A winter car rally on Woodward in the works

Attention car enthusiasts! Get ready to start your engines, show off your favorite set of wheels and grab a snow scraper just in case as you join a ride 'n drive rally planned for Woodward Avenue this January.

The Drive Home Rally will take place the Thursday before the 2016 North American International Auto Show opens to the media.

It's being staged by the Detroit Auto Dealers Association along with LeMay: America's Car Museum in Tacoma, Wash., which owns three iconic Detroit cars that will trek cross-country to take part in the festivities.

Those cars – a 1957 Chevy Nomad, a 1961 Chrysler 300 and a 1966 Mustang -- are part of the collection owned by the late Harold May.

They will leave the museum in early January and travel cross-country, stopping in towns to tout the Detroit show. Local and national celebrities will be invited to drive the cars .

The location on Woodward where the rally will begin is still being decided.

Similar to the Woodward Dream Cruise, taking place next month, the public will also be invited to drive along.

Everyone knows folks here love celebrating their cars. The hope is there are enough car lovers who won't mind braving the possible elements to take part in The Drive Home Rally.

The idea for the rally comes compliments of Rod Alberts, executive director of the Detroit Auto Dealers Association, which stages the North American International Auto Show, and David Madeira, president and CEO of LeMay: America's Car Museum.

"This is more of a Detroit homecoming rally," said Alberts. " A driving event created to celebrate America's love affair the car, promote pride in American automotive heritage and to celebrate Detroit as the spiritual home of the auto industry. "

Alberts and his team are known for creating innovative events to bolster the show including the Charity Preview, Industry Preview Days, Media Days and the Gallery.

"It will be a great adventure and will showcase America's cars from the glory days," added Madeira. "Importantly, we also want to celebrate Detroit—and its resurgence today,"

The museum, which houses over 300 vehicles, is a 165,000 square foot structure which opened in 2002. USA Today proclaimed it as one of the top eight most important cultural openings that year.

"Now my efforts are to promote it and give it a viable future centering it on preserving America's auto heritage ," Madeira said.

He reached out to Alberts a few years ago on how they might team up.

"Cars are meant to be driven—this rally, in winter extremes, makes that point—along with the point that America's Car Museum is not your traditional car museum with cars lined up, sitting idle," said Madeira.

Given that NAIAS lures thousands of journalists, Madeira is also hoping to gain a bit more attention for the museum.

"We know people love their cars. We're also Detroit tough," said Alberts. "I know they will turn out regardless of what Mother Nature has in mind."

Carol Cain can be reached at 313-222-6732 or clcain@cbs.com. She is senior producer/host of "Michigan Matters" airing 11:30 a.m. Sundays on CBS 62. See Karen Delhey, Don Kline, Mary Kerr, Cedric Ballarin, Jim Hughes and Jim Berline on today's show.

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misspelled the last name of David Madeira in some instances. This version has been corrected.