Keith Martin’s Adventures

This year we made the decision to drive to Monterey from Portland, about 750 miles each way. In previous decades, we had flown to San Jose, CA, picked up a rental car and driven to the peninsula, repeating the process for the trip home. Door to door, it would take about eight hours. I’ve learned…

My son Bradley’s 1982 Chevrolet Corvette continues to create its own adventures. He spent a weekend at Sauer’s Machine and Racing, a shop in Medford, OR. His grandfather, Dick Ewing, who dragged-raced a C1 Corvette and was known for his ability to work wizardry with nitrous injection, works as a technician there. Bradley drove himself…

It’s been 30 years since SCM made our first 2,000-mile roundtrip from Portland to Monterey Car Week. For many years, we drove a van with boxes of magazines strapped to the roof. More recently we have shipped our materials ahead and flown down. However, my son Bradley turned 16 this past June, and was most…

For the first time in four years, I’ll be in Monterey. I’m going to keep an abbreviated schedule this year, arriving on Wednesday in time for our annual SCM contributor’s meet-up, and departing Saturday morning. I’ll be bringing my son Bradley with me, and he is all agog about seeing the cars advertised in SCM…

My son Bradley and I have just finished another classic car tour weekend. We were participating in the Northwest Classic Car Challenge, hosted by the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon. Restoration shop Vintage Underground were the primary sponsors. There were a nice mix of classic and modern cars in this 34th running of the event.…

My son Bradley is now in his second month of ownership of his 1982 Collector’s Edition Chevrolet Corvette. His immersion into the world of Sharks continues. For 1980-82 third-generation Corvettes, the National Corvette Restorer’s Society has a judging and restoration manual that has well over 300 pages. With SCMer and NCRS Senior Judge Michael Pierce…

The 911 Sportomatic project is moving along nicely. We purchased it last October from the “for sale” corral at the Hershey swap meet. The path to bringing it back into service has been a convoluted one. SCM Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini took the car on a 400-mile round trip to Sisters, OR, a few weeks ago.…

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…

New-driver Bradley has nearly 1,000 miles under his belt now. The last 250 came behind the wheel of his mother’s manual Boxster S. He prefers the manual but appreciates the time he has had just “driving” with automatics. He has spent a little time driving friend Chris Bright’s 1300-cc Alfa Super. Driving the manual SCM…

As our launch date of August 14 draws closer, some of the puzzle pieces of our trip are coming together. Please join us for some or all of it. At the moment, it appears the SCM contingent will include our 1972 Mercedes 250C, along with my son Bradley’s recently acquired 1982 Corvette Collector’s Edition. It’s…