The Drive Home VII: Route 66 Centennial – Sunrise Over Indiana
By
William Hall
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January 14, 2026
The last leg of the Drive Home VII cross-country road trip left the Magnificent Mile in Chicago before dawn, hoping to jump out ahead of commuter traffic and make our rendezvous in Birmingham, Michigan, for a caravan down Woodward Avenue to Huntington Place and the Detroit Auto Show.
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Once again, the 1965 Ford Country Squire wagon was giving us some grief. Overnight, the car seems to have lost reverse gear. Fiddling with the linkage and checking the fluid proved inconclusive, and we decided to “creatively park” the car on fuel stops on our run to the Motor City. But by mid-morning, the forward gears were exhibiting some slipping so we decided to load it on the trouble truck, preserving it for the final run down Woodward.
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Now, it should be noted that despite the maladies plaguing some the museum cars, the other vehicles of The Drive Home VII – the 1991 Ford Mustang 5.0, the 1934 Buick Model 61 Resto-mod, the 1992 Land Rover Discovery, 1967 Pontiac GTO, the 1969 Mercury Cougar, and our privateer 2005 Ford Thunderbird – have all made the trip glitch-free. Which provides irrefutable evidence that indeed, with a little vetting, you can enjoy your own classic car the length of Route 66 and have a safe, trouble-free and unforgettable experience.
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While we’re dispelling myths, let’s talk about the weather and the road salt. We saw neither on this mid-January trip except for a persistent rain in California (of all places) and a bit of drizzle today. We’re actually grateful for a little slop, as the plan is to display the cars at the Detroit Auto Show in their road-used, dirty condition – a stark contrast to the shiny new vehicles on the show floor. Except our classics really didn’t get that dirty after all.
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The point of which is to say, don’t be afraid to use your classic car. Live the dream. Lengthen your driving season. What are you saving it for? For someone else to enjoy?
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Life is short. Drive the car.
Expanding on the dreams-deferred topic, what’s stopping you from retiring to a small town with a moderate climate along Route 66 and repurposing an old gas station? Remote work and the internet have made that fantasy possible. I keep thinking of The Synder’s at Dream Maker Station in Adrian, Texas, and Jason’s lasting words, “I should have done this ten years ago…”
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One hour out of Birmingham, our caravan is starting to scatter. What was a cross-country conga line has become the
Gumball Rally, as our cars charge side-by-side down I-94, eager to arrive in the Motor City. Riding shotgun in the 1969 Camaro SS, the perfectly-spaced gearing thrumming along at a 70mph/3100rpm sweet spot, the car is composed and confident. But the drivers must remain vigilant on this last leg of rainy urban traffic. As we know, most shark attacks happen near shore.
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For just about the first time on our trip, we arrived early to Big Rock Italian Chophouse in Birmingham, Michigan. And what a place to arrive early to! Upstairs in the cigar lounge we were hosted with a quick snack of sliders and fries to get us through on the drive down Woodward Avenue. BRIC is a must-see dining experience when in Detroit, and we could have happily stayed all night.
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Alas, we still have unfinished business. We unloaded the 1965 Ford Country Squire in the parking lot and staged for the final push down Woodward. A Birmingham Police squad car served as escort, and under the lights of the local television news cameras we were off. I drew the short straw to drive the struggling station wagon the 22 miles to Huntington Place.
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About a third of the way, the transmission started slipping so badly it could barely make it out of an underpass. I quickly pulled over to the side, flipped the keys to our trouble truck drivers Curt and Andy, and jumped into The Creative Workshop’s Land Rover Defender that had been following behind.
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Ever try to catch up with a police-led caravan? Nevertheless, driver Jason Wenig used all his skills to get us back in the queue as the cars entered the circle drive outside Huntington Place.
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After all the terrain we’ve covered over the last 2,732 miles to Detroit, it’s surreal to pull the cars onto the carpeted mezzanine of Huntington Place, where they will be available for viewing at the north end of the concours for the entire run of the show.
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While I can’t give you any photos from inside the show floor until the opening, I can say with confidence that there is something for everyone in this bigger and better Detroit Auto Show. There is a very good reason The Detroit Auto Show takes place in January: to give car guys and gals a reason to get excited about driving in the middle of winter. And if you look closely while there, you’ll see the six dusty classics from The Drive Home VII on display that did exactly that for us. The other ones are....well that's another story......
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