The auto-carrying ship seen in the film is the S.S. George H. Ingalls. She was built in 1901 at Chicago, Illinois as a Great Lakes bulk carrier, but was converted to carry cars in 1936. Converted back to a bulk carrier in 1942 for WWII (as auto production ceased for the duration), she was once again a car carrier in 1946 as auto manufacturing resumed. She was scrapped in 1966.
The large Great Lakes bulk carrier with the red and black hull seen at Detroit is the S.S. Douglass Houghton. She was built in 1899 at Cleveland, Ohio. For 70 years she plied the Great Lakes until being sunk as a breakwater for Ontario Place in Toronto, Canada in 1969.
First of two TravelTalks films about Michigan released in March 1949, the second being Playlands of Michigan (1949). A year later, a third - Roaming Through Michigan (1950) would be released.