Keith Martin

We purchased our 1971 Series III V12 Jaguar E-type on Bring a Trailer on Feb 28, 2020. Price including commission was $39,375. It was represented as having 22k original miles, and all original surfaces, in and out. The chassis number is 1S71487BW. When I plugged that into the search field in our SCM Platinum Auction…

At last, my son has picked out a car that he actually wants. After suffering through my C3 Corvette and off-road Disco Land Rover fantasies, Bradley wanted a car that worked for his own Gen Z sensibilities. He began peppering my inbox with 1980s and 1990s cars, particularly Volvo wagons. My area of Volvo expertise…

At last, Bradley has picked out a car that he actually wants. When he turned 16, I bought him a 1982 Corvette C3 Collector Edition. That was my personal decision driven totally by my vanity. I wanted Bradley to be able to say, “I turned 16 and Dad bought me a Corvette.” And since you…

I just returned from the biannual Oregon Region Porsche Club of America’s NW Passage tour. I spent 1,500 miles switching between a 2024 Porsche 911 with PDK and a 2025 Porsche Macan GTS with the same paddle-shift gearbox. It’s got me thinking about transmissions, and my time owning a 996 Turbo with a Tiptronic automatic.…

Keith is still driving on the 2025 NW Passage, a tour put on by the OregonRegion Porsche Club of America. His blog will return next week, but enjoythese photos he shot over the weekend.

We’ve written before that the doomsayers who are declaring the collector car hobby is dying are living on a different planet than we are here at SCM. In addition to Cars & Coffee and marque-specific tours (the Oregon Region of the Porsche Club of America holds two tours per week), there is a new entry…

I was dropping off the Alfa Romeo Spider S4 at Mac’s Radiator shop to have the A/C compressor replaced. It was a hot day, and I asked about putting A/C in our 1975 Porsche 911S Sportomatic. They quoted me “about $10,000” if it is a factory A/C car with all the right holes and bits…

The place I have been storing some of my cars just sent me a note that my low-power trickle charger overcharged and ruined the new battery in the Lotus Elise. It was suggested to me that you should always put a trickle charger on a timer, so that it only charges a few hours a…

In August of 1980, we were on our way to Monterey when an ad in Hemmings Motor News caught my eye: “1965 Alfa Romeo Spider. Twin carburetor version. Two owners. Gray with red. $22,000.” This was followed by a Portland phone number. Times being what they were, I waited a couple of weeks until we…

“The Submerged Cathedral (La cathédrale engloutie)” was written for piano by Claude Debussy in 1910. It is based on an ancient myth of a cathedral that is submerged off the coast of an island. In the morning it rises up from the water, accompanied by the sounds of chanting priests, chiming bells and organ music,…