Star Road

Radwood NorCal is the home event for Radwood: most of the event founders hail from the San Francisco Bay Area, and that’s where they the first Radwood was held back in 2017. For me, this 2025 edition was an extra-special home event, because for the first time it was held in my hometown, San Jose.

When Art told me they had secured PayPal Park, the home field for the San Jose Earthquakes, I was surprised. When I arrived early on this Saturday morning, I was blown away!

I had actually never been to this stadium, although you look directly into it as you land at SJC airport next door. I was discovering the venue and immediately stumbled upon a familiar car: Lane’s 1987 Porsche 911.

There were screens everywhere, and they were all alive and broadcasting the RADWOOD logo. Now that’s rad.

This 993 proved to be a standout throughout the day, so it’s obvious why they placed it as such a centerpiece.

People go all nutty about originality with Porsches since they’ve always had so many factory options, but it’s also really cool to see people personalize their cars for exactly the same reason. How many mods can you spot in just this view?

I’d seen about five cars so far and already discovered a car I’m not familiar with. These were even sold new in the USA! As it says on the back, it’s a Fiat Strada, which was also called a Fiat Ritmo in other markets.

This particular example began life as a US-spec car, but has been cleaned up and modded with some Euro bumpers, giving it that great slim and clean look that early hatchbacks have.

It has a pretty rad, simple and functional interior. It’s even equipped with a tach!

These panel gaps…good lord, this makes a Tesla Model Y look like a Singer.

Another immaculate interior in this E21.

This car belongs to Philip from Beeline Motor Club. Another theme throughout this event is seeing the rad cars that belong to my friends in the local car community.

Which of course also includes my buddy Drew in his amazing LS-swapped Volvo V90, also known as “VOLOLVO”. A huge Seinfeld fan, Drew always rocks the replica ASSMAN plate at Radwood. One year, he forgot to remove it and accidentally drove around with it afterwards!

Love this big chunky front end. Makes me want to hit the Nurburgring and then do 150 on the autobahn.

The Azenis look great on there too. The right tire is so crucial for looks as well as performance.

Rotaries have such short lives that you have to rebuild them before you drive home. Also nice they parked this car in front of the triangle door.

This Nissan Patrol is pretty neat, but I was really blown away when they opened the hood later.

It was the perfect temperature, but it was really humid in the grassy area, especially for me who’s acclimated to the desert. That’s not damage on the S15, but little bugs. Thankfully, as the day warmed up and people arrived, they seemed to go away.

I always love watching cars roll in and capturing some unique angles.

Despite always being a fan of S-chassis Nissans, unfortunately I’ve never owned one. I’ve never even driven one!

Another local legend, Richard Chen, showed up in his Citroen XM, cosplaying as the baddie from Ronin.

I always get a kick out of watching the dynamic between Art and Warren and the cars they’re parking. Sometimes people get it and the process is smooth, but sometimes it becomes a little chaotic and comical.

The Mercedes-Benz S124 300TE in the opening image was recently purchased by my friend Jon. He normally has a pretty bad rabbit habit, but lately has taken an extra fancy in station wagons. Check out how clean it is!

I pointed out the condition to a few people, and then urged them to look at the odometer: it’s clocked a scarcely believable 303,967 miles! The quality from Mercedes and the loving care of the original-owner family should be commended.

Oh man…my 8-year-old self is freaking out. Growing up with my dad carrying around motorcycles in his 1936 Ford pickup, I was obsessed with trucks and hot rods as a kid. And my favorite back then was the new Chevy at the time, a GMT400 like this.

This build blended both hot rod and 90’s truckin’ in such a clean way. For me this was the easy winner of Raddest Truck, and although I did recommend this one, it didn’t hit the Radwood guys in the same way it did for me.

Lovely Technoviolet E36 with all the Dinan goodies, including the Fikse FM-5 wheels with Dinan hubcaps.

Remember when cars were rad bright colors? We’re starting to see cool colors come back in style on new cars, but a lot of them are more muted hues.

Excellent font on these Compomotive wheels.

