Keith Martin
-
The Millennials Are Coming! Vote Today
We at SCM believe the car hobby is thriving and growing, and new generations of enthusiasts are becoming a part of it all the time. Here’s your chance to help us recognize them. Later this year, SCM will name 40 enthusiasts under 40 years old who are making a difference in the classic car world.…
-
Keith’s Blog: The Spider Veloce – Show it or Drive it?
For the past 18 months, I’ve blathered on about how I’d drive my 1965 Giulia Spider Veloce once the restoration was finished. It wasn’t going to be a garage queen. After all, it’s just a used car that’s been with my family for many years. The restoration simply marks a new chapter in its life.…
-
Keith’s Blog: Happy 50th Birthday to the Super
“Are you ready for your and my Super’s 50th on Monday?” Andrew Watry, keeper of the Alfa Romeo Berlina Register sent me that note last weekend. An aficionado of Alfas with four doors, Andrew helped me locate the SCM Super a few years ago. According to the Alfa Romeo Documentation Center, our Super was born…
-
Keith’s Blog: How Should SCM Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary?
Next year will mark the beginning of the fourth decade of SCM. From its humble beginnings as a two-page mimeographed Alfa Romeo Market Letter, it’s grown to a market-leading publication. It never occurred to me back then that I would be creating a job – actually a career – for myself. I must first give…
-
Keith’s Blog: Collectible or Drivable?
I read a recent article in Bloomberg about the rise in collectability of first generation Ford Broncos. Some are now selling for over six figures. I’ve owned first-gen Broncos (and even a Bronco II, but I don’t like to admit to it), and they are decent enough bare-bones utility vehicles. But no one has ever…
-
Keith’s Blog: The Fourth Annual Arizona Concours d’Elegance
I’ve been a part of the Arizona Concours d’Elegance since day one, four years ago. I recall that first year, looking out of my hotel room onto the grass-covered splendor of the courtyard of the Arizona Biltmore. It was pitch black as the first cars entered the field. Within an hour, as the sun was…
-
Cool Runnings
We do these things to ourselves. On purpose. It’s part of our old-car madness. When American Car Collector contributor Michael Pierce and his wife, Linda, invited me to spend Christmas Day night with them, it became an excuse to give an old car some exercise. They live in Carlton, OR, a bucolic town in the…
-
Old Cars — Unreliable Then, But Not Today
I used to carry a load of spare parts in the trunk of my car. Now I just bring a cellphone and a AAA towing card. When I first started going on classic rallies 30 years ago, it was routine to see cars smoking, overheating and finally dying by the side of the road. There…
-
Bradley’s Bugeye – A Giant Lego
The pieces are coming together. I maintain that the only way to get kids involved with our old cars is to engage them from a very early age. Old cars should just be one of the many hobbies and sports they enjoy. In his after-school classes, my 9-year-old Bradley is taking computer coding — and…
-
Don’t Buy a Project Car
Our old cars continue to make the transition from daily use appliances to coveted artifacts. This change raises an entirely different set of questions when it comes to deciding the quality and condition of a car you might buy. Just buying something that runs and drives is not what we’re looking for these days. As…