Last month, as stay-at-home orders proliferated and as notices of in-person show cancellations flooded email inboxes and Facebook timelines, car show organizers, museums, and clubs turned to virtual car shows – complete with judging and awards – to fill the downtime. Now, as questions about what our post-pandemic new normal start to arise, some car show organizers are beginning to envision a future in which virtual car meets become more common.

“In all honesty, desperation is part of it,” said Brad Brownell, one of the co-founders of RADwood, which hosted its own virtual car show in April. “People were looking for an outlet and this is part of it.”