Always an interesting juxtaposition of cars at Radwood.

Another Radwood regular, this EG is filled with choice modifications.

You wait forever for a Bayside Blue R34 GT-R, and two show up at once. Typical.

Modded or stock? I’m glad they put these cars right next to each other so we could compare and contrast.

There were two Jurassic Park Jeeps too, although this pairing was actually intentional.

Another pair; two very different ways to do a Vanagon.

What color is this Toyota? I don’t know if it’s custom or OEM, but it’s one of my all-time favorites.

Radwood was heavily influenced by the Goodwood Revival, which requires period-correct attire. A lot of that clothing seems to be a bit stuffy; one of the benefits of Radwood is that the cosplay tends to be quite comfortable.

The dark side of the Mk1 Golf, with this black on black on black GTI.

Parked directly across, this white Cabriolet with white top, interior, and wheels.

I don’t really think of the 996 as a Radwood-era car, but I suppose it does count. I strongly prefer these early cars anyway, as long as they have the clear front turn signals as seen here.

This is more of what Radwood is about. An IROC-Z with louvers!

I’m always amazed at how un-sporty the steering wheels of the 80’s seem, but then again steering racks were slow and tires were vague, so you didn’t really glue yourself to 9-and-3 like in modern cars with quick racks and sticky tires.

I would love to see a Fox-body interior redone with the same design, but quality materials that are matched in terms of color and panel gap.

Another fan favorite, a Hyundai Excel that’s a replica of the Boys n the Hood movie car.

I love how tiny 80’s compact cars look in today’s modern parking spaces.

Had to do a lot of massaging to this photo since the lighting was so harsh, but the scene was great: two two-door cars with vastly different design intentions.

The absolute peak of generic American auto design. This looks like a fake car from BeamNG that uses a generic version of every design feature. Can you identify the year, make, and model of this car?

I love when people park very subtly different cars next to each other, like these modified Sciroccos.

Another pair of wild Toyota pickups.

The epic parking up front in the grass or in the halls is the “Royalty” parking. Back here in the regular lot is the standard show space, which is where we tend to move away from the museum pieces and into the cars that people modify and drive, like this interesting GTI.

And this beefy Metro.

Among the most unique vehicles ever shown at Radwood has to be this Toyota Coaster.

This EK9 is another one that really hit my personal sensibilities, and my recommendation actually did win this car an award.

There was a rad little JDM group backed up against this wall, but the zenki Civic Type R was really special.

Not only was it a real EK9, it also had all the sweet Spoon toys that are now worth a forture, like the carbon kevlar bucket seats.

And then the Spoon shift knob, Spoon Momo wheel, and most impressively, the Spoon cluster. I’ve wanted an EK9 for so long, and it would be cool to have one just like this.

The Infiniti G20 was a relatively common car, but they seem to have all disappeared in recent years. That makes this JDM Nissan Primera, which are almost never seen in California either, even more special.

Another car rarely seen on these shores is the Peugeot 106 Rallye. I’m bummed that I didn’t go in for a closer look at this thing.

I love seeing strange US-spec versions, like this Toyota Corona. These must be on the level of rarity with avian molars these days, especially in this condition.

It has a bit of a hunchback look, but this Corolla liftback seems really practical. The frameless side windows and B-pillar treatment are interesting too. This is another car that, although sold in the US, is hardly ever seen these days.

These MR2’s are so pretty and cute at the same time; I’ve always thought they were like chibi supercars.

Whoa, talk about super flake.

Such is Radwood that in general all the cars are parked in the order they arrive. These trailered-in drift builds definitely stood out among the crowd. And what’s with the 240Z? You may notice a few period-incorrect cars in these photos. They say “never assume malice when stupidity is an easier answer”, so my guess is that some people just don’t understand the concept of Radwood, and the volunteers ushering cars into the standard parking section aren’t there to discern whether or not a particular car belongs. Although, there was that one time where a guy was actually offended that he couldn’t bring in his 300SL Gullwing, so I wouldn’t be surprised by anything.

This E30 was on air, I assume.

