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: Winking and Wiping

The Alfa Romeo Club of Oregon (AROO) held its annual Valentine’s Day Tour last week. For my 16-year-old son Bradley, it was his first time driving a manual-shift classic sports car on a tour. My driver-training philosophy has been to have him become competent driving automatics in a variety of […]

A Gem of an Auction

I have an upcoming event that requires a ring. So when a catalog arrived from a local fine-arts and antiques auction house — an analog version of a “notify me” email from an online collector-car auction — a 5.53-carat stone caught my eye. O’Gallerie, a family-run Portland institution, was founded in […]

Keith’s Blog: How Many Cars Do You Need?

It’s the eternal recurring question for gearheads. How many cars to you really need? Usually, the answer is determined by how many parking spaces you have. But for the moment let’s assume you have unlimited space. I have found that when you get beyond five or six cars, you are […]

Keith’s Blog: How Alfa Romeo Lost to Porsche

In 1964, Alfa Romeo and Porsche were roughly on par with their mass-production cars. The 356C and the Giulia Spider Veloce had similar performance. But by 1970 the two companies were worlds apart and have continued to diverge. Two things happened. First, in 1965 Porsche introduced the 6-cylinder 911. It […]