(upbeat music) - [Jim] On this episode of "UTR," it's autobahns, motor wagons, and quadricycles.

You know 'em as cars.

We'll tear up the track in Pontiac, paint the Plant Rouge in Dearborn, and learn some auto history.

Then we head out to a middle of a field in hickory corners.

Get ready to explore the cool people, places, and things that make Michigan the horseless carriage capital of the world.

(upbeat music) (bright music) - [Tom] We've been around the world.

- [Jim] But there's one place we keep coming back to.

- [Tom] And the more we explore.

- [Jim] The more we realize it's the place to be.

- I'm Tom Daldin.

- I'm Jim Edelman.

- [Together] And this is "Under the Radar Michigan."

(upbeat music) (screen swooshes) Cars, they get us to and fro, drive the kids to school, and take us out on date nights.

Ah, but the truly special ones, they do it with style, grace and horsepower.

(screen swooshes) - If you're a car person, get ready to make a pilgrimage to Pontiac.

'Cause the ultimate place to press your pedal to the metal just got made.

Oh, and the track, it's hot.

(car engine roars) (funky music) Proudly named after Woodward Avenue, M1 Concourse is a brand new world-class motorsports facility that's the ultimate place to drive, store, maintain, collect, eat, and even live with your cars.

And it's right here in Pontiac.

This place is a dream come true for auto heads who've been looking for a way to take their love of high performance cars to the next level.

And the person who leveled 87 acres to make this dream track a reality is daredevil developer, Brad Oleshansky.

Well, my first question for you is, how did you do this?

A lot of help from your friends?

- Encouragement from friends, but I've been working at it five years full time.

And it started out with a morsel of an idea of really creating a gathering place for the car scene in metro Detroit.

And now five years later, it's a reality.

And many people said it wouldn't happen, which encourages you more.

But yeah, it's just been a lot of hard work, a lot of crazy amount of time.

- [Tom] Well, what you created is very, very cool, and this is gonna be a huge part of the Renaissance of Pontiac.

- Yeah, and it wasn't originally part of my plan, it wasn't anything.

It just happened to be this was the property and it wasn't Pontiac.

And actually the only reason this project is a reality is 'cause of Pontiac's been so supportive, the locale is incredible.

But it's become a huge part of my mission, is kind of the assisting the revitalization of Pontiac.

It was not part of my original plan at all.

But because the community has been so welcoming, and they're so pro development, and they wanna bring back excitement to town, so I'm a huge supporter in trying to do anything I can.

- Explain the concept of this place because it's not someplace everybody can just come and watch racing.

This is for super gearheads, right?

- Yeah, I mean it's really for anything from super gearheads to the general enthusiast.

But it's really, I call it an auto enthusiast destination with, there's three principle components.

There's a private garage community behind us, which are garages that people buy and own.

You can deck it out as your man cave, your office.

You can put your cars, you can have your workshop.

Then there's a track with a skid pad and a lot of different features that are very unique.

And then the biggest component long term, I believe, is kind of over here to the left, is what I call experiential retail destination.

Which is, whether it's the average Joe on Woodward that wants a place to go have a burger, see a car show, watch the activity on the track.

We have restaurants with rooftop patios, we have car dealers, wheel and tire shop, restoration, repair, and sort of the theater of retail.

- For the five years you spent working on this, did you ever think it'd be this successful and get this much attention?

- No, honestly I didn't.

I knew the garage would work.

We built the track really for the industry.

I didn't think without having any real PR on my own and we've done something marketing, but the viral effect.

I mean, our car shows, two weeks ago we had 1600 cars show up just from one Facebook post.

People are looking for somewhere to go and enjoy their hobby and their passion.

- Well, I got a quick question.

I got a minivan racing club.

Would you mind if we came here next weekend?

- Absolutely.

I tell everybody we don't discriminate.

Whatever you got, bring it up.

- There's just me and some moms, and well we have-- - I like it.

No kids in the cars though.

- Okay, deal.

This place gets more exciting with every lap.

Heck, I got so excited I talked them into letting me wave the checkered flag.

And after a brief lesson in Tom Flaggery, I think I waved it wonderfully.

Look, if cars are your thing, I think you better hit the gas and head to M1 Concourse.

It's a world-class motor mecca that's helping put Pontiac back on a fast track.

(car engine roars) (screen swooshes) Have you ever looked at a car or a truck and wondered, how the heck did that happen?

Well, wonder no more.

And that's because the good folks at the Henry Ford put together an amazing experience called the Ford Rouge Factory Tour.

And it's a tour you should totally take.

