Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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Alfa Super Saves Porsche 911
It’s driving time again. My rotator-cuff surgery is healing well, and the surgeon has given me the okay to drive stick-shift cars. So I’ve been driving the Giulia Super for the past couple of weeks and thinking about how much I appreciate vintage cars, the mastery they require and how intuitive they are to service.…
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Driving the Alfa Super on Super Sunday
SCM Legal Files author John Draneas and his wife Carlyn hosted a Super Bowl party on Sunday at their home, about 20 miles away in Wilsonville, OR. The weather was glorious, and it was the perfect opportunity to exercise SCM’s 1967 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super. I pulled the Super out of long-term storage and went through my routine. I checked the…
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No Regrets in the Morning
I’m now into the restoration of my 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider over $50,000. What I have to show for it is a completely stripped body shell, with all the rust removed and damaged panels repaired. It is ready for paint and reassembly. As I wrote in my January “Shifting Gears” column, I have been…
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Cobra vs. Saleen in Scottsdale
Who wouldn’t like driving a Saleen S7 or a 289 Cobra? I had the chance to get behind the wheel of 15 top-flight collector cars during the last two weeks while I evaluated them for “What’s My Car Worth?” on Velocity. Normally during Arizona Car Week, I spend as much time wandering from auction to auction as I…
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Meteor Strikes the 2016 Arizona Concours
One-hundred eighty-seven miles north of the Arizona Biltmore is Meteor Crater, one mile wide and 570 feet deep. When the meteorite hit the earth, some 50,000 years ago, it impacted with an estimated force equivalent to 2½ million tons of TNT. At 3 p.m. last Sunday, another meteor was observed — but this one’s impact was visual, not physical.…
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How Perfect Should the Volvo Amazon Be?
SCM’s 1967 Volvo 122S has finally returned home after relaxing for a couple of months in the care of Swedish Relics, Volvo expert Cameron Lovre’s new shop. I had Lovre do a few things that, strictly speaking, weren’t necessary for the car to be driven, but that were necessary for me to be able to enjoy the car. I’ve spent more…
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People, Places and Things
Forty years ago, when I lived in a gritty section of New York City near Canal Street and Avenue of the Americas, I was happy when the cockroaches didn’t dance on my toothbrush at night. My space was so small that the refrigerator doubled as the headboard of my bed. I couldn’t have imagined that…
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Across Mount Hood in a Vintage Rover
Driving old cars turns trips into adventures. That’s exactly what happened over the New Year’s weekend when I took the SCM 1984 Land Rover Defender 90 across Mount Hood to a friend’s house near Sunriver, Oregon. It’s about 180 miles, and in a modern car not a particularly challenging trip. However, combine sub-freezing weather conditions, snow…
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What My Cars Want For the Holidays: Part 2
Last week I shared what the 1958 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce, 1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider Veloce, 1984 Land Rover D90, 1967 Volvo Amazon, 2000 Dodge Viper GTS ACR and 2001 Porsche 911 Turbo had on their wish lists. Here’s what the rest of the gang asked for: From your 1961 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Speciale: I’m your sexiest car, and…
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What the SCM Cars Want For the Holidays: Part 1
For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been finding little notes folded up on my desk. Some are written in cursive, others in block letters. They all have one thing in common – they are being composed by the cars in the SCM collection. Of course, all the cars asked for some seat time. My…