“Dad, there’s a big clunk from the front of the GTV.” That was my daughter Alexandra’s message to me as she headed home from Durant Vineyards in Dayton, Oregon. We were on the 15th Annual Wine Tour, held as a prelude to the Forest Grove Concours d’Elegance. I enjoy this […]
Author: Keith Martin
Keith’s Blog: Happy Independence Day
I’m on a big Land Rover club expedition through the rugged terrain of eastern Oregon right now, and I keep thinking how lucky we are to share this great world of old cars and their adventures. Bradley is along on the trip, and he’s seeing some amazing sights — and […]
Keith’s Blog: Unrestored in Costa Rica
The crappier the car the better. That seems to be the mantra of some collectors these days. Instead of trying to restore cars to better-than-new condition, they look for the most original vehicle they can find. The more bedraggled the better. You can even find people who will “un-restore your […]
Keith’s Blog: When It’s Time for a Car to Go
We’ve decided that our time with the SCM Mehari has come to an end. A couple of Alfas are coming out of restoration, so we need to free up some space in the garage. We’ve enjoyed the Mehari — and we’ve done quite a bit to make it a very […]
A Heads-Up on Hoods-Up
I have a pet peeve at concours. It’s owners who insist on leaving the hoods of their cars open all day long. It’s hardly the way designers would want their cars seen. Further, the hoods jutting upwards are a jarring contrast to the elegant setting of a concours field. A […]
Keith’s Blog: Driven: Two Alfas, a Lotus and a Viper
I had a gearhead’s holiday last weekend. In the course of two days, I got to put nearly 100 miles each on the SCM Lotus Elise, the ACC Dodge Viper ACR GTS and two vintage Alfas — the 1965 Giulia Spider Veloce and the 1967 GTV. These are all sports […]
Keith’s Blog: I Almost Bought a Junior Z
Online auctions have transformed the collector car world. In a matter of minutes — in your own office — you go from contemplating a quiet lunch to posting a $35,000 bid. I was editing the next issue of American Car Collector last Friday when a text message popped up on […]
An Alfa is Reborn
We were crossing the Oregon High Desert at 80 mph in a 52-year-old Alfa Romeo when Bradley’s jacket blew out the window. A second earlier he had been struggling to get one arm out of a sleeve. We were about 20 miles from Madras, OR, in a caravan of vintage […]
Keith’s Blog: Put Those Hoods Down!
Owners who leave the hoods open on their cars for the entire day are my car-show pet peeve. Two weeks ago, while I was emcee of Keels & Wheels in Texas, I mentioned this to the organizer, Bob Fuller. He said, “It drives me crazy too. I spend all day […]
Keith’s Blog: What to Do When the Wipers Stop? 300 Miles in a Bugeye Sprite
We were traveling at 70 mph in a torrential downpour. Interstate 84, which runs through Oregon’s scenic Columbia River Gorge, was a nightmare of high winds and large pools of standing water. It was not the weather I would have chosen to take Bradley’s 1960 Bugeye Sprite on its inaugural […]