Keith Martin

Sometimes all the pieces just fit together. Each year, the Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon (AROO) begin the spring touring season with the “The Old Spider Tour.” The event originated as a tribute to club founder and longtime newsletter editor Bob McGill and his wife Margaret, and it always takes place around April 19 —…

I take part in many concours and car shows around the world each year, and the La Jolla Concours d’Elegance continues to stand out. This past weekend I returned for my fifth year as emcee. The setting is wonderful, right on the ocean at Ellen Browning Scripps Park. Sea lions bask in the sun at a nearby cove,…

I just got a call from Nasko, our local Alfa guru here in Portland, telling me that my late-model differential has arrived from Berkeley. Jon Norman of Alfa Parts did the build. It is going into the 1958 Sprint Veloce. The diff that’s in the car now is noisy, and although it will probably last forever, it makes…

I’ve just returned from Auctions America in Fort Lauderdale, FL. I was shooting episodes of “What’s My Car Worth?” While there, I looked at the 400 cars on offer, and I read their descriptions.  (To see my FB photo album with over 150 pictures from the Ft. Lauderdale Auction, click here.  You do not have to…

After more than a half-decade of use, the 1995 BMW 318i’s time with us is done. The car served as Alex’s daily driver, and she put more than 50,000 miles on it. It’s a four-door with 5-speed. I recently spent over $2,000 replacing a computer board in the car, and I thought we were good…

Over the past 12 days, I’ve traveled thousands of miles, seen hundreds of classic cars and shared the joy with countless gearhead enthusiasts. My trip started with the 8th Biennial Symposium on Connoisseurship and the Collectible Car presented by the Revs Institute. It took place at the Revs Institute for Automotive Research in Naples, FL.…

I was looking at my motoring schedule for the next few months, and I got to thinking about why I go through all the effort to prepare my cars for these events. I was reminded once again that it’s not really the cars that make these excursions so satisfying and enjoyable – it’s the great people…

Should you upgrade the transmission on your vintage car? That’s one of the debates in today’s collector car world. The discussions revolve around “as built” correctness versus upgrades for driveability. Most of the small-displacement, under-2,000-cc vintage cars from the ’50s and ’60s handle, stop and start reasonably well. You simply adjust your driving style to…

A Gearhead’s Trip Through A Vintage-Car Theme Park You can tell the weather is getting better because I’m spending more time in the SCM/ACC garage. It all started last week when seven-year-old Bradley asked if I would take him to school in the Viper. I asked why that car, and he replied that he had…

I was giving a talk at the local MG club meeting last Friday evening. We were discussing road trips, and the SCM “Road to Reno” adventure came up. In 2011, we bought three 1972-73 MGBs (two convertibles and a GT), refurbished them and drove to Reno for the All-MG Register gathering and then back to…