Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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Two-Lane Tour de Force
2018 marks SCM’s 30th Anniversary. When we published our first issue of the Alfa Romeo Market Letter — quick-printed on blue paper — we never imagined the roller coaster ride that was ahead of us. To celebrate this anniversary, we are going to have a five-day, 1,000-mile tour of Oregon’s best back roads. Dates are…
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Your Mission in Monterey
The confetti cannons will belch their crumpled-paper payloads around 4 p.m. on Sunday, August 20. Best of Show for the 2017 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance will have been crowned. And with that culmination of the week’s activities, hundreds of thousands of car fanatics will begin the trek home from Monterey Car Week. While our focus…
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Keith’s Blog: Three Alfas Start, Two Finish the Forest Grove Wine Tour
“Dad, there’s a big clunk from the front of the GTV.” That was my daughter Alexandra’s message to me as she headed home from Durant Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon. We were on the 15th Annual Wine Tour, held as a prelude to the Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance. I enjoy this casual drive every year, as…
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Keith’s Blog: Happy Independence Day
I’m on a big Land Rover club expedition through the rugged terrain of eastern Oregon right now, and I keep thinking how lucky we are to share this great world of old cars and their adventures. Bradley is along on the trip, and he’s seeing some amazing sights — and loving every minute of bouncing…
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Keith’s Blog: Unrestored in Costa Rica
The crappier the car the better. That seems to be the mantra of some collectors these days. Instead of trying to restore cars to better-than-new condition, they look for the most original vehicle they can find. The more bedraggled the better. You can even find people who will “un-restore your car” and make it look…
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Keith’s Blog: When It’s Time for a Car to Go
We’ve decided that our time with the SCM Mehari has come to an end. A couple of Alfas are coming out of restoration, so we need to free up some space in the garage. We’ve enjoyed the Mehari — and we’ve done quite a bit to make it a very good driver (all things in…
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A Heads-Up on Hoods-Up
I have a pet peeve at concours. It’s owners who insist on leaving the hoods of their cars open all day long. It’s hardly the way designers would want their cars seen. Further, the hoods jutting upwards are a jarring contrast to the elegant setting of a concours field. A few weeks ago, I wrote…
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Keith’s Blog: Driven: Two Alfas, a Lotus and a Viper
I had a gearhead’s holiday last weekend. In the course of two days, I got to put nearly 100 miles each on the SCM Lotus Elise, the ACC Dodge Viper ACR GTS and two vintage Alfas — the 1965 Giulia Spider Veloce and the 1967 GTV. These are all sports cars, but they each represent…
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Keith’s Blog: I Almost Bought a Junior Z
Online auctions have transformed the collector car world. In a matter of minutes — in your own office — you go from contemplating a quiet lunch to posting a $35,000 bid. I was editing the next issue of American Car Collector last Friday when a text message popped up on my phone. “BaT Auction Alert:…
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An Alfa is Reborn
We were crossing the Oregon High Desert at 80 mph in a 52-year-old Alfa Romeo when Bradley’s jacket blew out the window. A second earlier he had been struggling to get one arm out of a sleeve. We were about 20 miles from Madras, OR, in a caravan of vintage Alfas. This was the Alfa…