"Dream Cars, Dream House, Dream Cruise" - Lingenfelter Collection Benefit for Ronald McDonald House

Ken Lingenfelter is one of the good guys in the car hobby — very friendly and approachable. I see him a few times a year, personally attending car events where he’s either showing some of his cars or renting vendor space for Lingenfelter Performance, the tuning company started by his late cousin. That he goes to things like the Ypsilanti Camarofest instead of just sending employees says to me that he’s there for the love of the hobby. He likes sharing that love with others, opening up the Lingenfelter Collection — located in Brighton, Michigan, about a half hour northwest of Detroit — to about 100 charity events every year.

If you’re coming to Detroit for the week of the Woodward Dream Cruise to check out the cool cars and you want to help out the families of sick kids, the Lingenfelter Collection will be hosting a benefit on Thursday, August 13, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm to raise funds for the newly completed Ronald McDonald House on St. Antoine Street in midtown Detroit.The fast food company’s philanthropy provides temporary housing for families who must travel to have their children treated for serious illnesses. Without access to Ronald McDonald Houses and their nominal $10/night rates (nobody is turned away due to lack of funds), many families would have to choose between driving back and forth to their homes, sleeping at the hospital, or staying at local hotels at considerable expense when the family can least afford it.

About 200 cars are on display in Lingenfelter’s collection, which is primarily focused on American muscle cars, Corvettes in particular, and exotics, with a focus on Ferraris. Other marques are represented as well. While Ken favors General Motors products, he has small collections of Mustangs, Mopars and Porsches that could well be described as the distilled essences of those brands. The newest addition to the collection is the 789 horsepower, hybrid LaFerrari.

The cost of the event is just $60, appetizers and drinks included, with proceeds benefiting the McDonald House’s Hearts, Hands and Home Campaign. Winners of a raffle will get a private tour of the collection by Ken and Kristen Lingenfelter and there is also a raffle for gift baskets and a 50/50 drawing.

Besides the fact that you’d be helping a good cause, the admission fee is a bargain when you consider the fact that you’re not very likely to see a LaFerrari, F40, Enzo, Aventador and Carrera GT all in the same room. In addition the exotics and rare muscle cars, there are also historical artifacts like the Duntov Mule — the very first experimental V8 powered Corvette — as well as some oddballs like Ken’s gull-winged DeLorean and Bricklin.

Registration for the “Dream Cars, Dream House, Dream Cruise” benefit can be done over the phone by calling (313) 745-5909, online, or at the event, which will be located at 7819 Lochlin Drive in Brighton.

You can check out some of the cars in the Lingenfelter Collection with photos and video that I shot in a 2011 visit.

Ronnie Schreiber edits Cars In Depth, a realistic perspective on cars & car culture and the original 3D car site. If you found this post worthwhile, you can get a parallax view at Cars In Depth. If the 3D thing freaks you out, don’t worry, all the photo and video players in use at the site have mono options. Thanks for reading – RJS