Keith Martin
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The 4-Door Key to the Magic Kingdom
I’ve known Brad Miller for 20 years. We have many mutual friends, and his wife, Nancy, and I serve together on the board of directors of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Brad, who’s a successful real-estate investor, and Nancy keep a barge in France in which they ply the canals of Europe several months each year. He’s…
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Keith’s Blog: Datsun Ratrods and Alfa 8Cs
It’s been a busy car weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday in Olympia, Washington attending the Alfa Romeo National Convention. “Sempreverde,” Sea to Summit, attracted more than 200 Alfas and 400 registrants. I drove the 1958 Sprint Veloce to the convention, and Doug Hartman and Julie Brown drove her 1969 GTV. There were four “big…
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Keith’s Blog: My Tortoise is Older Than Your Car
Bradley and I visited a conservation and breeding facility for Galapagos tortoises last week. Located on San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands, its goal is to help keep these giant reptiles from extinction. They were once thought to number over 200,000 on San Cristobal alone. Now, after centuries of being used as a convenient food…
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Keith’s Blog: In the Amazon, to the Galapagos and On The Road
I practiced shooting poison-tipped darts with a blowgun in the Amazon rain forest yesterday. The monkeys have nothing to fear from my aim. It was a bucket-list thing, taking my son Bradley to an eco lodge in the Amazon (La Selva) and then to the Galapagos Islands. Our trip here came on the heels of…
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Keith’s Blog: The SCM Autozam Can Be Yours in Monterey!
Can you think of a more attention-getting car to have in Monterey than a gullwing? You could spend $1.4 million for a Mercedes. Or you could pay $17,000 for the 1992 SCM Autozam AZ-1. This is the first year it is legal to import this car into the United States. The Autozam joined the SCM…
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Get Your Red-Hot GTO Here!
For the past 40 years, the Ferrari 250 GTO has been the “Mona Lisa” of the collector-car market. They represent the last of the front-engined Ferrari customer cars that could be driven on the street and then taken to the track. They were contenders for overall victory in events such as the Tour de France.…
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Keith’s Blog: The SCM Week — Big Alfas, a Tour and a Concours
A 1939 Alfa built by Ferrari captured Best of Show at the 46th Annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance on Sunday. The concours is held on the tree-shaded lawn of the campus of Pacific University, 20 miles from Portland in Forest Grove. SCM Editor-at-Large Donald Osborne and I shared emcee duties for the sixth year. With…
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Keith’s Blog: SCM 30th Anniversary Tour Cars at “The Shape of Speed”
The 45 cars — and their driving teams — on SCM’s 30th Anniversary Tour are now roaming 1,000 miles of scenic Oregon backroads. I’m along for the ride, and life is great. The Tour started on Sunday afternoon, when the drivers brought their cars to a public display outside of the Portland Art Museum. The…
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Keith’s Blog: Keith Martin Chats with Premier Financial Services
Editor’s note: Premier Financial Services recently interviewed Publisher Martin, and he had a lot of interesting things to say about his life in cars. We’re running the Residual Values interview this week instead of Publisher Martin’s regularly scheduled blog. Read more here.
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Keith’s Blog: Dinging the Lotus Elise
The nose of SCM’s 2006 Lotus Elise made a sharp cracking sound when it hit the parking lot divider. Suddenly everyone was looking my way. There were 50 or so Porsches scattered around, with owners busily attaching their event stickers to the sides of their cars. This was the 20th Annual Northwest Passage Tour, presented…