Keith Martin
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Keith’s Blog: Is Three Times the Charm?
One of the great features of online auctions is their transparency. You can see how many times a car has been listed, read all the comments for each listing, see what the previous high bid was and whether the car sold or not. Also, at least with Bring a Trailer, by clicking on the bidder’s…
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Keith’s Blog: Come to Oregon for the Emerald Invitational
There’s a new classic car tour here in the Pacific Northwest: The Emerald Invitational, conducted by Vintage Underground, a high-end restoration facility located in Eugene, OR. This is an all-inclusive tour, with accommodations and dining included, happening July 6 – 10. It’s limited to just 35 cars, built before 1974 (or by application). I have…
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Keith’s Blog: What’s Miles Got to Do With It?
Two cars with ultra-low recorded miles have shown up on BaT recently. They couldn’t be more different. The first is a 2001 Mercedes-Benz SL600, from the Turtle Garage collection and owned by SCM contributor Philip Richter. It has just 187 miles and is being represented by well-known Mercedes-Benz expert Dean Laumbach of Neptune, NJ. As…
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Keith’s Pick from the Bat Cave
All the R129 fanatics heads are exploding as this 187-mile car surges towards $200,000. Where will it end? A one-year digital sub goes to the closest bid comment without going over.
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Keith’s Blog: When Less is More With a Classic Mercedes
I’m still suffering from the aftereffects of losing nearly $25,000 on our 1972 Mercedes-Benz 250C. As the memory of the money-pit debacle recedes in the distance, I’ve developed a new perspective. First, I bought the wrong model. The man who bought it from me told me how he had looked up 250C sale prices on…
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Keith’s Blog: Take A Look at The Daily Vroom
It’s not as if I needed an excuse to spend more time looking at and thinking about online auctions. Every day I get notifications popping up on my phone informing me about new listings for all the various models I am tracking. Now there is another way to keep up with online auctions on a…
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In the Year 2525
In July 1969, I was selling stuffed animals, helium balloons and other souvenirs at the San Francisco Zoo. That’s the month “In the Year 2525” zoomed to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, where it remained for six weeks. One of the most famous one-hit wonders in recording history, the psychedelic rock song by…
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Keith’s Blog: The Macan and the Chicken
For the first time in my life, I have walked to the edge of a precipice and taken a step back. As I have noted earlier, I am signed up for the Oregon Porsche Club’s annual NW Passage tour. Last year I did the 1,500 miles in our fifty-year-old 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 coupe, and…
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Keith’s Blog: Lotus, Alfa or Porsche?
My son Bradley is signed up for this year’s ORPCA (Oregon Region of the Porsche Club of America) Spring NW Passage tour. It’s a five-day, 1,200-mile romp through the Pacific Northwest for 40 cars, with no model year or marque requirements – although most of the cars are late-model Porsches. The June event begins with…
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Keith’s Blog: My Visit With the BaT Podcast
I recently had the pleasure of joining Alex Porter and the Bring a Trailer team on the BaT Podcast. I covered my automotive history from driving a tractor as a child, to buying my first car for $30 when I turned 16. I talked about some of the cars from the SCM fleet, including the…