Keith Martin

Eight-hundred and forty-six. That’s the number of comments I have made on Bring a Trailer auctions. My auction handle is “330America.” I chose this name to commemorate the Ferrari 330 America I pulled out of a barn in Montana 30 years ago, used starter fluid to get running, and drove home 550 miles to Portland.…

Blame it on the “alerts.” Being able to select “notify me when one comes up for sale” on a collector car auction website has surely changed collecting more than anything else. In just the past few days, listings on Bring a Trailer have included these Alfas: A Junior Zagato, a Giulia Spider Normale, a Duetto…

I’ve been going on classic car tours since 1992. I started with the Mille Miglia, which was a pretty swell way to begin. That was followed by the California Mille, the Monte Shelton Northwest Classic, the Colorado Grand, the Argentine Millas, Tour Auto, the Modena Cento Ore and more. Over the years, I have driven…

With the stuck float needle fixed on SCM’s 1971 Citroën DS21 Pallas, the entire SCM fleet is fully operational and ready for more long drives in the coming warm and sunny months ahead. To that end, Publisher Martin is taking a well-deserved week off from his regular blog. Check back next week for more from…

From Lamborghini Huracans to 1300-cc Alfa Supers, it’s been a car-centric weekend. But first, am I the only one who noticed the classic low-rider Chevrolet convertibles in the Super Bowl halftime show? Or the VW Thing in one of the ads? Is this Gen-X nostalgia? My weekend started with a conversation with collectors hosted by…

I’ve only put a few miles on our recently acquired 1991 Alfa Spider S4. With just 22,000 CARFAX-certified miles, it’s like new. In fact, its “newness” is a little unsettling. The basic underlying 105-series chassis first entered production in 1964. I don’t know if any other new car sold in 1991 had such antiquated underpinnings.…

Sometimes the right car, at the right price and the right time, comes along. So you just buy it. That’s the case with the 1991 Alfa Romeo Spider S4 that is now on the way from Palm Springs, CA, to Portland. A friend (“friend?” – more like enabler) forwarded me this eBay auction: https://www.ebay.com/itm/255334064979 The…

Last week we took our 1971 DS21 Pallas for a quick trip to Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, WA. It’s 46 miles one-way from Portland. And one-way was as far as we got, as the car failed to proceed on the way home. No harm done, as Mike Christopherson at Pro-Tek Automotive will be working with…

It was 2 p.m. on Sunday. Bradley and I had taken the SCM Citroën DS21 Pallas out for a quick 100-mile spin so I could continue to familiarize myself with the car’s peculiar approach to motoring. The morning was spectacular. Bradley had never seen the DS raise itself as it woke up, nor had he…