Keith Martin

I’m one of those kids whose birthday comes close to Christmas – December 22 in my case. I recall wallets and bottles of Jade East cologne with notes that said, “Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas.” I’ve learned to give myself the gifts that matter. Each Christmas, I take my family to see the Nutcracker and…

Imagine 1,000 miles of two-lane roads, great scenery, fantastic cars and fellow SCMers. That’s the setting for this upcoming year’s two SCM tours. In June 2022 we are staging the one-time-only SCM 1000 AMG Invitational. Then a month later, we will hold the SCM 1000 Classic in July, for pre-1975 sports cars and featuring the…

As this is the season of giving, I thought what better thing to do than give myself an Alfa 164? I sold these cars new when I was GM of the Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa and Lotus dealership in Portland. Coming on the heels of the butt-in-the-air Milano, with its quirky interior,…

Some years ago, I owned a 1963 Corvette coupe. Colin Comer, SCM’s muscle car expert at the time, decoded it for me from a “mystery tag” he had me find near the glovebox. It was the correct color of silver and had been born with a 4-speed. However, the original 340-horsepower engine was long gone,…

It’s never too early to think about buying another car. Both of next summer’s SCM 1000 tours are filling up nicely. The SCM 1000 AMG Invitational (June 19-24, 2022) and the SCM 1000 Classic (July 17-22, 2022) are each limited to just 45 cars. High-performance Mercedes for the former, and 1974 and earlier sports cars…

Some years ago, both my daughter Alexandra and I had motorcycles. On trails, she rode a Yamaha TT-R125L. For the street, she had a Kawasaki Ninja 250. My choices were a Honda CRF230 for the dirt and a Suzuki SV650 for the highway. We had some good father-daughter adventures. But as the years passed, we…

If your inbox is anything like mine, it is overflowing with “Hot Tips on Cars to Collect” or “Which SUVs to buy now before their prices take off.” Let’s make one thing clear. If your primary reason to be in the collector car hobby is to make money buying and selling cars, then you are…

There once was a time when the automotive calendar went quiet after Monterey Car Week. Not so any longer. In the months of August, September and October, we now have several top-flight but very different events to look forward to and attend. I’ve recently returned from my second time at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival. On…