Chevy Parade Jump Starts Dream Cruise

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BLOOMFIELD HILLS -- (WWJ) Chevrolet looking to its last hundred years, and its next hundred years, as it kicked off the Woodward Dream Cruise, with a parade of Chevy's.

More than two hundred vehicles—including Corvettes, Camaros and Bel Air's—cruised down the Avenue, lead by two Chevy police cars.

Also featured in the parade, 50 Chevy Volt's.

"This is a big deal," said Volt owner Roger Kitten, from Slayton, Texas. "We grew up in the country, never got out of Texas much, and here we are in Detroit, Michigan."

Kitten, who said his grandson talked him into buying the Volt, says when he heard about the event he decided he wanted to come. Not only had he never been to the dream cruise before, he'd never heard of it.

This is also Dan Akerson's first dream cruise as CEO of General Motors.

"There's no industry like this industry, and I've seen a lot of them," said Akerson, a veteran of the telecommunications and private equity fields.

But the auto industry touches a lot of people, Akerson said, and the Woodward Dream Cruise is evidence of that.

"It's like Christmas morning," he told WWJ AutoBeat Reporter Jeff Gilbert. "It's exciting. It's a celebration of the industry, and I'm proud to be part of it."

In addition to being the title sponsor of the cruise this year, Chevrolet has several displays along Woodward. It's all part of the brand's centennial.

It's not just Volt owners who made the trip to Detroit to drive in the parade, and see the Woodward Dream Cruise.

Dale Skovera, from Appleton, Wisconsin, brought his 1960 Corvette.

"We just finished our restoration of it last week. We just wanted to drive it in the cruise."

It's also the first cruise for Skovera. He plans to keep driving his 'Vette.

"My wife and I are both born in 1960. This is the car we're keeping in our family."

Click here to view a gallery of Woodward Dream Cruise Photos.

And if you have any pictures you'd like to see on our website, send us an email at WWJNewsroom@cbsradio.com.