Buy What You Like, Pay What You Should
Keith Martin
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Keith’s Blog: Alex and 21 Years of Alfa
I’m just back from the 18th annual Oregon Festival of Cars, in Bend, OR, and this year’s event was as much about the journey as the car show itself.
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Keith’s Blog: Why Did the GTV Stop Running? Can You Help?
For the past year, our 1967 Alfa has defined reliability. Built by engineer Dave Rugh as a daily driver for his wife Colleen, who used it for twenty years that way, it simply goes and goes. In fact, weekend before last, Alex drove it to Tacoma and back (over 300 miles) without a hiccup. But…
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Martin Swig, 1934–2012
He lived on his own terms I only saw Martin Swig two or three times a year. So the fact that he is now gone, forever, doesn’t create an immediate void. Instead, there’s a small, dull ache that will become a little more apparent each August when I think about his traditional Sunday night party…
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Keith’s Blog: Old Cars Give Me A Headache: Can You Help?
Old cars can be a pain in a lot of ways, but some of mine give me a headache. A real headache. And I’m wondering if I’m the only one who suffers from this, or if someone else has figured out how to solve it. I know, the first thing that comes to mind is…
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Keith’s Blog: The Logic Behind Illogical Collecting
Chess Pieces in the SCM Garage Are About to Get Shuffled As my daughter, Alex, pulled out of the driveway this afternoon in our 1967 GTV, en route to a 500-mile Labor Day weekend road trip, her parting words to me were, “Don’t buy too many cars while I’m gone!” Last week she referred to…
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Keith’s Blog: The New SCM Accidental Purchase – Got Any Parts We Need?
The “duckling imprint” theory of collecting continues to rear its billed head around the SCM offices. Many years ago, I had an Alfetta GT as my daily car. While it was a profoundly poorly-constructed vehicle and cost me thousands of dollars in my short period of ownership, nonetheless I was always taken with its rakish…
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GTOs and Cobras: Investments or Insanity?
Here at SCM, we like to maintain two simultaneous views of the collector world, with one seen through a long-range spotting scope, and the other viewed through close-range binoculars. For example, in the short-term viewfinder, the sale of a 250 GTO for $35m is a breathtaking escalation of the value of these most-watched Ferraris. Long…
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12 Years of SCM — Searchable Online
We expect instant gratification from our computers. Type in “How many times have Ferraris won at Le Mans?” “Nine,” Wikipedia answers instantly. How many Corvettes have been sold since 1953? More than 1.3m, you learn after a few keystrokes. What’s the current wheel-driven land speed record over one mile? You’re an instant expert as your…
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Keith’s Blog: The SCM Rover Takes on the Black Canyon Wilderness Area
I’m taking a break from the sports car world and have joined our local Pacific Coast Rover Club for a five-day off-road camping trip. I’ll be out of cellphone and internet reach until July 5. (How will I stand not being able to text or post?)
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Keith’s Blog: A Cornucopia of Corvettes in Bloomington
For the sixth consecutive year, I’ve been a part of Bloomington Gold—a mecca for Corvette enthusiasts in Pheasant Run, Illinois—and managed to come back to Portland without buying a Corvette. For a car-a-holic, going to any marque-specific meet is tough. You think, “Everyone else has a Sting Ray, why don’t I?” It gets worse if…