RADwood is the ultimate celebration of the cars and culture of the 1980s and 1990s – a motorshow where power suits are as important as horsepower, where hi-tops and hot hatches go hand-in-hand, and where BMWs and BMXs battle for attention.
It’s the brainchild of Californians Art Cervantes and Warren Madsen – two car guys who spotted a niche that just wasn’t being catered for.
“A few friends and I, we realised that there was a big gap in automotive culture,” explains Cervantes. “There was a lot of interest in what I call metal bumper classics – pre 1975 and older cars. Then there’s also the modern supercar world, which of course, always has a place, but nothing in between.”
“We were not only super interested in ’80s and ’90s cars ourselves, because they were relatively attainable, they were also the most relevant to us from an era standpoint. They were the cars that we lusted after when we were in high school and when we became driving age. I had a 993 and among us we had E36 M3s, 944 Porsches and we realised there was no place to go and drive these as a group, so we decided to put on something ourselves,” he adds.
Cervantes and Madsen used their podcast – Driving While Awesome – to float the idea. The response was tremendous and the duo decided to host an event.
“We wanted to create an event that celebrates the era like the Goodwood Revival, and we were thinking about names and, as you can tell, we got the word “RAD” and kind of portmanteau-ed it with “wood” to get RADwood, inspired by Goodwood.”
Right from the outset RADwood, like the Revival, was to be about “celebrating all things ’80s and ’90s, not just the cars, but period-correct clothing, music, and entertainment.”
In June 2017 at a marina in South San Francisco, the first RADwood took place with 150 cars and 400 people. That December, Cervantes and Madsen put on an event in Orange County, south of Los Angeles, where 400 cars and 2,000 people turned up driving and dressing appropriately.
RADwood rapidly expanded across the USA and in 2019 it crossed the Atlantic with the first ever UK event being held, appropriately, at Goodwood. In 2022, RADwood came under the Hagerty umbrella, which has allowed Cervantes and Madsen to focus on developing the brand while “creating better experiences” for RADwood fans.
Those fans are a diverse group. It’s not just those who grew up with RADwood era cars, but younger enthusiasts inspired by nostalgia in popular culture – you could call it the Stranger Things effect.
“Our main demographic is around 45, but it’s an interesting bell curve that’s flatter than you think,’ says Cervantes. “You have a huge chunk of people that are in their 20s. Pop culture in general is really into retro stuff right now – ’90s is super popular, ’80s is still popular. It’s starting to go more into ’90s fashion, the hairstyles and all of this is coming into the mainstream now. And that’s bringing in a younger audience as well as the TV shows.”
That’s certainly true of RADwood in the UK, where the opportunity to dress up and drive retro style and enjoy the arcade games and music of the era has proved popular across a wide spectrum of enthusiasts.
“Stage one was to really see if there was any interest in the automotive world and we’ve established that,” says Cervantes. “Then little by little, we’ve incorporated more and more of a lifestyle element, with skateboarding, BMX, and so that nostalgia is super valuable and important, because not only is it a differentiator, but it also allows us to tap into a much wider group of people. Not everybody is a hardcore car person at our events; you’re gonna see people who just want to dress up.”
If that sounds like you, then join us at the Chatham Historic Dockyard in Kent on September 7 for RADwood 2024. Get your tickets here.
