could park and stroll among the cars on display, classic and modern rides alike. From stock-original to radically modified, there was a bit of everything to enjoy in the dealership lot - including some of Jim Demmer's own hot Mustangs.

The Great Lakes Chapter of the Special Vehicle Team Owners Association (SVTOA) joined the party there, passing out club info and offering some automotive eye candy brought by their members for visitors to appreciate. Multiple generations of the Demmer family could be seen cruising Michigan Avenue in one of Ford's last, big classic droptops - a pristine LTD convertible. Generously, all proceeds raised at this location went to benefit the Wayne Recreation Department.

Not to be outdone, historic Village Ford in west Dearborn rolled out the red carpet for Michigan Avenue cruisers as well. The dealership cleared space for a "home-base" gathering by members of the Mustang Owners Club of South Eastern Michigan (MOCSEM), whose impressive collection of Mustangs and classic Fords was worthy of their title as biggest Mustang club in the world. Enthusiasm was brimming as we joined some of them to drive over to Ford's WHQ (dubbed "The Glass House'' for its glass-encased silhouette) for an impromptu photo shoot.

But there was one more location for true Mustang fans to visit - the northeast corner of Michigan Avenue and Brady Street, only a short drive from The Glass House. No, this unassuming corner was not one of the featured, hallmark destinations during the cruise. In fact, most cars pass by without even looking twice - and why should they? It's just an empty, grassy lot. No tents or banners, No rows of classic cars with their hoods popped. No music, no crowds - just grass.

It's likely that few, if any, of the classic car owners and fans who rolled past to find a pocket of action down the road had any idea that this unassuming corner is the epicenter, ground-zero, the motherland - the spiritual birthplace - of the Ford Mustang!

Yes, once upon a time, on this very patch of land stood the Fairlane Inn. It was constructed during Ford Motor Company's postwar boom to serve an increasing number of business travelers who conducted business at Ford's World Headquarters. After changing hands a number of times over the years and then finally closing its doors in 2005, the vacant and boarded-up hotel building was eventually torn down in late 2010. So how did an old hotel on this location become such a special place for the Mustang?

Let's rewind, all the way back to 1960. Soon after being named Ford VP and general manager of Ford Division, Lee Iacocca took a controversial stance on a new global sedan project called the "Cardinal" (which had cost millions in research and design). He believed the V-4 front-drive car simply wouldn't sell well in the U.S., and his insistence eventually won over Henry Ford II, who canceled the project for the Stares (while launching it as the Ford Taunus in Europe in 1962). In the process, young Iacocca lost the support of many of the older executives who wanted to see the car produced here. With the global sedan project halted, Iacocca went to work attempting to change Ford's starchy image with baby boomers who were entering the American workforce in a strong economy.

Enter the Fairlane Inn hotel. To avoid the prying eyes and still burning ire of overruled senior executives at The Glass House, Iacocca put together a group of insiders to meet at an off-site location. Each week, this hand-picked team of talented, passionate "car-guys" met to hammer out the details of a sporty new four-seater in an attempt to capitalize on the expanding "youth market." About a mile down the road from WHQ, the Fairlane Inn made for an ideal location. In fact, this group later became known as the "Fairlane Committee" after meeting in the hotel's conference room with such regularity.

In his book, Iacocca: An Autobiography, Lee stated, "Right away, I brought together a group of young guys from the Ford Division we started getting together once a week at the Fairlane Inn in Dearborn we met at the hotel because a lot of people back at the office were just waiting for us to fall on our faces my guys were talented, but they weren't always the most popular people in the company."

After initial proposals for a new sporty car were rejected, the persistence of Iacocca and his Fairlane Committee paid off. By finally convincing Henry Ford II, they got the O.K. for the new vehicle. Under extreme engineering deadlines and a small budget, the all-new Ford Mustang debuted as an immediate success on April 17, 1964, at the New York World's Fair. The rest, as they say, is history.

Ford Racing's John Clor wrote about the Fairlane Inn (at the time renamed a Quality Inn) being torn down back in January of 2011, in the Mustang Club of America's Mustang Times magazine. In his "Ford Performance Corner" column, he wrote, "A piece of Mustang history is now gone. My hope is that with some help from this column, it will never be forgotten."

At the time, plans for the now city-owned site included expansion of the Dearborn Historical Museum and potentially even new public access to the Rouge River. A portion was tabbed for private development, but city officials were yet to seek bidders.

For Mustang fans, the grassy lot on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Brady Street in Dearborn is truly something special - after all, it is indeed the spiritual birthplace of the now legendary Ford pony car. If you're ever in town, perhaps to visit the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village or to take the Rouge Factory Tour, a trip down Michigan Avenue to Brady Street for a stop at the very spot that the Mustang was envisioned would certainly make an interesting photo-op even if only to stump your friends.

Yes, there are cruises all over the country, and plenty here in Metro Detroit. But as our cruise along Michigan Avenue this summer has taught us, there's usually more to a good car event than meets the eye. So the next time you head out to enjoy a cruise, consider that the road you're rolling along on may have as much history - or maybe more - than that classic car you are driving. For us, a little-known piece of the Mustang development story helped make the Michigan Avenue Cruise that much more special.