Keith Martin’s Adventures

We were sitting outside a Porta Potty near Tenmile, Oregon. Our unlikely four-car caravan had traveled about 200 miles from Portland before our first catastrophic failure. Our group included a 1966 Citroën DS-21 décapotable (cabriolet) owned by Greg Long from Seattle, a 1972 Alfa Berlina that belonged to Brad Miller and his wife Nancy from Portland…

Editor’s note: Keith Martin invited SCMers Luke Chennell and Richard Lincoln to come along on SCM’s Caravan to Concorso. Last week, Luke took over Keith’s Blog and wrote about the SCM Autozam blowing a head gasket. In this installment, Chennell takes us to California’s Lost Coast with a failing master cylinder: I believe that fun…

Editor’s note: Keith Martin invited SCMers Luke Chennell and Richard Lincoln to come along on SCM’s Caravan to Concorso. The catch: They had to drive SCM’s Autozam. Luke took over Keith’s Blog this week to tell the tale: Road trips start off with a great longing of what’s to come, to see the adventures along…

It’s been a busy car weekend. I spent Friday and Saturday in Olympia, Washington attending the Alfa Romeo National Convention. “Sempreverde,” Sea to Summit, attracted more than 200 Alfas and 400 registrants. I drove the 1958 Sprint Veloce to the convention, and Doug Hartman and Julie Brown drove her 1969 GTV. There were four “big…

Bradley and I visited a conservation and breeding facility for Galapagos tortoises last week. Located on San Cristobal in the Galapagos Islands, its goal is to help keep these giant reptiles from extinction. They were once thought to number over 200,000 on San Cristobal alone. Now, after centuries of being used as a convenient food…

I practiced shooting poison-tipped darts with a blowgun in the Amazon rain forest yesterday. The monkeys have nothing to fear from my aim. It was a bucket-list thing, taking my son Bradley to an eco lodge in the Amazon (La Selva) and then to the Galapagos Islands. Our trip here came on the heels of…

Can you think of a more attention-getting car to have in Monterey than a gullwing? You could spend $1.4 million for a Mercedes. Or you could pay $17,000 for the 1992 SCM Autozam AZ-1. This is the first year it is legal to import this car into the United States. The Autozam joined the SCM…

A 1939 Alfa built by Ferrari captured Best of Show at the 46th Annual Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance on Sunday. The concours is held on the tree-shaded lawn of the campus of Pacific University, 20 miles from Portland in Forest Grove. SCM Editor-at-Large Donald Osborne and I shared emcee duties for the sixth year. With…

The 45 cars — and their driving teams — on SCM’s 30th Anniversary Tour are now roaming 1,000 miles of scenic Oregon backroads. I’m along for the ride, and life is great. The Tour started on Sunday afternoon, when the drivers brought their cars to a public display outside of the Portland Art Museum. The…