Wow the crowds at Radwood with these vintage cars from eBay

Vintage vehicles from the ’80s and ’90s

What, exactly, is Radwood? Good question. As we wrote a few years back after witnessing the festivities for ourselves, “Think Goodwood or Pebble Beach, but with K Cars and DeLoreans.”

It’s a celebration of all things from the 1980s and 1990s. We think it’s fun. So we pointed our browsers toward eBay in search of the coolest Radwood-era cars with a budget of $20,000. Some of our chosen steeds get pretty close to that self-imposed price, while others are well below.

Without further ado, click on the glorious Screaming Chicken up above to get started.

1980 Pontiac Trans Am

If your Radwood tastes skew a little on the older side, I’d like to present you with this 1980 Pontiac Trans Am. Adding to the allure, it’s one of 5,700 Indy Pace Car editions sold that year.

This was not the best Trans Am that Pontiac ever built. In fact, depending on who you ask, it might actually be the worst. The era of big cubic inches was over — the last of the 6.6-liters was sold in 1979 — but Pontiac still wanted its halo muscle car to have some guts. It didn’t, really, but let’s just sit back and appreciate the effort.

There are 301 cubic inches under the hood, bolstered by Pontiac’s first turbocharged engine, sending 210 horsepower and 345 pound-feet of torque to the rear wheels.

But much more important, it had a sweet Screaming Chicken graphic on the hood wrapped around an asymmetrical bulge that lit up in the driver’s direct line of sight as the turbo boost built up. That’s cool. The whole thing is so quintessentially ’80s that the Radwood crowd will love it. — Consumer Editor Jeremy Korzeniewski

• Image Credit: eBay Motors

1990 Chevy Corvette ZR-1

I was really tempted to go with a 1986 Mercedes-Benz Unimog, but I couldn’t pass on this first-year low-mile C4 Corvette ZR-1. I’m a Corvette guy raised in a family of Corvette guys, and this was my dream car growing up. I had ZR-1 posters on my wall and ZR-1 models on my shelf. As a kid in the ’90s, it didn’t get much better than this.

The LT5 engine is the real star here. A DOHC 5.7-liter V8 developed by Lotus and built by Mercury Marine. It made 375 horsepower early on, but later ZR1s made 405 horsepower. It also cost nearly twice as much as a standard C4. The fact that you can find decent ones for around $20,000 still amazes me. That’s why there’s two on this list. 

I dig the looks of the first year, as it’s a blend of early and late C4s. This is the only year the ZR1 had the original C4 front end, and from ’91 until the end of the run, all C4s looked basically the same. It’s just so sleek. There are no big wings or splitters or ducts to taint the design. Pure Radwood. — Road Test Editor Reese Counts

• Image Credit: Collector Cars Chicago

1998 BMW M3 Sedan

The eBay search went like this: 1988-1999. Less than 100,000 miles. $20,000 max. The most ’90s colors of green, purple and teal. 

I think I scored pretty well here. This 1998 BMW M3 Sedan is unmodified, pristine and its maintenance has been meticulously documented. It’s also a classy and brilliantly subtle color combo of Boston Green and Magma Nappa leather that’s absolutely perfect for a class and brilliantly subtle car like the E36 M3 Sedan. 

Nevermind our Radwood mission, I think I’d actually buy this just as my car. — West Coast Editor James Riswick