From artifacts dating all the way back to the Model A, to state-of-the-art interactive displays including robots, lasers, and 3D imaging, this tour totally takes you there.

You'll learn the incredible history of this awesome auto plant, and even see vehicles actually being made today.

This is a total historical and manufacturing experience that few people get to, well experience.

So to make sure I experienced it all, I hit the Henry Ford Museum, hopped on the official tour bus, and headed off for the factory tour.

Once we made our way inside, I sought out Cynthia Jones.

Not only is she the manager here, she's also one of the main reasons this exhibit has won awards around the world.

I feel like a little kid in a candy truck store.

This is so cool.

Now, for somebody who hasn't taken this tour yet, oh I love that noise, explain the whole experience.

You don't start here at the factory, right?

- Correct.

So you wanna start at the main museum campus of the Henry Ford.

And we put you on a bus, we take you on a quick guided tour across Dearborn.

Give you a little bit of history on the way, so we kind of point out where Henry Ford was born.

Give you a sense of place and where you're at.

Then you arrive here at the factory tour.

We encourage you, you can do it in any order you want, but we encourage you to see the films first.

So you can start with a quick history film.

We condensed a hundred years of history into about 10 minutes.

- [Tom] Awesome.

- So it's super fun.

We show a lot of things that you've never seen before because we went into our archival footage, pulled it out.

- [Tom] Now, the classic cars that are on display, those are incredible.

- [Cynthia] Oh my goodness, yes.

So every single vehicle that we've got on display was made here at the Rouge.

So it gives you some of that visual timeline of where you're at.

- So after you get steeped in the history of Ford, you actually get to come in here on this catwalk and actually see trucks.

It looks like we're making trucks today.

- We are making trucks today.

We make trucks almost every day, year round.

So this factory produces every version of the F-150.

So, any guess how many buildable combinations that is?

- No, a lot.

- A lot.

650,000 or more buildable combinations of this truck.

- [Tom] How often is a truck completed here on the line?

- [Together] So at full speed we are finishing one truck every 52 seconds.

So we roll trucks one a minute, 22 hours a day, seven days a week.

- This is such a unique experience, because how often do you get to actually walk around and see every phase of construction on a truck?

- Yes.

- Yeah, that is so cool.

I'm impressed in how cool and clean and nice it is in here.

- [Cynthia] Thank you.

We're very thoughtful about how you work here.

- [Tom] Yeah.

- [Cynthia] 'Cause these folks work hard.

This is one truck every 52 seconds, means they have 41 seconds to do their job.

- [Tom] That's amazing.

- [Cynthia] And they do that same job 600 times a day.

So we need to be thoughtful about how they do that.

So we think a lot about ergonomics, we think a lot about the place to make it a good place to work.

- How long has Ford been making cars on and trucks on this site?

- So Henry Ford bought the property in 1915.

Our first car or truck produced, fully produced here was the Model A.

So it was late 1920s.

So we've been in active production for a hundred years.

- And I understand you actually have a living roof here.

- We do.

So Bill Ford was very visionary, and he looked out from his office at world headquarters.

He can see the Rouge, so you can look at us every day.

And he thought about this place that's building the world's amazing truck and this amazing place, a hundred years of history.

How do you go forward, how do you be a good neighbor?

And he thought about green technology.

A living roof, all the things that we do here.

All the birds, the bees, the plants that we've brought back here, thinking about the air and the water, how people work, where they work.

It's not just the truck, it's the overall piece.

- Now, on a personal level, you've been here for over 15 years, correct?

- Yes.

- And you actually helped design this tour?

- Yes, I did.

- How does that feel?

- Oh my goodness, so I am so proud to work here, to tell the history of a place, but more importantly to me personally, innovation lives here.

Every single day, innovation, innovation, innovation.

So to be part of something like that, I got the best job in Detroit.

- And I understand at the end of the tour you get a truck.

Is that correct?

- Well, you could buy a small matchbox truck.

(ambient factory commotion) - Okay, I guess I can go for that, I'll do that.

(Cynthia laughs) Darn it, that never works.

After you take this tour, I guarantee that the next time you get into a car or truck, you'll have a whole new appreciation for where it came from and what it took to make it.

I also guarantee that if you come to Dearborn, you'll feel warm and welcome in this marvelous melting pot.

It's America all rolled up into one great city.

(screen swooshes) Hello everybody, and welcome to "UTR's" first ever You Wanted to See It.

The show where you tell us where to go, and we like it.

Now, our first email comes from Robert L. in Dearborn.

Bob goes on to say, "You guys sure eat a lot on "UTR," which is great, but how about mixing in some history in between entrees?

