EVENTS: Radwood NorCal 2019

Just a week after my colleagues were at SpoCom in SoCal, Radwood returned to its ancestral home in NorCal. The traveling show of 80s and 90s nostalgia started in the Bay Area in 2017, and has been expanding rapidly. There is always a good selection of Japanese steel present, so we headed down to take a look.

I had just acquired the perfect machine for the task, a 1990 Mazda RX-7 GTU with just 28,000 miles on the odometer. A friend with an AE86 with a Honda S2000 motor swap joined our small caravan.

For J-tin spotting, the show had a few advantages going for it. First, northern California has a lot of Japanese cars that don’t necessarily make the trek to the popular SoCal shows. Second, because Radwood celebrates cars of all nationalities, you get more appreciators of bone stock machinery that might not feel at home at, say, SpoCom. Check out the gallery below of hidden gems that came out of the NorCal woodwork, starting with a gorgeous single-cam, two-tone 240SX coupe.

A few Japanese market imports included a Suzuki Cappuccino and a Toyota Soarer 4.0 GT.

This is not to say that all the cars were unmolested (or at least easily reversible to stock). There were many modified cars present as well, includine a widebody fellow FC that would look right at home in Tokyo Xtreme Racer.

The best of the best cars get a special spot on the lawn, and we can’t disagree with the choices representing J-tin. First up was a very tastefully modified Honda CRX Si that reminded us why these little hatchbacks are so beloved.

The second was a beautifully preserved and extremely rare 1987 Isuzu Impulse RS Turbo. We thought this former Kidney Car was one of the last surviving examples, but are pleasantly surprised to find out that another one exists. Finished only in white, these special editions marked the end of the first-gen Impulses. It also marks the end of the Radwood gallery, as it’s hard to think of another car that so perfectly exemplifies the 80s.