By David Fleet
Editor
Birmingham—  On Aug.19 the Woodward Dream Cruise which attracts thousands of car enthusiasts both watching and driving included a special guest who halted his cruise to visit with some locals.
Jay Leno, the former “Tonight Show” host and car fanatic was in town for the Dream Cruise and arrived at Pasteiner’s, 33202 Woodward Ave., Birmingham, a business owned for the past 35 years by Ortonville resident Steve Pasteiner.
“We were grilling and passing out more than 1,000 hot dogs during the Dream Cruise to say thank you to all our customers,” said Pasteiner. “It’s a big party and the best place to watch the cruise. We were notified before that Leno was going to arrive during the cruise.”
Leno was at nearby Vinsetta Garage in Royal Oak where he took delivery of an Octane Red, 2023 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 special-edition. Leno roared into the Pasteiner’s parking lot in the 1,025-horsepower, 6.2 liter supercharged V-8 Dodge with a caravan of 10 cars including Dodge CEO Tim Kuniskis.
“A film crew also followed,” said Pasteiner. “Jay is such a nice gentleman. He is genuine and even let some of the kids sit in his $100,000 car. Jay talked to customers, got pictures taken with people, came in the store and shopped some too. He told me, ‘I could spend a couple hours in your store.’ He took the time to shake hands with people and take some pictures. Always a big smile on his face.”
Leno and his entourage we heading to Pontiac before heading home