2025 Goodguys Hall of Fame Road Tour Gallery – Part 1
As we reach into mid January, it’s a great time to think about warmer days and cruising our favorite cars and trucks. In our case, we’re definitely recalling the great times we had on the Goodguys 2025 Hall of Fame Road Tour! The Tour traversed through Michigan and into its upper peninsula, into Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and over to North Dakota. Following is a part one of the hot rodding adventure of a lifetime. 
The Great Lakes region of the United States is a land of striking contrasts. There are miles of open water and great expanses of land that range from rolling plains to vast woodland and even foothills and low-lying mountains. It’s an area that is home to industry, manufacturing, and dense metropolitan areas, in addition to expansive stretches of open land, wilderness, and abundant natural resources. Right in the middle of it all is Michigan, a state comprised of two peninsulas that has long served as the hub of the U.S. auto industry.
Well known as the Motor City, Detroit is a bustling urban area that grew up with the automotive industry and is still regarded as a hub of American car culture. From the executive suites and assembly lines of the Big Three automakers to the lanes of Woodward Avenue and the beats of Motown tunes that make you want to cruise, the greater Detroit area oozes with automotive heritage. What better place, then, to launch a multi-state caravan of vintage hot rods, classics, customs, and cruisers seeking an open-road adventure with some of the coolest experiences this country has to offer.
In our ongoing quest to explore new and interesting areas of the United States, Goodguys set its sights on the Great Lakes region and Upper Midwest for their 2025 Hall of Fame Road Tour. With Detroit as our launch point, we navigated north and west, charting a course that would take us up through western Michigan, across the Upper Peninsula, down through Wisconsin and the outskirts of Chicago, and then northwest again through Minnesota. Our destination would be Grand Forks, North Dakota, home to longtime hot rodders (and devoted Hall of Fame Road Tour participants) Wes and Vivian Rydell, who would then host our group of 60-plus vehicles at their annual charity Rydell Car & Bike Show.
The eight-day highway adventure took place September 14-21 and saw an enthusiastic group of drivers steering their eclectic collection of vintage rides through some incredibly scenic areas of the Upper Midwest. The journey took us to some incredible museums, shops, private automotive collections, and other fun sights along the way, while also providing a great opportunity to spend time with friends and fellow enthusiasts, meet new people, and simply enjoy some time behind the wheel. Part 1 of our gallery takes us from Detroit to Green Bay Wisconsin. 
Day 1
What better way to kick off the Hall of Fame Road Tour than with a short drive to The Lingenfelter Collection, where legendary engine builder and tuner Ken Lingenfelter’s personal assortment of performance cars, classics, sports cars, exotics, and other cool machines is on display. The following stop was the Roush Automotive Collection, a private facility showcasing dozens of vehicles representing the history and heritage of Roush Enterprises. The collection includes everything from race cars to engines, street machines to classics, and was a great place to get our figurative fuel flowing before hitting the road for points west.
The incredible Gilmore Car Museum was next on the list with its sprawling 90-acre facility, multiple buildings, and more than 400 vehicles presented in a way that help convey the history, heritage, and social impact of cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more. The final stop of the day was at Dutchboys Hotrods. The team at Dutchboys had quite a year as the scored the Goodguys 2025 PPG Street Machine of the Year title with Angelo Vespi’s ’87 Grand National, had two other Goodguys Top 12 finalists, and debuted two fresh cars at the SEMA Show. Oh, lest we forget that the bossman, Paul Van Nus, was also named the 2025 Goodguys Trendsetter!
Day 2
We began day two with several hours of driving north through western Michigan to reach Boyne City, where we visited Classic Instruments. This long-running company has been crafting custom instruments for hot rods, classics, and other specialty vehicles for nearly 50 years. Company Director John McLeod personally gave tours of the design and manufacturing facilities, in addition to the custom shop. While touring the Great Lakes region, it only made sense to get a closer look at how high-end watercraft get built so we stopped at Van Dam Custom Boats, a family-owned business that has been hand crafting prestigious wood composite boats for nearly 50 years.
After rolling through the town of Harbor Springs, our group navigated the narrow road through the Tunnel of Trees, a scenic 20-mile stretch along the Lake Michigan shoreline that offers scenic views and a canopy of foliage covering the path. It was a relaxing, leisurely way to finish the afternoon before rolling into Mackinaw City for the night.
Day 3
For the past couple years, Goodguys has built an extra day into the Hall of Fame Road Tour where we stay put in one location for two nights, giving participants a break from the road and a chance to explore a certain area. This year, we stayed in Mackinaw City for two nights, so we could take the ferry to Mackinac Island and spend the day there. This picturesque island on Lake Huron does not allow cars, so we set out on foot and on bicycles to explore the many trails, wooded areas, rock formations, and the old-time town that serves as the island’s hub and includes the historic Grand Hotel. What a great way to rest, relax, and recharge for the next leg of our journey!
Day 4
The middle portion of the 2025 Hall of Fame Road Tour might have been the journey’s symbolic heart. After spending day three on Mackinac Island, we began our fourth day by crossing the beautiful and historic Mackinac Bridge. Spanning five miles, it’s the world’s seventh-longest suspension bridge and features two defining 550-foot-tall towers. There’s more than 42,000 miles of wire in the main cables, each of which are more than 2-feet in diameter!
Our cruisers broke into small clusters for much of day four as we made our way into Wisconsin, but we regrouped in Green Bay at Lambeau Field and the Green Bay Packers Museum. Whether you’re a football fan or not, it was impressive to tour this historic facility, which dates back to 1957 when it was known as City Stadium. The following stop was the Automobile Gallery & Event Center – part museum, part meeting space, and part display space that celebrates automotive history in a fun and distinctive way. Loaned and donated vehicles cover a spectrum of styles – classics, muscle cars, racecars, exotics, and even movie and TV vehicles. The collection provided a fun and educational way to finish our day.
Follow with us into Illinois and North Dakota in Part 2!
