RADwood NorCal is returning to the Bay Area on Saturday, October 24, 2026, but this year’s show won’t simply park a few hundred nostalgic cars and hope your memories do the rest.
The 2026 event moves to Gold Bar Hangar at Alameda Point for a free evening program featuring hundreds of 1980s and 1990s vehicles, live DJs, runway demonstrations and the finale of a $100,000 creator build competition.
Pro Street TV covered RADwood NorCal last year when it took over PayPal Park in San Jose. The July 26, 2025 show transformed the soccer stadium into an automotive time capsule filled with period cars, motorcycles, clothing and music. Universe
Alameda promises a different experience. Instead of another conventional daytime display, RADwood is moving onto a former naval runway beside San Francisco Bay—and some of the cars will actually be moving.
RADwood NorCal 2026 Event Details
RADwood NorCal takes place from 4:00–8:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24. Hagerty Drivers Club members can enter an hour early at 3:00 p.m.
The location is:
Gold Bar Hangar
2505 Monarch Street
Alameda, California 94501
General admission is free, but visitors must obtain a ticket before arriving. The organizer warns that availability is limited, so “free” should not be interpreted as “wander over whenever you finish lunch.” Alameda CA
Visitors can reserve admission through the official RADwood NorCal ticket page.
RADwood Moves From PayPal Park to Alameda Point
Last year’s PayPal Park event gave Pro Street TV a close look at what makes RADwood different from the average Bay Area car show.
A Ferrari or Porsche can park next to a preserved economy car and neither one feels misplaced. The show isn’t exclusively about horsepower, purchase price or the number of detailing products applied before sunrise. A clean Honda CRX, Fox-body Mustang, Volkswagen GTI or Toyota pickup can attract as much attention as a period supercar because each represents a recognizable piece of its era.
That variety gave the 2025 event much of its appeal. Moving the show to Alameda Point should add an entirely different visual character.
Gold Bar Hangar sits beside a former runway with the San Francisco skyline across the water. The industrial hangar, open pavement and evening schedule should create far stronger opportunities for rolling footage, sunset photography and vehicle sound than the stadium-based format used last year.
Wheels in Motion Brings Action to RADwood
The most important addition is Wheels in Motion, RADwood’s first full-throttle driving exhibition.
Selected performance cars and less predictable machinery—including high-strung Japanese kei cars—will make demonstration passes on the runway. Hagerty describes the program as a chance to see significant RADwood-era vehicles performing flybys against the San Francisco skyline. investor.hagerty.com
That matters because static car shows all suffer from the same basic problem: cars are usually more interesting when they’re doing car things.
A turbocharged homologation special, vintage supercar or tiny 660cc kei machine can look compelling while parked. Hearing it accelerate reveals far more about why enthusiasts still care about it decades later.
For Pro Street TV, the runway should provide usable action footage to complement owner interviews and detailed vehicle walkarounds.
A $100,000 RADwood Build Challenge Will Be Decided in Alameda
The show will also host the finale of Hagerty’s first RADwood Build Challenge.
Automotive creators Larry Chen, Mike Burroughs of StanceWorks and Vin Anatra were given equal purchase and build budgets, then tasked with creating the most convincing RADwood-era project possible. Jason Cammisa hosts the competition.
Attendees will vote for the winning build in person during RADwood NorCal. The challenge carries a $100,000 prize, divided into $50,000 for the winning builder and $50,000 for the winner’s selected charity. All three vehicles are also scheduled to be auctioned without reserve through Hagerty Marketplace.
That competition gives the event a storyline beyond simply identifying the cleanest car in each row. Visitors can inspect the finished builds, compare three different approaches and help determine the result.
Mix Master Mike Headlines the Music Program
RADwood has always treated clothing and music as essential parts of the event rather than background decoration.
For 2026, legendary DJ Mix Master Mike will headline the entertainment program. DJ Nardi and Beverly Chills are also scheduled to perform. Alameda CA
A period-dress competition will reward the “Raddest Dressed” attendee, while additional attractions include a Goodyear racing-simulator experience, vehicle displays, photo installations and food trucks.
Nobody is required to arrive wearing a windbreaker, mirrored sunglasses and enough neon to interfere with nearby aircraft. It would, however, demonstrate commitment.
What Cars Will Appear at RADwood NorCal?
RADwood’s core field concentrates on cars, trucks and motorcycles from the 1980s and 1990s. The event divides that field into several themed groups:
- Hot hatches
- Kei cars
- Motorcycles
- Movie cars and tributes
- Mustang versus Camaro
- Track cars
- Convertibles, T-tops and targas
- Lifted trucks and mini-trucks
- Period tuner vehicles
- Turbocharged cars
- Vans
- General RADwood-era entries
A new MilleNia category extends the display into vehicles built from 2000 through 2010. That creates space for early-2000s tuner icons, performance cars and modern classics that previously fell just outside RADwood’s traditional eligibility window. Alameda CA
That expansion is particularly relevant to enthusiasts who grew up with the first-generation Lexus IS300, Honda S2000, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, Subaru WRX, Nissan 350Z and the final years of analog performance cars.
Readers interested in maintaining and modifying vehicles from these eras can find additional technical guides at My Pro Street and performance parts through Pro Street Online.
Can You Still Enter a Vehicle?
RADwood is still accepting vehicle applications through its official website, but selection is not guaranteed and space is limited.
Owners with unusual, original or thoughtfully modified vehicles have the strongest editorial potential. A forgotten survivor with a compelling history can be more interesting than a familiar exotic that has already appeared at every premium show in Northern California.
Owners can review the categories and submit their vehicle through the official RADwood NorCal website.
Is RADwood NorCal Worth Attending?
Yes—especially for anyone interested in Japanese imports, European performance cars, Fox-body Mustangs, mini-trucks, kei vehicles, homologation specials or the wonderfully strange machinery produced before every dashboard became a tablet.
The 2025 PayPal Park show demonstrated how effectively RADwood can bring different sections of the enthusiast community together. The 2026 Alameda event adds free admission, an evening schedule, live runway demonstrations and a creator competition with an actual six-figure prize.
That is considerably more ambitious than lining up cars, placing a DJ beside a folding table and declaring the experience complete.
Advance registration is required. Reserve a free ticket through the official event listing before availability disappears.
