Keith Martin

I recently spent two weeks streaking across Florida in a Mercedes E55 AMG, one of today’s definitive high-performance full-size sedans. From its 469-horsepower supercharged V8 to its crisp-shifting, manually-controllable automatic transmission, the car is a finely-tuned machine that delights in gobbling up vast distances effortlessly. Aside from its expectedly pathetic navigation system, the E55 is…

I like auctions as much as the next guy. In fact, I probably like them a little more than that-a good thing given my day job. But even for me, an hour or so at a time is about all I can take of the cacophonous babble emanating from most auction podiums.But I put in…

Chalk it up to the power of the press.Two months ago, I mentioned that I was looking for a Ferrari GTC/4. In response to that, SCMer Howard Jacobs, of suburban Cleveland, wrote us advising that rather than a C/4, we should consider a 456 GTA, similar to the one he used as a daily driver.…

We all love cars of such varying types, shapes and accoutrements that it’s hard to generalize what makes a car appealing when new, or to predict whether it will become collectible as it ages. The North American International Auto Show is a litmus test of attitudes, of each car company’s ability to achieve that hallmark…

The Martin-Banzer garage is about to get more interesting. It appears that Cindy Banzer, my wife and SCM Executive Editor, has found her blue 308 GTS, and I’m back in the hunt for a GTC/4.The past few months have been a collector-car dry spell for us, as we’ve focused on growing the magazine. In August,…

Harold LeMay was a car guy, just like you and me in a lot of ways. He figured out how to use his day job, owning waste-hauling franchises, to help him build his car collection. Myth has it he paid a spiff to garbage collectors who told him about interesting cars they came across on…

Watching an Austin-Healey 3000 sell for $90,000 is both exhilarating and bewildering. The bidding in the crowded auditorium at the DoubleTree, for the brilliantly restored blue BJ8, started at $30,000 and sped quickly to $60,000.RM’s auctioneer, Peter Bainbridge, was enjoying himself. And why wouldn’t he, when he’s got real bidders, a good product and a…

In the midst of the thunderstorm, a bolt of lightening struck the century-old, 200 foot tall fir tree next to our home, and then jumped to our roof. The force of nature is powerful; The electricity that surged through the house blew me back five feet from my computer keyboard. Our network router melted, the…

There’s a lot going on at SCM world headquarters this month, but we’ll get to that in a minute. There’s been a milestone occurrence in the Martin-Banzer family. Last weekend, our 11-year-old daughter, Alexandra, learned to drive. Early piloting is a tradition in our family; My grandfather, Tom McDowell, taught me how to operate his…