You should check out a place called the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum in Detroit.

It's an awesome place with a fascinating past."

Well, Bob, you wanted to see it, so control room guys, let's show it to him.

Yep, thanks to Bob, you're about to hear one of Detroit's greatest origin stories.

Because the Ford Piquette Plant is where Henry Ford teed up the Model T and forever transformed the way we live.

These hallowed halls are the heart and soul of the American auto industry, and the very reason Detroit became known worldwide as the motor city.

Now, to take me back to a fascinating past, I spent some time in the present with museum president and COO, Jill Woodward.

I just learned a fascinating fact.

Why do they call it the dashboard?

- Henry Ford's main competition before building his Model A was the curve dash Model A.

The dashboard is a reference to the horse that's in front of the carriage.

And if it's dashing, it's gonna kick up manure that's from the streets.

So eventually it becomes the dashboard.

But once upon a time it protected you from, let's say the detritus on the road.

(Tom laughs) - Well, there's so much history here that we should probably start with the past.

I mean, what Henry Ford managed to do is absolutely amazing.

And this has been here since when?

- Since 1904.

It is one of the oldest surviving automobile plants in the world.

And it's right here at the epicenter of the motor city.

It's the origin point for everything that follows.

- This is where the Model T, and actually a lot of people don't know that there were a lot of models that happened before the Model T, correct?

- Yes, indeed.

This was Henry Ford's, actually third try at a business.

He worked for other automotive companies with his name on it before, but this, the Piquette Plant is the first purpose-built factory by Ford Motor Company.

And this is where he produced eight different car models.

- Yeah, didn't he start with the B, and then the C, and the D?

He went through half the alphabet before he got to the T?

- B, C, F, K, N, R, S and T. And there are also some SRs in there.

- Really?

So the Model T was just, that was the one that put him on the map.

- Actually, the Model N was the number one selling car in the United States before the Model T. He was really almost already a millionaire from the production of the Model N, which really had no competition in terms of it's weight and price.

- God, you never hear about the Model N, it's always the Model T. But now, we're sitting in a Model T right now, right?

- Yes, and the Model T is really the car that put the world on wheels.

And it might sound trite at this point in history to say that, but you have to understand that by the early 1920s, every other car on the planet was a Model T. Think about that market share.

- [Tom] Wow.

- And why is that?

That's because everyone else was building big expensive cars for rich people.

Henry Ford was really the first person to say, "I wanna build a car for the everyday person.

Whether they live on a farm or anywhere.

And really, the ripple effect of that is something that is unimaginable for us today.

But it impacted everything from where people live, to how much they traveled, to their livelihoods.

It's one of the most incredible inventions you'll come across in human history.

- So this plant made Model Ts and other models from what years to what years?

- The Model T was invented here in 1908, started production in early 1909, and they were only here until 1910.

The demand for this vehicle was so massive that he had already started building the Highland Park Plant in, which is just a few miles from here.

So, but the first 14,000 Model Ts were made here.

And the other story we like to tell is, you've heard the saying you can have it in any color but black.

(Tom chuckles) Well, that's not true until 1914.

The first Model Ts were red.

- [Tom] That's another thing I didn't know.

Seriously?

- Yes.

We have number 220 out of 15 million vehicles here in the museum.

And 220 is a beautiful carmine red.

- Wow.

Yeah, now if people wanna come here, you're open year round?

- Yes, we're open year round.

Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 to four, with guided tours at 10, noon and two.

But if we have groups or schools that wanna come on a different day of the week or after hours, we'll take that as well.

- Yeah, you've been on our short list for a long time.

and I'm sorry I'm just getting here now.

But yeah, this is, like I said, a blast.

It's fun, it's interesting, it's educational, it's awe inspiring in what came out of this place.

Yeah, thanks for keeping it around for us.

(laughs) - Oh, my great pleasure.

The building is really our most important artifact at the museum.

And we're a national historic landmark, and we have a Save America's Treasures grant.

We're working on a lot of preservation issues that are crucial to preserving the building and our collections.

So we'll just keep plugging away.

- This historic site is a remarkable place of great global importance.

And lucky for us, it's right here on our own backyard.

And it really makes you proud to know that Michigan intellect, ingenuity and sheer willpower put the entire world on wheels.

If you want a fascinating look back at the things that are still moving us forward to this very day, come spend some time at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant Museum in Detroit.

Oh, and when you go, tell 'em "UTR" and Bob from Dearborn sent you.

Thanks again, Bob.

(smooth music) (screen swooshes) Hey, we're in the motor city for one of the coolest car museums you will ever visit.

