Keith Martin
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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 that considered more than just…
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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, he offered the car back…
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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 addition to the practical Volvo…
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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 County and kept in a…
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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 tried to buy a Spider…
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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 than its upmarket stablemates. As…
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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 day after day through February…
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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 in the movie “The Graduate”…
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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, Puccini and Frank Lloyd Wright…
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Of Miatas and Mini-Cars
The 1974 Mustang II, by nearly any standard, was a pathetic shadow of the original. It was also a terrific sales success, its 384,000 units sold far outstripping the 134,267 of the 1973, final-year, “Big Mustang.”The reason Mustang IIs flew out of the showroom was simple. Gas prices zoomed as a result of the 1973…