Radwood is unlike any other car show—it’s a celebration of the cars, fashion, and culture of the ‘80s and ‘90s. Where else would you find car nerds wearing acid-washed jeans and Members Only™ jackets gazing lovingly at a perfectly preserved Pontiac Bonneville SSEi? Or spandex-wearing, brick phone holding car enthusiasts enjoying the finer details of a 1983 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country?
I bought a 1987 Chrysler Fifth Avenue the day before the show, with the hope that the 30 year old executive cruiser would make it down to Anaheim for the Radwood 2 event. It wasn’t part of the show, but I wanted to make sure we brought just a little bit more of the 1980s down to the event. Spoiler alert, it makes it! But you should still watch to check out the totally radical ’80s and ’90s cars at the show.
Can’t wait to get out to the next Radwood event, maybe with a completely different forgotten car from the ’80s!
2 Responses
Admittedly, at the time I shunned many of the vehicles featured at Radwood. I’ve personally always been a Japanese manufacturer proponent, as I favor reliability, efficiency, and innovation, which American makes arguably lacked in the ~20 years from 1980 to 1999. But, that said, because of nostalgia for the era, I admit now it’s immensely cool to see *all* of the makes from that time, including the likes of GM, Ford, and Chrysler. If anything, it’s perhaps even cooler to see those American makes represented than to see those of Asian origin , as because domestic cars were so comparatively poorly built, it’s much more significant for any of them to have survived to the present day. I mean, common, which was more likely to survive the test of time, a Toyota Corolla or a Cadillac Cimarron? If you see a Cimerron today, that’s a REAL survivor that took major motivation (and money) to keep on the road…
Yep totally get this! My first two cars were American and they were so unreliable they soured me on domestics for a long time. And for sure, today you’re much more likely to see an ’84 Civic than an ’84 Citation! I’d be more excited to witness a Citation still cruising around because you know that it required heaps of dedication!