Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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Just the Amazon and Me
Last Saturday I did something I haven’t done in quite a while — I took a little road trip by myself. It’s been a typically hectic few months. I’ve attended car events in Italy, Colorado, California, Oregon and Washington, but I haven’t had any “alone time” with my cars. The 1967 Volvo 122S “Amazon” continues…
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A Weekend With The Gunnison Car Club
Once a year The Gunnison Car Club, under the able direction of Mike Callihan, takes over downtown Gunnison, Colorado, filling the streets with street rods, muscle cars, sports cars and pickups. This year the club selected me to receive The Lee Iacocca Award. Gunnison is 224 miles from the Denver International Airport — and 1,138 miles from…
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Quick Takes from the Monterey Week
Driving up Highway 101 from Monterey to the San Francisco airport, it was clear that the ball was over. Instead of Monterey Car Week’s sea of candy-colored Ferraris, Lamborghinis and Porsches, a swarm of Kias, Toyotas and Chevrolets peppered the landscape. An occasional modern Fiat 500 served as the token exotic. This was my 28th…
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Concours at St. John’s Continues to Impress
Last year, I made my first visit to the Concours d’Elegance of America at St. John’s and was surprised and delighted. Formerly known as the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance and held at Meadow Brook Hall in Rochester, Michigan, the concours moved to its new location — the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan — in…
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How Weather Affects Windshield Cracks
A cracked windshield may seem like a minor inconvenience at first, but weather conditions can quickly turn a small chip into a serious problem. Temperature changes, moisture, and even direct sunlight all play a role in how cracks behave—and can significantly impact the safety and longevity of your windshield. Understanding how weather affects windshield cracks…
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BMW i8: The Shape of Things to Come
I’ve just spent a weekend with BMW’s current vision of the future. There are some rough edges to smooth out, but the hybrid i8 represents the most important effort by a major car company to define what the performance car of the future can be. Recently I drove a McLaren 650S Spider for a week…
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Modena Cento Ore 2015
It was 6 p.m., and we were driving towards Perugia, the capital city of Umbria, in central Italy. It was 100 degrees, and we were in the thick of rush-hour traffic. Our day had started in Rome, and we had completed four laps at the Vallelunga track as well as three timed hillclimbs on closed…
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In the Montana Dirt in a 1927 Vauxhall
“Vauxhalls were built for the wealthy to take them grouse-hunting in Scotland. So these dirt roads are what it was built for.” That was Peter Stevens’ first comment as four of piled into Miles Collier’s 1927 Vauxhall Type OE 30/98 Velox. Peter knows a thing or two about cars; his portfolio as a designer includes…
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Keith’s Blog: The Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance – A Celebration of Cars and People
As I write this, the engine on the SCM 1958 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce has barely cooled down from the 30-mile run home from the 43rd annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance. All of the cars that were so carefully displayed are gone, and the fencing surrounding the concours field has been taken down. Held at…
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When Did A Ferrari 328 Become a Classic?
Miles Collier’s Collecting Thoughts in the July issue of SCM discussed a 1989 Ferrari 328 with only 1,200 miles that sold at auction for $140,000. Five years ago, this would have been a $50,000 car. What’s happened? A 1989 328 is now a 26-year-old car. I sold them new when I was at Ron Tonkin…