Hot. Noisey. Sunburned. These are certainly some adjectives which that fit the July 31 ColoRETRO show, hosted by Mayhem Racing Charities. The show, held in the parking lot of Douglas County High School in Castle Rock was subject to ambient temperatures of up to 90 degrees at the time of the awards ceremony, exacerbated by the ruthless black tarmac of the parking lot. In spite of the heat however, nearly 100 80’s and 90’s period vehicles, containing participants dressed in similar attire, convened to bring an excellent retro show experience to life in Colorado for the second year running. ColoRETRO is a show that borrows inspiration from the wave of retrophilia that is evident at large within the car community. As people who grew up in the 80’s and 90’s have started finding financial success and stability, and begun to buy toys, its hard to argue that period cars aren’t one of the hottest commodities in town, showing appreciation curves that would make most stocks on the S&P 500 blush. Did you have your sights set on an Acura NSX, famed chariot of Ayrton Senna and Winston Wolf? A grade 3 (driver) example, according to Hagerty Insurance’s valuation tools, will set you back over $75k. Compared to a mere $42k in 2015. Do your tastes lean more to the domestic? A 1987 Buick Regal Grand National, which in the same condition as our example above, would have sold for under $20k in 2015, now regularly sells for over $50k. These examples demonstrate that there is an increasing appetite for nostalgia among American millennials, and in addition to vintage arcades, un-ironic neon, and calculator watches, there is significant demand for the cars we grew up with. And its not just the hero cars, either. For every well known vehicle out there from pop culture, there are 5 interesting vehicles from the time period that didn’t find their footing in the same way.
It’s difficult to talk about the retro show craze without starting at the source: Radwood. Its inaugural show in 2017 gave people a place to take their toys and enjoy them in the most interactive way possible, providing a show that at its most basic could be compared to the Goodwood Revival, just in a different time period. And while Radwood was the first, with that came challenges to bring the show to every city that wanted (or I’d say deserved!) to enjoy a vintage show in their home area. I remember asking Bradley Brownell, one of the Founders of Radwood once, at an event we both attended if he’d ever consider a Denver event (being an 80’s child with too many of these cars in my garage); the answer I received was painful, if pragmatically thought out. The organizers of Radwood did not feel like Denver could produce an interesting showfield of quality 80’s and 90’s vehicles. I remember flying home from that event dejected by the fact that I’d likely never experience a nostalgic show like this without without significant monetary costs and the inevitable headache of travel. Of course at this point. I hadn’t yet met Dave. Dave Lowry is a well known insurance broker and car enthusiast in the Denver area, who also had a collection made for a show like this. The biggest and most important difference between Dave and I however, was that he regularly hosts shows, and decided to host the show he wanted to participate in.
ColoRETRO 2021 was hosted in September, in the same location, and despite some teething issues endemic to a first time event, was a great show. Taking lessons learned, Dave set out to make 2022 even better.And better 2022 was. The show started with load-in in the early morning, and I arrived as tents were going up, and early load-in vehicles were arriving. I had signed up to coordinate the judging efforts this year, as ColoRETRO offers a judged component of the car show, and even being there to get some serious administrative number crunching done, it didn’t take much more than a minute of setting up my table and tent before looking up to see an immaculate A-Team liveried GMC Vandura roll by with two motorcycles escorting it, followed shortly by a yellow RX-7 that would pass as a dead ringer for Keisuke Takahashi’s FD from Initial-D (go check it out if you don’t know what I’m talking about, we’ll wait.) It still catches me off guard each year when I look out at a parking lot filling with cars from my favorite time period. The vehicles in attendance represent a wide cross-section of level of completion. On my drive to the show, I remember throwing a thumbs up at a primered S-10 Blazer that was covered in stickers that I could only assume was headed to the same place I was. Contrast this to the absolutely mint, sub 10,000 mile Toyota Celsior that I jokingly told my judging posse was “the car of a sociopath”. Seriously, that car was clean in a way that was incompatible with my brain’s ability to conceptualize a nearly 40 year old car, with un-creased cream leather seats devoid of any discolorant dirt or troublesome scratches that come with a life of hard use for cars like these.
ColoRETRO 2021 was hosted in September, in the same location, and despite some teething issues endemic to a first time event, was a great show. Taking lessons learned, Dave set out to make 2022 even better.
