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Blogs
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Keith’s Blog: 10 Years with Land Rovers
According to my notes, on June 18, 2009 — 10 years ago — I bought a 1973 Land Rover Series III 88. The crude-but-entertaining 88 was the beginning of our exploration of the world of Rovers. The Rover saga started with the 2009 annual Porsche Northwest Passage 1,000-mile tour. I was driving our 2002 Boxster…
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Jim’s Blog: Are GM’s C/K Trucks on the Way Up?
Built from 1988 to 1998, GM’s C/K pickup has traditionally been viewed as nothing more than a basic taskmaster. Other than a few special editions, such as the 454SS and the Indy Pace Truck, car people have not considered these trucks all that special. But with a rising interest in 1967-72 GM trucks helping to…
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Keith’s Blog: Bye-Bye Bugeye
As I wrote in my last column, I have decided that it is time for the SCM Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite to go. I’ll be sad to see it leave, as we have done so much to make it exactly the excellent driver that we wanted. At the same time, chances are it will go to…
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Keith’s Blog: Summer and the SCM Fleet
“Value in use.” That’s always been the motto of the cars in the SCM collection. What’s the point in having classic cars if you are not going to use them? Most of the SCM cars were built more than 50 years ago. They were never designed to be in service this many years after they…
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Jim’s Blog: How Old Are Your Tires?
Most of us know that gas has an expiration date. We typically say that oil should be changed at least twice a year. But when’s the last time you considered the age of your tires? If you’re lucky, you might put a couple thousand miles per year on your classic. Unless you’re doing burnouts the…
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Keith’s Blog: My Life With Cars: The 1963 Giulia Spider, Part III
This is the continuing saga of my first Alfa Romeo. It was a red 1963 Giulia Spider Normale. I bought it in 1968 when I was 17 years old. It was an exotic, alloy-engine, twin-camshaft sports car. I tried to maintain it on a shoestring budget. This lead to many types of improvised roadside repairs.…
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Keith’s Blog: 1963 Alfa Giulia Spider, Part II
It was the summer of 1968. I was 17-years-old and had just graduated, as class valedictorian, from Lincoln High School in San Francisco. I was accepted to Reed College in Portland OR, but there was no financial aid available. Tuition, along with room and board on campus, was about $3,000 a year — the same…
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Jim’s Blog: Car Spotting at Portland Transmission
Here in Portland, car season kicks off with a pair of huge swap meets in early April. About a month later, on the Saturday before Mothers’ Day, the city’s car people wake up all their classics and head out for the inner east side of town, where all gather for the annual Portland Transmission show.…
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Keith’s Blog: My Favorite Cars: 1963 Giulia Spider
My first two cars were British — a 1960 Austin-Healey Bugeye Sprite and a 1958 MGA. “When are you going to get a real sports car?” asked my good friend Bjarne Holm. Bjarne was driving his mother’s 1958 Giulietta Spider Normale. We were parked outside Lakeside Presbyterian Church near Stonestown in San Francisco. This was…
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Keith’s Blog: A Mother/Daughter Road Trip
Last Saturday my daughter Alexandra and her mother Cindy Banzer took the SCM 1967 Giulia Super on an Alfa Romeo Owners of Oregon tour. It was a 112-mile dash from Portland to Astoria on the Oregon coast and back. This was the 41st running of The Old Spider Tour, celebrating the founder of the club,…