Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
There is nothing more appropriately 1980s than nostalgia for the 1950s, and as a millennial living in 2023, there’s possibly nothing more appropriately modern than nostalgia for the ’80s and ’90s. I think being part of the last generation that grew up in pre-internet times we have a collective longing for those simpler times. Likewise I’m sure having watched in real time the rapid advancement of communications technology over our lifetimes has accelerated nostalgia.
This weekend has convince me, we have fully taken on the roll that Boomers once held in car culture. We’re the old guard yearning for the simplicity and analog connection (whether with cars or people) of our youth, or even from a time we didn’t live through. I was born in 1987, so I don’t remember the ’80s, and not for the normal reason people don’t remember the ’80s. Should I feel a connection to the ’80s at all? At Radwood and Motor Vice, I do.
(Disclaimer: I co-founded Radwood in 2017. The company sold in 2021, and I no longer have any financial stake in the wellbeing of the show. I attended of my own desire, driving my Neon from Cleveland, OH to Detroit for the day.)
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
I started my weekend on Friday evening by giving my 1997 Neon ACR a bath and swapping the white wheels back on to give it a proper ’90s aesthetic. These are unfortunately not real Regamasters, but the Rota Slipstream knockoff is good enough. The car cleans up nice in Lapis Blue, and was a hit at both shows. The three-hour drive north-west was mildly annoying without cruise control, but hey we’re trying to re-create our youth here, right?
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
Being in the motor city on the day after a major UAW strike was announced, at a car show in the shadow of the RennCen, I had to represent my period-correct attire with my wife’s late grandfather’s original union member hat from back in the day. He was a tool and die guy at Fisher Body for decades, and I like to think he would have enjoyed this little piece of solidarity.
Overall the show was a good time. It wasn’t as big as other Radwood events I’ve attended, but it was still a solid event with a few hundred machines from the era I love most. Here are my top-three highlights.
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The Oreca Viper. This car is Viper GTSR chassis #C31, which famously dominated the 2000 season. It won its class at Le Mans and Sebring in the same year, plus took seven of ten victories in the American Le Mans Series. It was shown by Detroit’s own LBI Limited, and is currently for sale at a whopping $2.25 million.
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This Aluminum Intensive Vehicle is one that I very nearly bought. I sat in this exact car at a showroom in the Akron, Ohio area about 9 months ago, and fell in love with it, but determined very quickly that I couldn’t comfortably drive it for more than 20 minutes and sadly walked away. With different seats I might have been able to make it work. Anyway, it was on display and I still love how these look.
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This car is basically an amalgam of in-period Chevy parts, with Corvette, Camaro, and Beretta bits mixed in a way that creates this rear-wheel drive converted V8-powered monster. It’s very cool to look at, and even cooler to see running. It’s not something I would ever build, but I love that someone else did.
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Honorable mention goes to this absolutely slammed Geo Metro convertible. I would proudly drive this machine everywhere. So cool. I didn’t get a chance to speak to the owner, so I don’t know how the lowering was achieved, but I hope it’s coilovers rather than chopped springs.
After the show I went to Green Dot Stables to slam a few delicious sliders before hitting the road back home. The show started at 7 a.m., so I’d been up since 4 a.m. and was running low on steam. I pulled back into my driveway at about 8 p.m., and I was so grateful that the next day’s show was an evening affair.
After getting up, cooking breakfast, watching a great Singapore Grand Prix, and taking the dog for a good hour-long walk, I leisurely hopped back in the Neon and headed to Columbus, Ohio for the fifth annual edition of Motor Vice Midwest.
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I’ve known Tim Neely for years, he’s a hustler and an all around good guy. Back when Radwood was just starting to blow up he instantly saw the appeal and gave me a call. He wanted to bring Radwood to Columbus, and asked if we would consider hosting an event there. When our team declined, he took it upon himself to kickstart a new event called Motor Vice. When I saw that the shows were back to back on the same weekend, I had to make it to both, and I’m glad I did.
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
While the show was a bit smaller than Radwood the prior day had been, it’s clear that this is still a grassroots effort and a community coming together for a good time. The show is hosted at Performance Auto Spa, so the venue was more or less the lawn of a shop in an industrial district. It doesn’t have the visual gravitas of some of the better Radwood events, but when it comes to booking a venue, free is usually the best selling point.
The vibe was great, and the host was interactive. There were giveaways, a cheesy “beat boxing competition” and trivia to keep the crowd busy in between perusing the lawn of cars. I won an old issue of the Transformers comic for knowing the Martini-liveried 935 Autobot was named Jazz.
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As with Radwood, I also had a few standout favorites at Motor Vice. I think there were significantly fewer cars at Motor Vice, but some of the cars were more interesting.
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
I’m going to start off with this delightful Geo Metro Rally, which was allegedly a concept car at one point offloaded by the GM Heritage Collection. I can’t find anything to corroborate this, but it’s entirely possible this was a weird one-off SEMA build or something that did the auto show circuit. The green interior is incredible.
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I have a hard time saying anything bad about this gorgeous Jaguar XJS. It’s an original V12 car with a manual transmission.
This be-mural’d Matra Murena was tremendous. I’d seen it before a few times, and it should be familiar to those of you who have been reading Jalopnik for years, but it’s still cool to see out and about in the sunlight. So wild. So rad.
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
And an honorable mention goes to this Toyota Celica Long Beach Grand Prix celebrity race car once driven in 1990 by Dwight David Yoakam (best known for his role as Doc Miles in 2006's iconic film Crank.) Stephen Baldwin won that race, but Yoakam finished the race without a scratch, which is honestly a difficult task.
Photo: Bradley Brownell/Jalopnik
At the end of the day, it’s great that there are two of these shows floating around, promoting events for ’80s and ’90s fans. I’m still proud of the work I did with Radwood, and they say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so Motor Vice is pretty rad, too. If you get a chance to go to one of these events near you, I recommend it pretty highly.
Keyword: There Were Two '80s And '90s Car Shows In The Midwest This Weekend And I Went To Both Of Them