Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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Keith’s Blog: Finding New Experiences in Paris — and with Cars
When my daughter Alexandra and I go to Paris, our dinner the first night is always at Le Relais de l’Entrecôte. It’s a European chain that is known for its steak and fries (frites) — and its savory green-tinged steak sauce. Your only choices are how you want your meat prepared, and which wine you…
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Every Car Is a Book
Think of the world of collectible cars as a giant lending library. While every book is different, most have just five chapters. Aware. Acquire. Activate. Exult. Farewell. These are the five chapters that mark the relationship with every collector car that comes into your life. When the last chapter is completed, it’s time to close…
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Keith’s Blog: It’s All About the Suspension
As we shuffle the SCM car collection, one thing has become evident. With an old car, the most important thing you can do is make sure its suspension is in top shape. By their nature, sports cars that are now a half-century old have not had easy lives. In addition to being driven hard, nearly…
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Keith’s Blog: Grit at the Core
I watched a solitary jogger run down S.W. Clay Street this morning. He was wearing a mask. The streets were empty. On this past Friday night, Portland, Oregon was filled with a cacophony of sirens and popping sounds. Unaware of the civil unrest, I had just driven the SCM 1971 Jaguar E-type back from a…
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Keith’s Blog: Where Should our Next Road Trip be To?
Summer is fast approaching. It’s our time of travel. I asked Bradley what places he would like to visit during the next decade. His list was short — but exotic. The Serengeti in Africa, Ayers Rock (Uluru) in Australia, The Pyramids in Egyp, the City of Petra in Jordan, and a blue cruise in Turkey.…
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Keith’s Blog: Jaguar and Volvo Progress Reports
Last week, I told the tale of taking the 1965 Volvo 122S and the 1971 Jaguar E-type S3 V12 to the Oregon coast. My daughter, Alex, drove one of the cars, and my son, Bradley was a co-pilot. Both cars failed at the end of the trip. When something wrong happened along the trip, finding…
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A Time of Transformation
This pandemic sucker-punched all of us. In the past 30 days, the collector-car world has gone from hoping that things might stay the same to realizing they are changed forever. The cancellation of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the Queen Mother of all car events, sent a clear signal. Is our future uncertain? Yes. Are…
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Keith’s Blog: One Road Trip, Two Dead Cars
“Scraping! Your tailpipe is scraping!” That’s what my daughter Alex was shouting at me as we pulled into a parking lot in Astoria, Oregon. The adventure we had planned seemed simple enough. My daughter, Alex, and her partner, Ross, would take our 1965 Volvo 122S. Bradley would join me in our 1971 Jaguar S3 coupe.…
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Keith’s Blog: Twist and Shout – The Saga of the Broken Key
Don’t try to solve the wrong problem. That’s the moral of this story. I keep most of my various car keys and condo garage fobs on separate lanyards. It makes it easier to grab a set when I am headed out the door. Last week while re-organizing and decluttering, I put the keys to the…
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Keith’s Blog: Is This the Year to Go to Monterey?
Monterey Car Week is cancelled. The SCM 1000 is postponed to 2021, along with nearly all other car activities at least through July. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be looking forward to using our cars again — perhaps as early as this August — in controlled, thoughtful circumstances. Before the virus took hold, I had…