In Oregon, May 1 is the official beginning of our sports car season. Our garage is soon filled with the chirping of a half-dozen vehicles, each, like a hungry baby bird, crying out for hundred-dollar bills to be tossed under its hood in an annual rite of spring awakening.Cindy’s 1978 […]
Author: Keith Martin
Keith Martin has been involved with the collector car hobby for more than 40 years. As a writer, publisher, television commentator and enthusiast, he is constantly on the go, meeting collectors and getting involved in their activities throughout the world. He is the founder and publisher of the monthly Sports Car Market, now in its 37th year. Keith has written for the New York Times, Automobile, AutoWeek, Road & Track and other publications, has been an emcee for numerous concours, and had his own show, “What’s My Car Worth,” shown on Velocity. He has received many honors, including the Lee Iacocca Award, the Edward Herrmann Award, was inducted into the Concorso Italiano Hall of Fame, and more. He has served on the board of directors of The LeMay Museum and Oregon Ballet Theater, and was formerly the chair of the board of the Meguiar's Award.
Give That Car an “A”
At SCM, we often describe cars as being “first tier” or “second tier” collectibles. These terms are used intuitively, rather than being based on any analytical system. While putting together this year’s Pocket Price Guide, we were reviewing our five-star short-term appreciation rating, and felt it left something to be […]
Shamed by Swig
Ferrari Mondials and snow-packed roads don’t mix very well. That was just one of the many thoughts that crossed my mind as we slid sideways towards the edge of the mountain road. I hadn’t planned on using the Ferrari as a snowmobile, but Martin Swig has a way of rearranging […]
My Green Ferrari
The car hauler should be pulling up any day now, delivering the newest addition to the Martin-Banzer menagerie. Or is that collection?It’s a 1984 Ferrari Mondial Cabriolet, in the distinctive color of light metallic green, with a tan leather interior. A birthday present, sort of, it came into my life […]
Mooners and Masterpieces
January and August are the two busiest months on the collector car calendar, but they are as different as desert and ocean. August in Monterey is a three-day spectacle of disposable wealth, with million-dollar cars selling haphazardly across the Peninsula the way oils are splashed on a Jackson Pollock painting. […]
Shuffling the Deck
It’s a good thing we thrive on change. During the past two months, the Martin-Banzer garage has seen a lot of comings and goings.It all started back in June when our 39,000-mile 240Z went off to a subscriber in Lorton, Virginia. With a slot in the garage to fill, we […]
Where Do We Go From Here?
“As hobbies go, buying, restoring and driving old cars is a harmless-though often expensive-indulgence, far removed from the worlds of global politics and terrorist plots.”That was the lead sentence for an article I wrote last month for New York Times, exploring the reactions of the collector car community to the […]
A Done Car
For the past month, I’ve been enjoying the company of an old friend. It came into our life in 1988, just after I had left my position as artistic director of Ballet Oregon and become a sales manager for Ron Tonkin Gran Turismo, hawking Ferraris, Alfas, Maseratis and Lotuses. Cindy […]
Lancias ‘R’ Us
Both nature and car collectors abhor a vacuum.In July we bid farewell to our 1972 240Z and our 1967 Alfa Duetto race car. The Z went to an SCM subscriber in Lorton, Virginia, and the Duetto to good friends and SCM’ers Doug Zaitz and Portland’s Veloce Motors owner Dan Sommers, […]
Going, Going, Gone Forever
Monterey is a bellwether weekend, as RM, Christie’s and Bonhams & Brooks duke it out. Each is offering a delectable array of first-tier collectible automobiles, and the automotive investment world watches and holds its breath as four-hundred special cars cross the block.Will collectible autos get caught up in the widespread […]