Author: Keith Martin

Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years. As a writer, publisher, television commentator and enthusiast, he is constantly on the go, meeting collectors and getting involved in their activities throughout the world. He is the founder and publisher of the monthly Sports Car Market, now in its 37th year. Keith has written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, has been an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrmann Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame, and more. He has served on the board of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar's Award.

You Can Go Home Again

If knowledge is power, SCMers are about to become an even more formidable group of collectors. The information on all 40,000 cars in our database will soon be available to you 24/7, from anywhere in the world, via your handheld devices.Starting at the Scottsdale auctions in January, anyone with a […]

Frommer, Zagat, and Me

What makes a car collectible? And what makes one car more desirable than another? We all might agree that a 1967 911S is more desirable that a 1977, but exactly why? At SCM, we have long felt there was a need for an evaluation and rating system for collectible cars […]

An Affair Revisited

Just after Monterey, I got a call that delighted the enthusiast in me, and terrified what remains of the sensible adult. In 1995, I sold one of my favorite cars, a 1965 Alfa Giulia Spider Veloce, to Ken Metzger, a friend in Belvedere, CA, for $22,000. Now, a decade later, […]

Shredding Rubber and Shedding Parts

I took the SCM 1963 Corvette split-window out for a spin last week, a shake-down for this year’s running of the Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Rally.I stopped to pick up my good friend Steve Sargent, who, although not a full-bore car guy, does drive a four-cylinder BMW Z3 convertible in […]

1965 Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint Speciale

As described by the seller on eBay Motors: Up for auction, a beautiful 1965 SS. She is one of the few in the world. She is just lovely-anywhere she goes all heads turn on her. This 1965 Giulia Sprint Speciale was in the family for 18 years in south Orange […]

Pick Six

Alfa Romeo is the featured marque at a variety of events in Monterey this year, so sprinkled throughout this issue you’ll find a focus on Alfas. Putting all this stuff together had me itching to write yet another chapter in my long saga with the marque, so last week I […]

How My Bimmer Turned into a Pacer

I drove to Seattle on a Saturday morning in a 2006 BMW 325i, and by the time I returned the following day I was behind the wheel of a 1977 AMC Pacer wagon. And yes, it was by choice.The BMW is a fine car, with a pleasing appearance less Bangle-ized […]

Where Have All the Cheap Cars Gone?

The first issue of SCM roared off the presses (or more accurately, was spit out of a mimeograph machine) in 1988. We were just in time to ride the upsurge in the market through its crest in early 1990.I was buying and selling sports and imports at the time, and […]

1966 Alfa Romeo Duetto

Green may work for the Emerald City or the Wicked Witch of the West; however, it’s anything but wicked on a Duetto {vsig}2005-7_1849{/vsig} In the early 1960s, auto enthusiasts were aware of the nimble, small Italian spider made by Alfa Romeo, but it wasn’t until 1967, when a Duetto appeared […]

The End of Collectible Cars

It’s time we all stopped pretending. For all intents and purposes, the last collectible serial production car rolled off the assembly line sometime in the mid-1970s.SCM has long maintained that the 1955-73 period will be regarded as the Golden Age of collectible cars, when the automotive equivalents of Van Gogh, […]