What will the classic car shows of the future look like?

As electric motors replace gas-powered engines on vehicles, what will the Woodward Dream Cruise look like in 20 to 30 years?

Car experts believe one thing will remain the same: The more rare a vehicle is, the more it will turn heads on Woodward Avenue just north of Detroit.

With few exceptions, 2023 is the last year that Stellantis will manufacture and sell gas-powered Dodge Challengers and Chargers.

Eric Stafford, senior editor of Car & Driver magazine, predicts those muscle cars will be ones to watch in as little as five to 10 years.

What else will be a classic?

Car enthusiasts love driving manual transmissions, but they’re hard to find on newer models. Anything with that feature will be popular at the cruise of the future, he said.

Similarly, many automakers are phasing out production of V8 engines in favor of smaller, more fuel-efficient ones. So, any vehicle with a V8 will be sought after as well, Stafford said.

What about the dream cruise itself? Will it become a thing of the past?

Experts say no.

“It’s still going to be a thing. People will always love their cars,” said Matt Anderson, curator of transportation at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, which operates Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village.

“As long as there are teenagers, there will be a Dream Cruise,“ he said, noting that older car enthusiasts often buy the vehicles they couldn’t afford as teenagers.

“They’ll feel like they’re a teenager again” when they get to drive that car, he said.

In the future, the event will feature fewer cars from the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s and more models from the ‘90s and 2000s, Anderson said.

The impending changes in the auto industry come with worry for some that the fun of driving will be gone.

Not so, experts say.

“I can hear the grumbling already” about the transition to electric vehicles, said Jerry Cuper, a classic car enthusiast and adjunct faculty member in engineering technology at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield.

“But they are fast as hell,” he said.

Cuper has taught at LTU for 46 years; most of his students work in the auto industry after graduation, where they are the “problem solvers” of vehicle production, he said.

A complete changeover to EVs is not imminent, he said, as there are still bugs to work out, especially when it comes to charging stations.

There will always be gas-powered vehicles, experts say.

“I think all those cars from the 1960s and 1970s that were fun to drive, they’re not going away,” Stafford said.

Experts agree that car enthusiasts are going to miss the throaty sounds that gas-powered muscle cars make, letting everyone know of their presence. But the auto industry has taken care of that, Stafford said.

The new electric Dodge Charger has features added that mimic the noise of a gas-powered model to enhance the driver’s experience. Manufacturers are even making some electric models that create external noise so the people on the street can hear it.

Cars of the future could bring another change that isn’t as easy to overcome, experts say.

Many enthusiasts derive great pleasure from working on their own vehicles. As they become more advanced, it will be more difficult for a lay person to refurbish, repair and maintain them, experts say.

The car of the future will be more like a computer, said Terry Connolly, chairman of the board at the new Pontiac Transportation Museum and a former General Motors engineer.

“It’s a little harder to love your computer,” he said.

Originally Published: August 17, 2024 at 6:11 a.m.