Minima

Rewire' Up

This is the poem Meyer
(Mike) Morganroth wrote
ture wife, Sheila,
to
ry with her

Jewish metro Detroiters
talk about their dream cars.

°

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to the Jewish News

he Woodward Dream Cruise and the vintage cars featured in it
have turned out to be more about relationships than autos for
three Jewish families.
Sheila and Mayer (Mike) Morganroth were dating when he felt
the strongest competition for her attention was a 1958 aqua Chevy and
expressed his feelings in a poem. Rick Rogow set out to find the car his wife,
Ricki, had dreamed of owning and gave it to her for a recent birthday. James
and Rachel Furman turned onto a new road in their parent-child journey
through a shared quest for a special vehicle.
All three of these West Bloomfield families look forward to this year's
Woodward. Dream Cruise scheduled this weekend, when plenty of classic cars
will parade along Woodward and entertainers popular in the 1960s will add to
the nostalgia.

0

1958 Chevy

Top to bottom:

Ricki Rogow: "It was gorgeous —
white with orange stripes, big
loud engine, chrome wheels,
- raised-letter tires!"

Jim Furman, with his daughter,
Rachel: "My daughter was so.
enthusiastic, and she becathe my
second set of eyes, noticing features
before I did," he says.

The Furmans' 1969 lime-gold
Mustang Mach I.

Opposite page:
Sheila Morganroth's 1958 aqua
Chevy, arked outside in front
other home on Birwood.

8/18
2000

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"I've always liked cars, and my Chevy was the first that I picked out for
myself," recalls Sheila Rubinstein Morganroth, who plans on steering her
white Mercedes SUV to an intersection where she can watch for other dyna-
mite cars from the past.
"My family lived on Birwood then, and the car, a 1958 aqua Chevy, was
parked in front. There was a little window in our door and a big window in
our living room, so I would keep peeking out at it.
"I had transferred to Wayne State University from the University of
Michigan and drove the car to school and Mike's law office. Only reluctantly
would I let my sister, Lily, borrow it because I was so possessive."
While they were dating, the Morgariroths didn't cruise down Woodward
with friends, but they did go there often for...the restaurants. Ted's and the
Wigwam were among their favorites.
"I drive my current car because it's a workhorse, but my first car gave me
independence and mobility and was more exciting than any other car I've
had," says Morganroth, the recipient of many of her husband's poems over
42 years of marriage. "My husband likes cars, but not as much as I -do, and
he prefers that I pick out the ones that he drives."
While Mike Morganroth felt the car claimed too much of his not-yet
wife's attention, he also would come to find that it served as a way to impress
her. After a truck had sideswiped the Chevy and left tire marks that had to
be removed, he could prove by the way the marks were imbedded that they
were caused by the truck driver and not her.
"Every time I see an older Chevy, it brings back feelings of my youth,"
says Sheila Morganroth, who kept the car for two years and also drove it to
her first teaching assignment at Einstein Elementary School in Oak Park.

1969 Pace Car

Ricki Rogow, 41, was 11 when she fell in love with a car.
"I was in the front seat driving with my dad," recalls Rogow about the
first sighting. "We stopped at a light, and out of nowhere, a blinding glare
caught my eye. I looked up and read the words 'official pace car of the
Indianapolis 500.' It was gorgeous — white with orange stripes, big loud
engine, chrome wheels, raised-letter tires!"
Hearing about that car throughout their marriage, Rick Rogow surprised
his wife on her 38th birthday with a 1969 pace car.
"My husband conspired with our dear friends, Bob and Dani Probert, and
bought the car (a Chevy) from Chicago Blackhawk manager Bob Pulford,"