Another amazing juxtaposition from the standard section: a Ferrari and a Porsche next to a Pontiac van and a Volvo.

There were some cars in the parking lot when we arrived in the morning that hadn’t been cleared out. A facelifted 9-3 wagon is a very strange and rare car, but there are also a lot of interesting folks around San Jose, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s just someone’s daily driver who works at the stadium.

Two very different ways to align your rear-wheel-drive car.

Wow, they even brought the hard top stand to display next to the car.

All the extra branded electronic signage was a really nice touch.

DJ DPFonix was again back with the music, and he did an awesome job as usual. He goes through a wide variety of different jams that always sets the right mood.

This “JDM Ghostbusters”-themed group won an award for their efforts. They had everything from the car, to the costumes, to the accessories. Not sure why they didn’t want to clean the hood though.

One of my favorite aspects of Radwood is the constant “you don’t see those anymore” feeling you get while walking around. You just don’t see two-door RAV4’s anymore, nor three-spoke wheels for that matter.

The Ferrari 308 and 328 contingent showed up in force this year this year. Cool to see a black one, as opposed to the typical red.

This red, though…wow. It was similar to a classic Ferrari red shade, but leaned slightly toward the pink side, like strawberry candy. Very cool.

And speaking of pink, right in front of it was this 986 Boxster in the amazing Arena Red. A fairly dark red, it pops into bright pink when the sun hits it, as you can see on the front bumper.

Great little touch that made me smile. I haven’t seen a suction-cupped Garfield in forever.

Awesome homologation special Suzuki that took home an award.

Bug or feature? It’s so cool when French cars sink down to slammed stance when they’re parked.

What the heck is the Plymouth Fire Arrow? Another weird one from the “captive import” era, it was a re-badged Mitsubishi Lancer Celeste.

Another view of Jon’s S124. Can you believe there are over 300,000 miles on that thing??

More is more: it feels like these Cadillacs have more in common with the design of buildings than cars.

The “Friis Bros” are actually a rad father-son duo who participate in the DWA rallies and have a variety of cool old cars. Their well-used E24 shows that Radwood accepts all types, even in the “Royalty” display.

What’s more relatable, a missing chunk from a bolster, or some kind of fancy exotic?

Actually, there weren’t even any supercars to choose from at this event. Each Radwood shows the overall vibe from that area’s car culture; Northern California tends to eschew the fancy supercars and focus on oddball favorites, like this 1994 NAS (North American Spec) Land Rover Defender.

This lovely early-model E30 caught my eye. It has a track-spec stance on the SSR Hasemi wheels, backed up by the roll bar and supporting performance mods, while the stickers on the window call out Laguna Seca, Thunderhill East and West, and Highway 9.

They claim this is “the largest outdoor bar in North America”, and conveniently provided just the right amount of shade (and booze) throughout the day.

Very cool to see a Pontiac Firehawk. Those are the original wheels! What a cool package.

People love to point out that the Lamborghini Diablo uses Nissan 300ZX headlights. They look kinda derpy from this angle though.

In between the wide open show spaces was the narrow hallway, which acted as an interesting compression point. There was a constant flow of people through here.

That means it was pretty busy in front of VOLOLVO all day! So I took some inspiration from Lane and tried some slow shutters. This is 1/10 second, handheld.

With an LS1 under the hood, this thing is very capable. If you’ve never driven a 960/V90, you might be surprised at just how nicely this big fridge handles.

I went up into the stands and poked around.

There wasn’t much to see up there, but of course the stands are meant to watch the field, and the show was taking place everywhere except the playing field.

On the way down I was looking at the 993. Another interesting color that is generally fairly dark but “pops” into a very bright hue.

This Z32 had a rollbar and some Recaros; I hope it gets to see some track time.

Sadly there weren’t very many motorcycles, but there was this racing Ducati.

It goes to 13! I love the different scale below 4000 RPM’s, where it probably can barely even stay running.

The vibes at Radwood, as they say, were immaculate. The weather in San Jose, California is some of the best in the world; on this day it warmed up to 72 degrees with a cool breeze. People were sauntering comfortably and the mood was relaxed.

