It costs real money to turn a classic car into a fun driver. Our 1965 Volvo 122S was a case in point. It was a decent car, but it still needed nearly $10,000 spent on it before it was enjoyable to take down the road. With any old car […]
Keith Martin
Keith’s Blog: The SCM Jag Becomes Another Roadside Attraction
One moment, the 1971 Jaguar V12 coupe was hustling along at 70 mph on Highway 26, heading back to Portland after a satisfying lunch of fresh-caught rockfish at the South Bay Wild Fish House in Astoria, OR. The next, it was sitting silently, hood-up, by the side of the road. […]
Keith’s Blog: The SCM Volvo is Gone
For $21,000, someone has become the new owner of the SCM Volvo 122S. Our friends at Avant-Garde Collection listed it for us on Bring a Trailer. “Being an automatic really held it back. If it had been a stick with overdrive it would easily have brought another $10,000,” said the […]
Keith’s Blog: On Loan: Executive Editor Jeff Sabatini’s Porsche 928 Report
When Keith offered up the U-boat for the 450-mile roundtrip to southern Oregon I had planned for the weekend, I did not hesitate to answer affirmatively. Being “between” cars myself, the opportunity to drive the SCM Porsche 928 rather than my wife’s diesel VW Jetta daily driver instantly transformed the […]
Keith’s Blog: Which Car to Monterey?
We are gearing up for our annual Caravan to Concorso. Run “cowboy-style” as tribute to Martin Swig’s love of irreverent motoring, we know only a few things for sure. Everyone is welcome, but sports cars are preferred. There are no entry fees or route books. You’ll get an SCM hat […]
Keith’s Blog: A Ferrari Afternoon
I’ve been driving sports cars on Marmot Road since 1969. That was the year I moved from San Francisco to Portland to attend Reed College. Over the past decades, I’ve discovered a variety of ways to go from my home, loop around Mt. Hood and return. I’ve driven my “Circuit […]
Keith’s Blog: The Modern-Day Three-Car Collection: AMG, Z4 and R8
I took the SCM 2004 Mercedes AMG SL 55 out for a 100-mile drive through the Oregon wine country last Saturday. It was a glorious early-spring sunny day. I spent most of the time with the top down. The most attractive feature of this 500-hp machine continues to be its […]
Keith’s Blog: Join the SCM Caravan to Concorso
We are currently planning our annual informal tour down the coasts of Oregon and California to Monterey. Anyone is welcome to join, although cars with at least a pretension of sportiness are preferred. Event stickers and SCM hats will be provided. At the moment, our plans call for me to […]
Keith’s Blog: Your SCM Books Are Finally in the Mail
Producing “The Best of Shifting Gears, Volume 1” and “The Best of Legal Files” has turned out to be a more formidable task that we imagined. But the books are finally printed and in the mail. Through the yeoman efforts of designer Jodi Ellis, print coordinator Matthew Strauss and editor […]
Keith’s Blog: Disco or U-boat? Two Eight-Cylinder Choices
It was a brilliant winter afternoon. The SCM 1991 928 S4, dark blue with blue leather, was slicing through the turns on Washington State Highway 14. It’s a two-lane road that follows the northern side of the Columbia Gorge. The road is vastly more interesting than the four-lane Interstate 84 […]