Keith Martin

Editor’s note: Jeff Zurschmeide, frequent contributor to SCM, is taking over Keith’s Blog with week with his report on last weekend’s Portland Swap Meet and PIR Auto Swap Meet:   By Jeff Zurschmeide April in Portland means two things: rain and the Portland Swap Meet. Both are as inevitable as the sunrise, but you have…

For his 10th birthday, I bought my son Bradley a 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite. My first car was a Bugeye, and I was indulging in a romantic recreation of my own past. I paid $15,000 for it because it needed nothing. Another $15,000 later, specialist Chip Starr had built and installed a 1,275-cc engine and…

I once asked Craig Jackson why he thought that Restomods were so popular. He said that buyers got the looks of a classic car with the comfort, convenience and performance of a modern one. Sometimes people new to collecting would buy a restored old car — say a 1958 Chevrolet Bel Air convertible. Then how…

SCM is gearing up for our annual madcap tribute to Martin Swig. Swig, the founder of the California Mille, was famous for setting off on car trips at the drop of a hat. Thanks to him, I participated several times in the California Mille, along with the Carrera Nevada — a dash across the back…

Over the years, I’ve found that the size of my collection is directly related to the number of slots I have in my garage. At one time, I had a 30’ x 40’ pole building in Northeast Portland that came along with a rental house I purchased. Not only did I immediately fill it with…

“I learned to drive on a stick” is a gearhead’s mantra. We all tell tales of the first three-pedal car we learned to operate. For some reason, it’s a badge of honor that we learned to drive a car and learned to operate a manual gearbox at the same time. I’ve taught several of my…

You wouldn’t ride a horse down Main Street, and soon you won’t drive a collector car down your town’s main drag. Twenty years ago, I wrote that in the future we would treat our old cars like horses. Our cars would be trailered to roads that were appropriate for them, we would use them there…

In preparation for the Revs Institute Symposium on Collecting, founder Miles Collier sent out a list of questions for participants to consider. Since not all of us can make it to Naples, FL, I will share some of the questions and my responses in the next few newsletters. I also invite you to submit your…