Radwood, the celebration of all things ’80s and ’90s, has been acquired by Hagerty. Radwood joins a growing Hagerty event umbrella as other recent additions include landmark events like Concours d’Lemons, The Amelia and the California Mille.
“Gen X-ers and millen…
Interesting. I'm happy for the founders/Radwood leadership, and not sure how I feel about Hagerty seemingly snapping up everything car-related they can.
Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) said:Interesting. I'm happy for the founders/Radwood leadership, and not sure how I feel about Hagerty seemingly snapping up everything car-related they can.
Same, they are snapping up everything.
I mean their Facebook group couldn't get worse so that's a plus.
I think this is Larry Webster. He's doing a heck of a job at Hagerty. They're arguably doing more for the automotive hobby overall than just about anyone these days.
Brake_L8 (Forum Supporter) said:Interesting. I'm happy for the founders/Radwood leadership, and not sure how I feel about Hagerty seemingly snapping up everything car-related they can.
Yeah, I hope this means that Brad and Art and the guys got paid. They created this thing from scratch.
I see your point about Hagerty owning everything, but they do seem to be a pretty good steward of the automotive hobby, and one I'm happy to send money to every year.
Interesting. Hagerty has been doing some moves. They just opened(took over a failed?) storage and event space near me. Seems like they're trying to transition into real world interactions instead of paper and insurance.
https://www.garageandsocial.com/location/seattle/
At first I thought they were just copying another local venue that's been around for a number of years that's basically the same thing (country club for high end cars) but I guess the idea is more prolific than I realized.
I really enjoy radwood but the two events that have happened near me have really had the concours d'elegance vibe. As in, if it wasn't pristine and stock then they didn't care about it. Which is cool, but I just want to appreciate that era of car regardless of stock/modded status.
In reply to iansane :
I definitely think that Radwood has changed quite a bit since it's inception. I went to one of their earliest events back in 2018. The first time they tagged up with LeMons at Sonoma. I actually helped haul the trophies for the event in my E34 wagon.
It's a bit of a victim of it's own success if you liked the more relaxed grassroots feel of the early events, but I think that's to be expected when something goes from a small niche event to a nationally recognized brand. It's cool that the Radwood era cars are getting their due, and I think that they've help push the idea that collector cars should be something that you use and do things with, which I am all for.
I think the rate of growth of Radwood took everyone by surprise. Turns out Bradley and co had identified a need that was much stronger than they realized.
Brad Brownell just tweeted that he cashed out and is no longer directly involved, though he's still going to support the event in other ways. From the article, it sounds like Art will still be in there, but I'm not sure about the other DWA guys.
Obligatory pic of Radwood Detroit from a couple of years ago:
Personally, I think Radwood and Concours d'Lemons fit together well.
Say you have an E36 BMW or similar.
Is it nice and period-correct? Radwood.
Is it a bit clapped-out? Lemons.
Bittersweet. I think Hagerty will do a great job growing the show, but I enjoyed Radwood the most when it was small and kinda chaotic. I went to the first ever event on a whim, and ended up winning Best in Show at their first LA show. Good times and I've made a lot of great friends and connections from their events. Looking forward to seeing what's next, and definitely hoping the founders had a good exit.
I like what Hagerty is doing, but all this has a cost that was reflected in my premiums. I switched to Grundy and saved literally half.
In theory, Radwood will be self-supporting at least. It was a going concern when it was sold.
I don't get the Hagerty perks, just the insurance.
I wonder how many people on the fence about going to The Amelia decided to go thanks to the inclusion of Radwood and/or Concours d'Lemons.
It might be a few, it might be a lot, but if it helps keep cornerstone events like a Concours d'Elegance alive for future generations, I'm here for it.
There's Hagerty, Holley, and whoever the hell is buying/bought Jeg's (plus Summit--no malice intended). In a couple of years, that will be about it for the industry in terms of corporate banners. Whatever.
It must feel special to drive a Toyotabaru or a Stellantis (oh wait, I do that) or a VAG (oh wait, I do that, too) . . .
I suspect Hagerty looks at these events like break-even-marketing for their core insurance business. It's not a terrible business model and they're probably pretty liquid from the IPO.
In reply to CrustyRedXpress :
That's what I was gonna say, they've must have cash from the IPO, and need to follow up on the business plans they used to encourage growth to get the IPO in the first place.
I must say, I'm glad to see these things showing value.
As someone with not-quite-a-degree in economics, I'm usually not that big fan of consolidation and a company making moves to become more and more of a dominant player in a niche. I'm saying this as a long time and current customer of Hagerty, BTW.
I have been wondering if this is a side effect of Hagerty going public. They'll probably have to show more growth to satisfy the market, and "buying marketshare" might help with that, and that might lead to some "buying everything halfway reasonable that's not nailed down".
maschinenbau said:I like what Hagerty is doing, but all this has a cost that was reflected in my premiums. I switched to Grundy and saved literally half.
I just got my renewal with them, my premium has jumped up $100 since last year. I guess it wouldn't be insurance if you didn't feel like you were getting berkeleyed over.
Edit: How do they justify that price increase? The insured value of my car didn't increase over last year so even though inflation is crazy right now that is not reflected in the policy unless I increase it and pay the extra premium. So basically they just added 20% just because they could. bullE36 M3.
In reply to adam525i :
That's exactly what prompted me to shop around. Didn't realize how much I was getting ripped off.
How long before hagerty buys GRM and CM?
I will say that I love Jason Camissa's YouTube stuff sponsored by Hagerty. I mean, he has covered the Lancia Delta Integrale, the 500e Mercedes and a bunch of other cars that I have dreamed about for years.
maschinenbau said:I like what Hagerty is doing, but all this has a cost that was reflected in my premiums. I switched to Grundy and saved literally half.
I am experiencing the same AND they don't want to cover our S4 for some reason. Not a very happy customer after 15 years...
Hagerty covered my canoe.
Javelin said:maschinenbau said:I like what Hagerty is doing, but all this has a cost that was reflected in my premiums. I switched to Grundy and saved literally half.
I am experiencing the same AND they don't want to cover our S4 for some reason. Not a very happy customer after 15 years...
All Insurance companies can berk the freak off. Tower Hill here in Florida dropped me because I needed the roof on my house replaced after a hail storm. The reasoning "you're a liability" like yea duh, so is everything else on this planet. So I had to find a new insurance company that would A) Cover my house and B) replace the roof from an event prior to conracting coverage with them. USAA came through but man their auto insurance premiums are $$$$
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