And better 2022 was. The show started with load-in in the early morning, and I arrived as tents were going up, and early load-in vehicles were arriving. I had signed up to coordinate the judging efforts this year, as ColoRETRO offers a judged component of the car show, and even being there to get some serious administrative number crunching done, it didn’t take much more than a minute of setting up my table and tent before looking up to see an immaculate A-Team liveried GMC Vandura roll by with two motorcycles escorting it, followed shortly by a yellow RX-7 that would pass as a dead ringer for Keisuke Takahashi’s FD from Initial-D (go check it out if you don’t know what I’m talking about, we’ll wait.)
It still catches me off guard each year when I look out at a parking lot filling with cars from my favorite time period.
The vehicles in attendance represent a wide cross-section of level of completion. On my drive to the show, I remember throwing a thumbs up at a primered S-10 Blazer that was covered in stickers that I could only assume was headed to the same place I was. Contrast this to the absolutely mint, sub 10,000 mile Toyota Celsior that I jokingly told my judging posse was “the car of a sociopath”. Seriously, that car was clean in a way that was incompatible with my brain’s ability to conceptualize a nearly 40 year old car, with un-creased cream leather seats devoid of any discolorant dirt or troublesome scratches that come with a life of hard use for cars like these.
The lot continued to fill with a truly superb collection of period vehicles that showed not only what an active rad-era car scene the Denver-Castle Rock-Colorado Springs area has, but that everyone is into different things as well. True unicorns, like a well used 1991 Audi 200 Avant 20 Valve Turbo, an Imported 1992 Honda Beat (complete with Zebra-cloth seats), and an immaculate Nissan Pulsar NX wearing its shooting brake topper, 1-of-3 available roof configurations for the NX. What I truly enjoy about a show like this is that its friendly to every level of enthusiast, including folks who are in the midst of a restoration or refresh. The morning went on and the lot continued to fill, and at 10:30 AM, Load-in was complete, and the show was officially under way. The show offers several amenities to keep attendees and participants engaged over the body of the show. Two food trucks were on hand, serving lunch options and cookie based novelty desserts. The show also has good facilities available, owing to the generosity of the hosting school, which opens up its air conditioned lobby and restroom facilities to the group. The show featured a DJ, who played a great selection of everything you’d want to hear at a retro show. When the show actually got started, and I was able to get out and chat with people, I got to have my favorite part of the show: chatting with participants about the passion they have for their cars, (especially while willingly dressed like an idiot).
The S-10 Blazer I mentioned earlier? Being slowly built into a show truck by a young enthusiast who was eager to walk me through all of his accomplishments and plans. And how long has it been since you’ve seen a Merkur XR4Ti? How about two of them, right next to each other, and hearing about how the family came across a car with effectively no mileage on it, or a long term project C3 Vette owned by a very nice woman from Colorado Springs, who walked me step by step through all of the personal touches and details she put on the car when restoring it. Going through the judging process yielded some great stories as I bounced from car to car. Meanwhile, folks in the show were embroiled in a costume contest. Part of the fun of the show is dressing up in bright colors, big sunglasses and any other period fad clothing that can be found for a couple bucks at the local thrift store. Side ponytails, jean jackets, questionable hair choices; all were well represented at the show. Colorado Cars and Coffee’s own Ryan Haenny did us proud winning the costume contest with an incredible Don-Johnson-alike getup (opposite). Additionally, showgoers could visit one of six local vendors, and the Retrocade bus on hand for the entire event with a selection of free-play games. The event was judged by a panel of 6 local old-car enthusiasts (of whom I’m pleased to report all dressed up, and nearly all brought a period vehicle), who awarded trophies for best of ’80s and ’90s, one each for foreign and domestic cars, as well as a trophy for best right hand drive, and best period decal package. By the time trophies were awarded, the parking lot had become a blast furnace, and people were visibly tired out, but it didn’t change the fact that this event is one of Colorado’s up and coming shows; a great event with a fun premise, a good group of attendees, and a dedicated host. I’m already looking forward to 2023!
About the Author: Brendan Garst (@idrivesomecars) drives some cars and loves his pink linen shorts-suit an unreasonable amount.