This year I made my annual trek from my swampy homelands to Austin, TX, to attend Radwood at the Driveway Austin Motorsports Track on Feb. 29th, just before the world stopped spinning. I took two of my trusty Nikons with me, and I made it my goal to document as much radness as the show had to offer, and I came up short, because it was absolutely impossible to shoot pictures of every good car, truck, bike, and rad-era outfit there, because it was the biggest Radwood held to date. Still, I gave it my best shot.
I suck at remembering BMW chassis codes for some reason, so this person extremely helpfully labeled theirs! I can say without a doubt that is one clean ’91 E34 M5.
I had never seen a Countach in person before. This event fixed that for me. I realize now why every bedroom poster was adorned with one–these were truly the height of excess in their era. I say this lovingly - I stared for ten minutes at each one. Still, it’s hard to imagine the gold-encrusted Paganis and Ultra Limited Special Edition Chirons of today without this car to lay the groundwork for the exclusive and gauche supercars of today.
My personal favorite car was this absolutely perfect first-gen Honda CRX. It wasn’t even an Si, which made its condition all the more astounding. It had apparently sat in a field for over a decade and been lovingly restored by a friend of the current owner before he ended up purchasing it, and it gave me so much joy to know that cars this mundane, yet brilliant, are going to remain preserved. I love to modify my cars, but I adore people who spend the effort to build a time capsule.
Rolling proof the best Ferraris aren’t always red.
This Starion came to the event in Austin from ARIZONA. This was the seventh Radwood the owner had attended in this car (and he drives it to each event, no trailering here).
Another personal favorite of mine was this gorgeous Chrysler TC by Maserati with the Maserati option motor and manual transmission, in light yellow on brown, rich Corinthian leather. This was arguably more exciting and rare than the Countachs.
Overall, it really cannot be undersold how much I enjoy these events. I get to build a cosplay suited for my favorite decade, my friends and I all get to take our antiquated machines somewhere they’ll be welcomed with open arms, and the vehicles are consistently top-notch. Radwood is delayed for now, like the rest of planet Earth, but I will be first in line for its return.