Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) Detroit, Michigan.

1932		I. Einstein Prohibition Agent No. 1 202: [chapter title] Mopping The Wetness Of Motor City.
1938		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 30 July 11/1: We trekked here to the Motor City [...] for seven brights in this fine gray auditorium.
1943		Pittsburgh Courier (PA) 27 Feb. 20/1: ‘Yo Yo’ gave [up] his Motor City career and is now just a doorman in Chicago.
1952		N.Y. Herald Trib. 8 Sept. 17/1: Detroit, in the lexicon of too many baseball announcers, is the Motor City.
1974		D. Goines Daddy Cool (1997) 65: At the same moment Daddy Cool walked back into his hotel room, his daughter, Janet, was just awakening back in the Motor City.
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 299: I ain’t seen Corvasier since I left th’ Motor City.
1990		(con. c.1970) G. Hasford Phantom Blooper 22: Your Yankee auto workers up in Motor City were all heads, right?
1996		(con. 1964-65) B. Thorpe Sex and Thugs and Rock ’n’ Roll 240: Two tons of V8-powered, out-of-control Motor City steel.
2012		(con. 1954) ‘Jack Tunney’ Tomato Can Comeback [ebook] February was still cold in the Motor City.