Keith Martin

I’ve been having a back-and-forth discussion with SCM Contributor Jim Schrager (my long-time mentor) about upgrading engines in vintage cars. This started when I mentioned to him that I was confused about 911 restorations. I see so many ads for early 911s that blather on and on about $250k restorations and then add, “by the…

Every first of January marks a new beginning. Go out to your garage, and take a look at your sleeping beauties. Think about how much effort has gone into finding, selecting, buying and refurbishing each one. Note that I didn’t say restoring, as now that we are grownups, we’ve all decided to buy cars that…

Be very picky about what you buy. Get exactly what you want, then build it to your specs. Life is too short to buy the wrong car and have to fight your way out of it. During the past year, I’ve developed a much greater sense of clarity about the cars I own and why…

I was reminiscing with a friend last night about how our homes and childhoods would light up when the Sears, Montgomery Ward and Spiegel catalog would arrive around this time of year. We would always take turns picking out our favorites. I liked farm sets with plastic horses and cows. Other friends wouldn’t settle for…

It was just a month ago when a coordination-challenged driver backed his BMW X1 SUV into the side of my 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4. I was in a parking lot in Edmonds, WA, waiting to begin a tour with the local Alfa club. My partner chased the driver down as he tried to flee…

In the pre-internet age, looking for sports cars was simple. There was Hemmings, AutoTrader (both regional and national) and the local classifieds. Time was not of the essence. When we started the Alfa Romeo Market Letter in 1988, we would ask Alfa fanatics across the country to mail us the classifieds from their local papers.…

Whenever you take your car out of the garage, you are putting it at risk. That was brought home to me recently. I had decided to join the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club (NWARC) on a day tour of Bainbridge Island, Washington. This would also give me a chance to spend time with SCM 1000 Routemaster…

A missed phone call saved me $29,900. As I surveyed the classic car world looking for underappreciated and affordable automatics, the Jensen Interceptor popped up. With its large backlight, it looks like an homage to a first-generation Plymouth Barracuda. It has a mechanical simplicity that is appealing. Most were built with Chrysler 440-ci V8 engines…