Where are we?

- Hickory Corners.

- Hickory corners?

- Mh-hm.

- You and I both heard right.

We're in Hickory Corners, Michigan.

about a half hour northeast of Kalamazoo, in the heart of Michigan farm country.

And if you think this is some sort of mirage, it's not.

It's one of the most extensive collections of vintage cars, motorcycles, and just plain cool car stuff you'll ever see.

Now, to make absolutely sure I was seeing everything I wanted to see, I went to see Jay Follis.

He's the marketing director, and he saw to it that I saw all there was to see.

You'll see.

You're gonna have to help me, Jay.

'Cause I've only been here 10 minutes and my mind is blown.

If you're a car nut, you'd be nuts not to come to this place.

- Oh, I think.

- Now, this all started as somebody's hobby?

- Yep, 1963, Donald Gilmore was the chairman of Upjohn Corporation, and his wife gave him an antique car as a gift.

- Uhoh.

- That's what started, he got the bug.

- That's the gateway activity, right?

- That's right, that started it.

Within about three years he had 45 cars.

- But when did it officially turn into a museum?

- 1966, they turned it over to a non-profit.

But in that three year meantime, he found this property about a mile from his house, 90 acres.

Brought some different buildings out, actually took barns down board by board and moved them 45 miles and reassembled them out here.

And made a little playground for himself.

And his wife finally said, "We come out here, we drive our cars for our friends and invite 'em out.

Why don't we just open it to the public?"

So they donated all the property to a nonprofit foundation, gave it some endowment.

And since that time, in 1966 when we opened to the public, we now have about 400 cars in the collection.

- Well, this is a caliber of collection you'd expect to see in a major metropolitan city.

And we're here in the farm country.

- Exactly.

- And you come in here, it just blows your mind.

- We are considered one of the top three car museums in the nation.

We get people from all over the world that come here.

- Well, tell me about a couple of the more unusual cars you got here.

- Well, we do special exhibits at several different times.

And one of the cars in our special exhibit right now is the Deuce Coupe, the 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe from The Beach Boys.

- [Tom] The actual car?

- [Jay] Yeah, the actual car.

The little Deuce Coupe that was right on the album.

That's kind of a unique car.

We have a Tucker, 1948 Tucker, number 47, with 53 original miles on it.

Pretty rare car.

And of course our Duesenbergs, we have a nice collection of Duesenbergs.

But one of 'em was a 1929 Duesenberg made for the New York Auto Show.

And if you were to buy that new in 1929, it would cost you about two dozen Model A Fords and two houses.

- Wow.

- We're pretty unique, because we have more than just one museum here.

We have our motorcycles, we've got our cars, but we're the home of the Model A museum that just opened, we're home of Classic Car Club of America, the Piercer Museum, the Franklin Museum.

We've got both the Lincoln Motor Car and Cadillac Lasell getting ready to break ground.

- It's mind blowing.

I mean, I'm not the biggest car guy in the world, but when you come to a place like this, you become one.

It's amazing.

There's one more exhibit I wanna ask you about.

- Okay.

- But I wanna go see it first.

- All right.

- Okay, hold onto your regularized seats, folks, things are about to get weird.

Jay, are we inside of a giant car?

- Actually, it's a movie set.

- Okay, it was a fun while it lasted.

How did you get this set?

- It's a Disney movie set from a 1967 movie, "The Gnome-Mobile."

Walt Disney was a great friend of Donald Gilmore.

And when they were filming the movie, Donald said, "I'd really like to buy that 1930 Rolls Royce."

So he donated the Rolls Royce to him or gave it to him.

And because they needed the Rolls Royce for filming yet, Walt Disney said, you know, I'm gonna send a set piece for your new museum before the car.

And this is what arrived, a big semi.

- And you were saying this is one of the only sets ever to leave Disney.

- It is the only set to ever leave Disney.

And it was not a donation from the studio, but directly from Walt Disney himself.

- Is everything on this set actually to scale?

Is it accurate?

- It's, yeah, fairly accurate.

Maybe four times the actual size.

Four to five times.

- Yeah, so we're just little, we're little guys.

- We're little guys.

(both laugh) - And I should mention too, that you can't actually get up in here anymore.

Used to be able to, but not anymore.

- Right.

- Everything about the Gilmore Car Museum is great.

From the incredible exhibits and classic barns, to the fresh air and beautiful scenery, I can't think of a better place to spend a West Michigan afternoon, whether you're big or small.

Okay, I got one more question for you, Jay, then I'll leave you alone.

- Okay.

- Are we there yet?

- No.

- Are we there yet?

- No.

