Comedian and automotive aficionado Jay Leno joined the cruisers on Woodward Avenue under a brilliant, bright blue sky Saturday, taking a rumbling spin in his newest ride, a 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170.
Leno took possession of the machine, part of a limited production run of maybe 3,300 vehicles that promises 1,025 horsepower, when he joined Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis at the Vinsetta Garage restaurant in Berkley to tout a new partnership on car care products between Jay Leno’s Garage and Dodge’s Direct Connection parts line. Dodge said it was the first customer delivery for this Demon variant since its unveiling five months ago.
But Leno’s got a thing for the Woodward Dream Cruise, and before heading out behind the wheel of a muscle car that Dodge says will hit 60 mph in 1.66 seconds and deliver the “highest G-force acceleration of any production car,” Leno opened up a bit about what makes the cruise special, why he’s a “big union guy” and why cruisers shouldn’t fear electric vehicles.
“This is an event that people can go to and it’s free. Where do you get a car show that’s really free anymore? And it’s every type of car,” he said, describing seeing a Pontiac corner or a Corvette corner or some Dodge guys during earlier visits. “That’s what makes it a lot of fun because you never know what you’re going to get.”
Leno compared the cruise favorably to pricey events like the upcoming Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a showcase that he enjoys, but it’s not the everyman’s show that the Dream Cruise represents.
When he was asked later about his favorite car for cruising, Leno again talked about the Dream Cruise vibe.
“I just like (that) it’s people milling around. It’s all kinds of people. It’s not just rich people or famous people. It’s all kinds of people. And you don’t know who’s got what here. Some guy could have his grandfather’s Hemi, whatever it might be. It’s just a lot of legendary cars,” Leno said.
Photos:The Woodward Dream Cruise roars through town
Standing beside his new, never-been-driven, Octane Red machine with a “Leno 170” personalized license plate (before he’d been told it was his car), Leno described what he sees as special about cars in America.
“Everything in America is attainable. This is an attainable car. The Corvette’s an attainable car, Mustang’s an attainable car,” he said. “To get that kind of power, you’d have to go to a McLaren or a Ferrari and you’re talking hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
At an earlier announced sticker price of $96,666, not counting the destination charge, the Demon 170, might not be attainable for everyone, but all things are relative, and all of the Demon 170s are all already spoken for.
This Demon is part of the special-edition “Last Call” runs of Chargers and Challengers being made ahead of the end of production next year of the current, gas-powered muscle cars in Brampton, Ontario. Dodge, like other brands in the Stellantis family, has already announced plans to go electric, unveiling a Dodge Charger Dayton SRT Concept electric muscle car last year.
That signals big changes ahead, but Leno didn’t appear too worried about what the EV transition would mean for today’s classic cars or events like the Dream Cruise.
“The good thing about electrification is it saves cars like this,” he said, predicting that people would use their EVs to sit in traffic. “To sit in a 426 Hemi, like my ‘66 (Dodge) Coronet, getting 5 miles per gallon in bumper to bumper, it makes no sense, but it’s a lot of fun to take it out on the weekend and drive it to an event like this or go up in the hills and drive it around.”
Leno also had a few words that should cheer UAW members, who are anxiously watching the public back-and-forth messaging connected to contract talks from their union and Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which also owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler and Fiat brands.
“What I really like,” he told Kuniskis, “is you build these things in a union shop with union workers and a pretty good price.”
Leno talked up the value of unions in describing his time as host of “The Tonight Show,” too.
“That was a union show. On my last day I said, ‘Everybody here bought a house and a car with the money they made from here. I made money. You made money. The show made money,’ ” Leno said. “I’m a big union guy.”
And as for the Motor City?
“I see Detroit’s coming back like gangbusters. Every time I come here things are better than the last time,” Leno said.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.
Reporter’s note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described the car as being gifted. The company says this was actually the first customer delivery of the Demon 170.