Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years, and is the founder and publisher of this magazine. Keith has also 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. Learn more about Keith here.
The 49th annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance went off without a hitch. It was an immersive weekend for me and Bradley. He drove his 1982 Corvette on the tour through the rolling hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and I didn’t get us hopelessly lost. We were only on the wrong roads a few times. On the tour, we stopped by Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo, where I was once a General Manager. We visited with Alex Ahlgrim, son of SCM Ferrari contributor Steve Ahlgrim, who is now GM of the oldest Ferrari dealership in the country. It was great to see him […]
The 49th annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance went off without a hitch. It was an immersive weekend for me and Bradley. He drove his 1982 Corvette on the tour through the rolling hills of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, and I didn’t get us hopelessly lost. We were only on the wrong roads a few times.
On the tour, we stopped by Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo, where I was once a General Manager. We visited with Alex Ahlgrim, son of SCM Ferrari contributor Steve Ahlgrim, who is now GM of the oldest Ferrari dealership in the country. It was great to see him and Bradley together.
However, he declined my offer to swap the Corvette for a 488 they had on offer. Shrewd man.
At the Saturday night dinner, I led a discussion about collecting with Malcolm Harris, Michael Pierce and David Smith. We all agree that the internet, televised auctions and Bring a Trailer (and similar auctions) have changed the way we collect forever.
On Sunday, Bradley was out the door at 6 a.m. in the Corvette to take his mother with him to the concours, where she was a judge. It’s about an hour’s drive from my condo.
As this was the 70th anniversary of Corvette, Bradley was asked to enter his 1982 Collector’s Edition for display. We also took our 28,000-mile Jaguar S3 V12 coupe to the Preservation Class. It has all original surfaces in and out.
My two favorite cars at the show were the prototype Alfa SZ owned by SCMer Bob Piacentini and the TZ entered by long-time friend and SCMer John Clinard.
All of us lead busy lives, and concours weekends give us an excuse to put cars, friends and kids first. That’s exactly what I did, and it couldn’t have been more satisfying.
Shiny things at Ron Tonkin Gran TurismoAlex Ahlgrim and Bradley trying to work a dealJohn Clinard’s TZ-1Bradley’s SharkThe Jag at rest in the shadeBradley in a judge’s meeting with his mom
One response to “Keith’s Blog: The Joy of Concours Weekends”
Nothing like the memories being created….enjoy them while they last!