Keith’s Blog: Use It or Lose It

SCM’s mantra has long been “value in use.”

For us, the best part of collector car ownership is in exercising our cars.

Putting the key in the ignition. On some cars, knowing how many clicks to pull out the choke levers. On others, pumping the throttle a couple of times and visualizing the accelerator jets squirting fuel into the waiting carburetors.

Knowing that you don’t touch the throttle at all on our V12 Jag or the fuel-injected 1975 Porsche 911S.

Understanding the warming up sequence for each car — when to start pushing the choke lever in or reducing the hand throttle.

For me, there’s a kind of restless anticipation as a car pops and snorts, creeping up from basement level four to the gated entrance to my condo garage, then pressing my key fob button and waiting for the gates to open.

The exit from my garage is directly onto SW Clay St. in downtown Portland. It flows directly onto the six-lane Highway 26 and then out to the Oregon Coast.

So it’s only a few minutes from the initial firing of the engine until I am cruising at freeway speeds, watching as each of the gauges comes up to its normal range, or the generator warning light goes out as the battery is topped off.

Even though our days are getting wet and dark, there are still opportunities to drive our cars. I was just on my first local Porsche Club mid-week tour. A nicely run event, it was 200 miles of curving roads that took us from Portand to the Learning Center at Mount St. Helens.

I’ve not spent enough time in the 911. It’s a 50,000-mile, 50-year-old car that is a delight to drive. There’s another mid-week drive coming up that I will be going on with Editor-In-Chief Jeff Sabatini. He has been more enthusiastic about this car than I have, and I look forward to his comments.

A few days after that, the Pacific Coast Rover Club will have a run up Lolo Pass Road on Mount Hood. The 2000 Land Rover Discovery II will be our ride of choice for that event.

It’s not just about driving. Between now and the end of the year, the Porsche, Land Rover and Alfa Romeo clubs are all having holiday parties. We expect to be at each of them, seeing friends old and new as we get ready for the adventures ahead in the year to come.

If you enjoyed this, consider subscribing to Sports Car Market with this special offer. Save $56 over newsstand prices, get all the bonus guides and never miss an issue.

Read my previous blogs here.