Author: Keith Martin

Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 30 years. As a writer, publisher, television commentator and enthusiast, he is constantly on the go, meeting collectors and getting involved in their activities throughout the world. He is the founder and publisher of the monthly Sports Car Market, now in its 33rd year. Keith has written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, is an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrman Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame and more. He is on the boards of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar's Award.

Keith’s Blog: Holiday Car Wishes

Now that December is upon us, it’s a good time for us (and you) to survey your collection and take care of little things that have been nagging you. Here’s what we will be emailing to Santa. With the 2006 Lotus Elise, the list is short. Last summer when we […]

Keith’s Blog: The Porsche 911S is Alive!

After a couple of months of indecision, Al Blanchard at A&P Specialties here in Portland has decided on a path forward for our 1975 Porsche 911S Sportomatic. We’ve known from the start that its 2.7-liter engine had some broken studs. However, the compression was excellent and we were advised to […]

Keith’s Blog: Be Patient, Save $20k

We took our 1971 Mercedes 250C out for a drive yesterday. It was overcast with a little rain, but not terrible. Our destination was Backwoods Brewing Company, an independent brew pub in Carson, WA. It’s about 50 miles away in the Columbia Gorge, not far from the site of the […]

Gone in 60 Minutes

After five years and just 2,000 kilometers, our 1971 Alfa Romeo Junior Zagato is gone. In a happy moment for all, it went back to SCMer and longtime Alfa enthusiast Gordy Hyde. I bought it from him five years ago for $60,000. I spent these years and over $20,000 attempting […]

Keith’s Blog: A Tale of Two Slushboxes

At a certain point during my recovery from my stroke, I decided to look for classic cars with automatic transmissions. While universally loathed by enthusiasts — including me — I hoped that maybe I was just overlooking what might be a decent motoring experience. I bought two automatics. The first […]

Keith’s Blog: My Favorite Things

Last week I asked you to pick four cars for a $500,000 collection. Your many and diverse answers can be seen below this blog. This week I’ll tell you what my three-car collection would be, and why. I’m not setting a price boundary for myself, as market value has nothing […]

Auf Wiedersehen

We filled the tank of our 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG for the first time on July 1, 2020. The odometer read 45,389 miles. We had purchased it from a collector in the Los Angeles area for $22,500. SCM Contributor Philip Richter had urged — no, commanded — me to buy […]