What is Radwood?
A car show series dedicated exclusively to vehicles from the 1980s and 1990s, celebrating the era's distinctive styling and pop culture as enthusiast-worthy collectibles.
Radwood is a car show and automotive event series founded in 2017 specifically celebrating automobiles from the 1980s and 1990s. The name blends "rad" (1980s slang for cool or radical) with "wood" (a nod to traditional car shows like Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance). The format positions 1980s and 1990s cars as serious collector and enthusiast vehicles worthy of celebration rather than as mundane used cars.
Radwood launched in San Francisco in 2017 and rapidly expanded to multiple cities annually across the United States and internationally. The events embrace the full pop culture of the era: period-correct outfits, period music, era-appropriate merchandise, and vehicles spanning from Japanese sports cars (AE86, first-gen Integra, pop-up headlight Mazdas) to American muscle (Fox-body Mustangs, 4th-gen Camaros), Euro classics (E30 BMW 3 Series, W126 Mercedes-Benz), and 4WD trucks that defined the era.
Radwood's cultural impact has been significant in accelerating the appreciation and market values of 1980s and 1990s vehicles. Cars that were depreciating beaters in the early 2010s (Fox body Mustangs, E30s, AE86s, pop-up headlight Miatas) saw value appreciation coincide with Radwood's rise and the broader generational nostalgia for these models. Radwood is credited with helping formalize the collector status of a generation of vehicles previously overlooked by traditional concours events.
