Keith Martin’s Adventures

Last week (https://www.sportscarmarket.com/blogs/keith-martin/keiths-blog-car-knitting-scm-style-part-one ) we discussed the coming and going of the 1965 Volvo 122S auto, the arrival of the 1971 Jaguar V12 E-type coupe and why the 1991 Porsche 928 S4 just wasn’t the right car for me. I then noted how our 2004 Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG has the feel of a long-timer keeper.…

The past three years have been a non-stop series of car adventures, one after the other. Unable to drive a manual-shift car since my stroke, I’ve pivoted and started exploring cars with automatic gearboxes. While my entire life I have looked at these two-pedal cars with disdain, my life has changed and my choice has…

Monterey Car Week exuded the vibes of automotive passion back in full swing. Even 700 miles away at SCM World Headquarters in Portland, the energy was apparent. Unofficial auction results totaled more than $460m, besting 2015’s previous high of $394m. SCM had a full team on site, led by Executive Editor Jeff Sabatini. From the…

A few weeks ago, at the conclusion of this year’s SCM 1000 Tour, SCM Publisher Keith Martin announced that the theme for the 2023 edition would be Cars of Germany. Precisely one millisecond later, his network of enablers started passing along leads. After a few false starts, SCMer Ron Rader connected Keith with award-winning restorer…

The Check Engine light came on again on the SCM 2000 Land Rover Discovery II. (You might ask if they ever actually stay out.) When I asked our Rover guru, Doug Shipman of Ship’s Mechanical about it, he suggested I get a code reader. “Once I see what code it’s throwing, we can proceed with…

We’re shuffling the SCM collection (menagerie?) again. Our 1971 Citroën DS21 Pallas has been an extraordinary car. Since we bought it last August, we have put 1,500 miles on it. Most recently it completed the SCM 1000 without any issues. It was driven by Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance Founder Bill Warner and SCM Contributor Ken…

We’ve just completed our fourth SCM 1000, a thousand-mile tour for pre-1975 cars. There will be more about it in upcoming issues of SCM. But with my bags barely unpacked and the SCM cars still being put away, here are the highlights. First, riding with SCM contributor Ken Gross and Amelia Island founder Bill Warner…

I played hooky from work last week and took our 1971 Jaguar E-type V12 coupe for a 150-mile drive. Our lunch destination was Skamania Lodge, the home base of the 2022 SCM 1000. It’s about 50 miles away. There are a couple of ways to get there. My co-driver, Lou Tauber, was a friend from…

When we asked Somer Hooker to be the SCM Concours Ambassador, I envisioned his role as finding cars at events that deserved SCM recognition. I didn’t realize he would also start sending me links to cars for sale that he thinks might interest me. For instance, this vintage 1965 BMW 2000 C. While I’m not…

I recently completed the 2022 SCM 1000 AMG Invitational. There were 25 performance Mercedes of various vintages entered. The star car was the 2009 SLR McLaren Stirling Moss entered by Wynn McCaw. The event was set up exactly the same as SCM 1000 Classic events we have put on in the same location. It was…