Mr. Chen could be found at the bar, putting drinks in hands and smiles on faces.

He also went out to show off the Citroen, raising it back up to driving height.

They say BBS LM’s look good on everything–that’s why there are so many replicas.

Apex’s take on the theme looks pretty great on this 996. And of course cheers to the Radwood dudes for putting these cars right next to each other.

This trio of GT-R’s had pride of place just as you popped outside into the other side of the show.

The R33 seems to be regarded as the unloved middle child, but I love them just as much as the 32 and 34.

Saabs are rare, even at Radwood. I loved this teal 9000 Aero.

The back area felt like a gigantic Morning Motors, the monthly “cars & coffee” that DWA hosts in the parking area of The Old Wrigley Building in Santa Cruz.

Unfortunately someone left their beater Camry in the parking lot over the weekend, but someone was able to park their immaculate 1989 Camry right in front of it, creating a funny juxtaposition.

Sometimes the 8 series looks huge, but it’s actually fairly compact. Although the Autozam AZ-1 is just tiny.

Somebody always has a videogame setup for people to play; this one had four player Mario Kart 64, which was the hot multiplayer ticket of 1997. I wasn’t gonna say anything about the stretched aspect ratio though.

Cool two-tone paint scheme on this RX-7.

What a difference between the brightness of the MR2 and the subdued Dakar Yellow of the BMW.

Some of these must have been “grandma’s car” that just sat in the garage and only went to church on Sundays. These are probably the original plates on this 1982 Granada, and it has an old school metal dealership plate frame.

Jon, the owner of the 300k mile Mercedes wagon, was also showing his LS-swapped Volvo 240.

One of my favorite parts of every Radwood is in the early afternoon when I meet up with Art and Warren, the two main organizers, and we do a walkthrough of the show and go over the award nominees and choose the winners. Well, I don’t really have any choice in the matter; I usually just bring up some cars they hadn’t noticed and give my opinions on their nominees. It also gives me a chance to take extra snaps of a car they are recognizing that I may have missed.

As part of this process, they drop the Concours-style “your car has been nominated for an award” note on these cars. As you might expect people are pretty stoked by this honor! This BMW M5 Touring ended up going home with an award.

It had a great white-on-white color scheme and a perfect stance on the outside.

The interior was immaculate as well.

The cherry on top was the cloth “hurricane” seats, which Art was enamored with.

This part of a car is called a “trunk” because they used to hang a large piece of luggage–a trunk–off the back of cars when the concept was developed over 100 years ago. You can really see the vestiges of that in this Cadillac, with the wheels and passenger compartment ending at the same place, and a huge overhang of a studio apartment’s worth of space behind it.

Move over Jeeps: It has got to be so fun cruising in a Z1 with the doors down.

Then there was the awards show, which always feels like “DWA Live” to me, having two of their three hosts in a fun presentation they’ve honed over the years.

And all of a sudden, it’s over. To me it always feels like I’m caught by surprise, suddenly realizing that even after shooting 1,000 photos I missed so many moments.

As usual, I ran around at this point getting some last-minute snaps.

We don’t get to see many French cars in general in the US, making it even more unique when we finally do get a chance.

What a trippy car.

This pearl cutie looked great in the sun. There is just something special about the light in California, even the harsh rays in the middle of the day.

On the way out I thanked Rachel for bringing her EG out again.

The hood was open on the Patrol so I went over to check it out.

This was the debut of this build, which had a very interesting powerplant: it’s a Nissan TB48, which is a 4.8L straight six that came in the Y61 Patrol (the generation after this Y60).

Most of the cars had rolled out; there were only a few stragglers left. Another awesome Radwood in the books.

I shot around 1100 photos, posting 528 on my Flickr. I also spent a lot of time hanging with friends that I don’t get to see as much anymore. Even more so than usual, despite all that, I felt like I got to the end of the event without having done everything I’d wanted. Such is the depth of this event and the community it brings together. It’s an intense day in the sun, and…I can’t wait for the next one!