14 | AUGUST 17 • 2023
love of music and cars. “He just got a new
Miata, a cute two-seater roadster,
” she
recalls. “He let me drive it, and I was just
thrilled.
” She told him about her Datsun
240Z, they talked about cars and their fam-
ilies, and the rest is history. They’ve traveled
the world collecting and exploring cars and
car culture, sharing their enthusiasm with
their daughters, Faye and Zoē, now 30 and
26, as well.
For instance, Mendelson picked up Faye
from middle school in a Ferrari 430 F1, and
later made sure she wouldn’t be limited to
automatic transmissions. “I bought Faye a
Jeep Wrangler with a stick shift when she
was a freshman in college, and I taught her
how to drive a stick,
” she says. “She headed
out to Woodward and never looked back.
”
The first car in Mendelson’s collection
was a 2003 BMW V8 Alpina Roadster Z8,
which she bought after her mother died.
Then, in 2004, they went to the auto show
and her husband pointed out a Maserati
Quattroporte, joking that she might want
that instead of a minivan. Maserati just
started making it for the first time since the
1970s. “I looked at it, I said, ‘I bet you’re
right.
’” She got in and tried it out, then
shortly thereafter, put down a deposit for
their ’05 model.
The next year, the Mendelsons joined the
waitlist for a Ferrari 430 FI, adding that to
their growing collection. “Once we started
on this roll with the Z8 and Ferrari and
Maserati, we just kept going,
” she says. “It’s
our thing. I’ll contact the people as long as
I like it, or I’ll pick one out and call to ask if
it’s available, I’ll fly to Milan or wherever to
go meet them, and then we’ll order it.
”
Asked about her favorite car, she
describes them like her kids. They all bring
something to the table, she says. “If you
have kids or nieces or nephews, you love
them for what they are; they’re all different
— it’s hard to pick.
” She highlights the 2003
BMW V8 Alpina Roadster, though, as a sig-
continued from page 13
OUR COMMUNITY
ON THE COVER
Vintage Car Fan
Sandor Holzer of West Bloomfield grew
up in Walled Lake watching and working
on cars. His neighbor used to restore
Volkswagen Beetles and Ford Mustangs
and usually had a driveway full of them.
Behind the shed were donor cars they
used for parts. “People would come by. It
was a hangout,” he recalls.
He always had an affinity for the first
year’s car. And so, he recently welcomed
a ’65 Mustang to his Michigan home,
shipped from South Carolina after sever-
al years of looking. “The Ford Mustang,
when it was introduced, really, really
shocked the world,” he says. “It was the
first American muscle car, the little sports
car that could.”
As a fan of vintage cars, he loves driving
with the windows down and listening to
the engine roar. “I’m into old, raw, lots of
noises and rattles, manual transmissions,
and the lights dimming when you stop at
traffic lights because the voltage regula-
tors are old,” he says.
He’s often found in the garage work-
ing on his car or taking part in “cars and
coffee” events where he can meet other
like-minded enthusiasts.
His car attracts fun attention when he’s
driving. “I cannot go one stoplight without
people giving a thumbs up or a wave or
asking me to rev up the engine or spin the
the tires,” he says. “They don’t make them
like they used to. It’s fun to drive around
an old hoopty that’s loud and old.”
At the Dream Cruise, he says, there’s
always something to see, whether it’s the
finish of the paint job, custom wheels or
other modifications and updates people
have made to their cars. “You see the
ingenuity that went into the modifica-
tion, the restoration, and it gives you a
different appreciation for a car,” he says.
Meanwhile, excitement around the vehi-
cles began building weeks ago, he says.
For the month preceding the cruise,
people are parked and “kibbutzing” about,
he notes. Like many people, he doesn’t
take his car the day of the Dream Cruise
but likes to go the week before. “People
are plopped on lawn chairs, just like the
day of the Dream Cruise,” he explains.
“IT’S BLOSSOMED INTO
A WAY OF LIFE FOR ME.”
— LAUREN MENDELSON
Lauren
Mendelson
behind the
wheel of a
Ferrari
Sandor Holzer and
his restored 1965
Ford Mustang.
Sandor behind
the wheel.
A peek under
the hood.
continued on page 16