My son Bradley was 10 when I bought him a 1960 Bugeye Sprite two years ago. I was setting us up to make father-and-son memories together. I chose a Bugeye because that was my first car. The day I turned 16, I was first in line to take my driving […]
Shifting Gears
The Next Gen Wave
We are in the middle of a sea change in the collector-car world. In my three decades of publishing Sports Car Market, I have never seen anything like it. Much has been written about the changing of the collector-car guard, with Millennials and Gen Xers rapidly joining Baby Boomers as […]
On the Road to Recovery
January 5 was a crisp and clear Saturday in Portland. I had no inkling that my life, in the blink of an eye, was about to turn upside down. I ran an easy three miles along the Willamette River that morning. That afternoon I watched the NFL playoffs. The Ravens […]
Enthusiast Collectors
Editor’s note: Publisher Keith Martin is making steady, strong progress on his stroke rehab. In fact, he’s back to writing his weekly blog for the SCM Email Newsletter. That said, we’ve invited a few friends to fill in for Publisher Martin’s “Shifting Gears” column until he’s ready to return. This […]
The Times, They Are Unchanging
Exactly 20 years ago, I wrote this lead to the “Shifting Gears” column for the March 1999 issue of Sports Car Market: Would you have bought it anyway? That’s what we seem to be asked most frequently about our 1964 Ferrari 330 America, pulled from a barn in Butte, MT, […]
Uncorking Two Top-Shelf Supercars
Irecently had a chance to drive two state-of-the-art supercars — a McLaren 720S and a Ferrari GTC4Lusso T. The press kits that accompanied each car were full of cutting-edge technobabble. Lightweight turbines capable of 160,000 rpm. Twin injectors improving fuel nebulization. Magnetorheological dampers. They carry price tags worthy of their […]
Like a Kid in a Candy Store
I grew up in the Parkside District of San Francisco, with a view of the Pacific Ocean from the bedroom in the back of our house. There was a bakery shop around the corner on Taraval Street. Each day on the way home from elementary school, I would stop in. […]
Thirty Years, 1,000 Miles
On July 12 of this year, the last of the classic cars on the SCM 30th Anniversary tour arrived at the posh Heathman Hotel in downtown Portland, OR. For the previous four days, these 1950s and 1960s sports cars, all owned and driven by SCM subscribers, explored the backroads of […]
The Bidders of the Future
In the years that SCM has been reporting on Monterey, we’ve watched the auction sales totals go from $10.8m in 1996 to this year’s $374.4m. From just 209 cars being offered in 1996 at Monterey (Rick Cole and Christie’s), there were 1,389 cars looking for new buyers this year at […]
The 4-Door Key to the Magic Kingdom
I’ve known Brad Miller for 20 years. We have many mutual friends, and his wife, Nancy, and I serve together on the board of directors of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Brad, who’s a successful real-estate investor, and Nancy keep a barge in France in which they ply the canals of Europe […]