Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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What would we do without French cars?
Bugatti, Delahaye, Delage. These names are almost synonymous with “Best of Show” at prestigious concours all over the world. The 12th Annual La Jolla Concours d’Elegance was no exception. Best of show was awarded to Ken and Ann Smith’s 1936 Delahaye Type 135 Competition Disappearing Top Convertible. Its coachwork was, as you might expect,…
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The Three Cars I Should Have Bought Last Weekend
This was my fifth year at the Auctions America sale at the Fort Lauderdale Convention Center. Each time, I have been shooting episodes for “What’s My Car Worth?” – our new season begins May 12 on Velocity. The inventory at Auctions America Fort Lauderdale is always an engaging mix of the eclectic and the commonplace…
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How Fast Is Too Fast?
It was October of 2004. I was watching the speedometer hold steady at 140 mph as I rocketed down Highway 395 in Nevada headed toward the Furnace Creek Inn in Death Valley. I was reviewing the new Ford GT for The New York Times, and I was the first journalist turned loose with the car…
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Hitting the Road for Spring Car Season
Bradley and I just returned from spring break in California. We saw Legoland and Universal Studios, and we even crossed the border for a car show in Tijuana. Now it’s time to hit the road again. Spring car season is here, which means I’ve got places to go and people to see. I’m on my way to Auctions America Fort…
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Tar Pits, Concours and a Seminar at the Petersen
I can’t think of a better way to spend a nice Sunday morning than chatting with good friends about old cars. Noted collector Bruce Meyer is a board member at the Los Angeles-based Petersen Automotive Museum, and he hosted a panel discussion there last weekend. I was the moderator, and with me were Aaron Weiss of…
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1952 Pegaso Z-102 Cupola and 1930 Rolls-Royce Phantom II Take Amelia Island Best in Show
The 21st annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance is all wrapped up. I’ve been here for 19 of the events to date, and each has been memorable. In many ways, the Amelia Island weekend is a spring break camp for gearheads. It’s as if each year our parents bundle us off and send us to a familiar…
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Is the Tiptronic 911 Turbo Really Just a Cayenne?
Since it first arrived in January of 2015, the SCM 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo has seen almost nonstop action. Alexandra confiscated the car as soon as it was unloaded from the trailer that brought it up from Los Angeles, and I didn’t see it for a month. Then Bradley and I took it on a 400-mile trip to…
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The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling! (Well, Maybe Not)
“We’ve got to separate the signal from the noise.” That’s what collector car connoisseur Miles Collier says when we are trying to find our way to the core of a challenge. Miles’ saying refers to tuning a vintage radio, where you adjust the dial until the static disappears and a voice can be heard clearly.…
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Trade the Porsche for a Lotus?
This stuff always seems to happen by accident. I had just finished driving the 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo to a lunch meeting in Wilsonville, OR – a suburb 19 miles south of SCM World Headquarters. I hadn’t put many miles on the car recently. My trip log showed the last time I’d filled it with gas…
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The Alfa Barfmobile
We’ve talked a lot about ways to get and keep young people involved with classic cars. I believe you have to get them used to old cars while they are children, and one good way to do this is to include them in your old-car activities. Both my children, Alexandra (now 24) and Bradley (8),…