Buy What You Love, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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A Very Good Day Indeed
Last week, I had just arrived home from several days in Boston and wasn’t looking forward to the pile of work waiting on my desk. A text message popped up from my daughter Alexandra. “Dad, I have the week off from Daimler, and I thought we should take the Duetto up to Mt. Hood tomorrow…
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Bad Driving Is Here to Stay
Cars are safer than ever. The fatality rate per million miles traveled in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, was 1.1 — a nearly 25% decline since 2004, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Not only do cars handle and brake better than ever before, they are also loaded…
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Seven Tips for A Successful Road Trip
Summer is the season for using our old cars. Portland’s 10-day forecast shows nothing but sunny days ahead with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. This Wednesday, the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon have their annual summer tour, a relaxed two-hour affair that winds its way through the backcountry outside Portland. My eight-year-old son Bradley will…
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The Sport SUV Comes of Age
I’ve never had much use for today’s “sport” SUV. When I tested the Porsche Cayenne Turbo for the New York Times in 2003, I found that it had blistering acceleration but felt very heavy. With an as-equipped price tag of $96k, buyers weren’t likely to take the Cayenne on any serious off-road excursions. And it didn’t have the…
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Buying Cars By Accident
I have tried to keep the number of cars in my collection to a reasonable number. I. Really. Have. Tried. But friends and circumstances are conspiring against me. Was it really my fault that the 1972 Citroën Méhari I’ve always wanted was crossing the block at the same instant I arrived at the Silver auction in Fort…
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What Were You Thinking?
Having me co-host a television show about cars sold at collector-car auctions is like turning a chocoholic loose in the Hershey factory. When evaluating cars for “What’s My Car Worth?” a TV show I co-host on the Velocity channel, I find myself slipping from the objective to the subjective. “This ’67 Healey BJ8 drives…
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Heading to Italy for the Modena Cento Ore Classic
This Sunday I’ll be on a plane to Rome. I’m participating in the 15th running of the Modena Cento Ore Classic. My copilot is Lilly Pray, and it’s her first time driving in an event in Europe. I’ve driven in the MCO several times before, in an Alfa Romeo Giulia TI Super (with SCMer Monte…
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Moment of Truth for SCM’s 1958 Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce
There comes a moment of truth for any old car that has been restored: the day you put that car on the road. This past weekend, the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon and the Northwest Alfa Romeo Club (headquartered in Seattle) put on a joint tour, “Motore Alfisti Avventura NW.” Dennis Torgeson, Forrest Whit and Gordy…
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Denise McCluggage: 1927-2015
Denise McCluggage died on May 6. From the very beginnings of The Alfa Romeo Market Letter, she was friendly and supportive of my publishing endeavors. When I was reviewing cars for the New York Times, our paths crossed many times at events. I remember thinking, “This woman raced Porsches and Ferraris, and now she’s writing about…
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The $3,700 Turbo Tune-Up
My rule of thumb is that you can expect to spend about 10% of a car’s purchase price on it within the first few months of ownership. Sometimes the expenditures are necessary, such as for repairs. Tuneups, tires, oil changes, and the like fit into this category. Other times they are just things you do…