- How about now?

- No.

- Now?

- No.

(comical music) (screen swooshes) - Is going to a cool racetrack to drive expensive sports cars at a high rate of speed on your bucket list?

Well, grab your bucket, throw it in the trunk, and drive your car at a responsible rate of speed to South Haven.

(car engine roars) Because for a few days every summer, Adventure Supercars comes to GingerMan Raceway and lets regular Joe's like you and me press the pedal to the metal on cars most of us can only dream of owning.

And these guys don't mess around, they bring some major auto bling.

And after a brief safety session, you get to attack the track just like the pros.

Before driving my dream, I hopped a high speed ride with director of operations, Nick Isakovich.

He took me out in a Mercedes SLS AMG, and gave me some great insight into what drove these guys to do this.

So, whose crazy idea was it to let regular guys like me drive these uber expensive exotic sports cars?

- I think it was a combined effort between all of us.

- [Tom] Tell me the truth.

These really are rich guys cars that they think are being stored.

- [Nick] No.

- [Tom] You guys get 'em out of storage and you go and have fun?

- No, unfortunately we don't do that, no.

Yeah, no, we buy 'em all.

They're all our cars.

- [Tom] And people can actually come here, guys like me, and get in a Mercedes, a Ferrari and race it around this incredible track.

- [Nick] Exactly.

- What do you call this style of track?

- [Nick] A road course.

- [Tom] Road course, it's two miles long.

- [Nick] Yeah, so it's pretty tough for someone who's never been on this.

So that's why we have the pace car, they come and follow their line.

- [Tom] Yeah.

- We put out cones for everyone.

We actually have an instructor in the car as well.

And it's really, really super safe actually.

- We're going pretty fast, aren't we?

- We are going pretty fast.

You ready to go faster.

- Define faster.

What do you mean faster?

How fast is faster?

- See what this can do.

(car engine roars) - Oh my gosh.

Wait a minute, I thought we were going fast before.

(car engine roars) This is a little disconcerting.

Oh, oh, oh, my mustache, my mustache.

So tell me honestly, you do this because chicks dig guys who drive sports cars.

- [Nick] Exactly.

(chuckles) (car engine roars) - Give me a couple years to practice and I could do this.

(car engine roars) - Thanks, yeah, that's sounds about right, a couple years.

(Tom laughs) - I actually thought I had a cool job until I met you.

I wanna be you.

(Nick laughs) Well, with a few passenger laps under my belt, and my equilibrium completely rearranged, it was time for me to pick my pleasure.

And I picked the Lamborghini Gallardo LP 550-2 Balboni Edition, whatever that means.

Then with Adventure Cars co-founder and CEO, Alec Jurich as my wingman, I tore up the track Tom style.

Okay, seatbelt, foot on brake, turn key.

- Yes, sir.

(car engine roars) - What's that noise?

- Sound of destruction.

- The sound of destruction.

(laughs) Don't say that, don't say that.

(Alec laughs) And before I knew it, we were off and running.

- Alright, we're gonna stay all the way to the outside.

- All the way to the outside.

- Start turning it in more, turn it in more, turn it in more.

Start to roll on the throttle.

Roll onto it more, more, more.

More gas, more gas.

Floor it, floor it, floor it all the way to left.

- [Tom] Floor it?

- [Alec] Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going.

- [Tom] Seriously?

- [Alec] Keep it going, keep it going.

Come on, stay in it.

You gotta have more fun.

- [Tom] I'm doing the best I can.

- [Alec] Turn it in, turn it into your left.

Now full throttle.

- [Tom] Full throttle, yeah.

- Keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, keep it going, keep it going.

(car engine roars) - Boy, when Alex wasn't hollering at me, he was a great instructor who really made this experience that much more awesomer.

So don't just doze off and dream about driving your dream car.

Find the guys from Adventure Supercars, get yourself to GingerMan Raceway and make it a reality.

Sure, these guys have a cool job, but look at us.

We get to experience awesome adventures, taste great food, and visit beautiful towns like South Haven.

Not too shabby, eh?

Meanwhile, back at the track.

- Handyman, how am I doing?

- Honestly, great.

Do you know why, 'cause you listen.

That's what the most important thing.

And to keep going, keep going, keep going.

- I'm going, I'm going, I'm going.

- Keep going, keep going, keep going.

- Oh!

- [Alec] Yeehaw!

- What an exceptional experience, awesome.

(screen swooshes) - With the rich and diverse automotive history that we have here in Michigan, I am positive that this episode has your inner gearhead ready to change our oil.

Wash our car?

Me neither.

(bright music) (action music)