Keith Martin of Sports Car Market on a Fascinating Career and the Modern State of Affairs
Bring a Trailer Podcast
Keith Martin of Sports Car Market on a Fascinating Career and the Modern State of Affairs
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Car
Ford 9N
The Ford 9N is an old tractor that was made by Ford. It was popular for farming and is known for being easy to use and reliable.
Car
Ford Mustang
The Ford Mustang is a popular sports car that many people love. The 1965 version is known for its stylish look and powerful engine, making it a classic choice for car lovers.
Car
Austin Healey Sprite
The Austin Healey Sprite is a small sports car from Britain that many people enjoy driving. It's light and fun to drive, which makes it a great choice for new drivers.
Term
six-cylinder
A six-cylinder engine is a type of engine that has six small chambers where fuel and air mix to create power. It's often more powerful than a four-cylinder engine but less powerful than an eight-cylinder engine.
Term
automatic transmission
An automatic transmission is a system in a car that changes gears for you, so you don't have to do it manually. This makes driving easier, especially in traffic.
Car
Volkswagen Beetle
The Volkswagen Beetle is a small car that looks very unique with its round shape. It's famous and has been loved by many people for a long time.
Part
T5 transmission
The T5 transmission is a kind of manual gearbox that helps the car change gears smoothly. It's often found in sporty cars.
Term
1275 engine
The 1275 engine is a small car engine that helps the car go fast and be fun to drive. It's often found in compact cars like the Mini.
Car
MG MGA
The MGA is a small sports car made by the British company MG. It was popular in the late 1950s and is known for being fun to drive and looking good.
Part
connecting rod
The connecting rod is a part of the engine that helps move the pistons up and down. It connects the piston to another part called the crankshaft, helping to turn the engine's power into movement.
Car
Alfa Romeo Giulia
The Alfa Romeo Giulia is a stylish car from Italy that is fun to drive and looks great. It's known for being sporty and has a strong reputation among car enthusiasts.
Car
Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider
The Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider is a vintage sports car from Italy that is loved for its good looks and fun driving. The 1963 version is a well-known model among car enthusiasts.
Car
Alfa Romeo 750 Sprint
The Alfa Romeo 750 Sprint is an older sports car that was made in the 1950s. It's known for being light and fast, which makes it special among classic cars.
Car
Keith Martin's 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto
Featured on Bring a Trailer: Keith Martin's 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto
Car
1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce 'Confortevole'
Featured on Bring a Trailer: 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce 'Confortevole'
Car
1971 Jaguar E-Type 2+2 V12
Featured on Bring a Trailer: 1971 Jaguar E-Type 2+2 V12
Car
Alfa Romeo Spider
The Alfa Romeo Spider is a cool convertible car from Italy. The 90 series is one of the versions made in the late 80s and early 90s.
Car
Lotus Elise
The Lotus Elise is a small, lightweight sports car that is very fun to drive and known for its quick handling.
Car
Porsche 911S
The Porsche 911 is a famous sports car that many people admire for its speed and unique shape. It's been around for a long time and is loved by car enthusiasts.
Term
Sportomatic
Sportomatic is a special kind of transmission in some Porsche cars that lets you change gears without using a clutch pedal, making it easier to drive.
Car
Porsche 912E
The Porsche 912E is a model of Porsche that is similar to the 911 but is usually less expensive. It's known for being light and fun to drive.
Term
assisted steering
Assisted steering is a feature that helps you turn the steering wheel more easily. It makes driving less tiring, especially when parking or turning slowly.
Car
Porsche 914
The Porsche 914 is a small sports car that was made by Porsche in the early 1970s. It's known for being fun to drive and has a unique design with the engine in the middle of the car.
Term
Tiptronic
Tiptronic is a system in some automatic cars that lets you change gears manually if you want, but it can also shift automatically for you.
Term
PDK
PDK is a special type of automatic transmission used in Porsche cars that can change gears very quickly, making the car faster and more fun to drive.
Car
Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce
The Alfa Romeo Sprint Veloce is a classic car that was popular in the 1960s. It's known for being lightweight and fun to drive, making it a favorite among car lovers.
Car
Alfa Romeo GTV
The Alfa Romeo GTV is a classic coupe car that is known for being sporty and stylish. Many car lovers appreciate its performance and design.
Term
Alfa Romeo Sprint
The Alfa Romeo Sprint is a type of car made by Alfa Romeo that is known for being sporty and stylish. These cars were made a long time ago and are appreciated by car enthusiasts for their unique looks and fun driving experience.
Car
Alfa Romeo Giulietta
The Alfa Romeo Giulietta is a smaller car that is also made by Alfa Romeo. It's known for being stylish and fun to drive.
Company
Alpha Parts
Alpha Parts is a store that sells parts for Alfa Romeo cars. They help people keep their cars running well.
Car
Jaguar V12
The Jaguar V12 is a type of car made by Jaguar that has a 12-cylinder engine. It's known for being powerful and luxurious, and the 1971 version is especially popular among car enthusiasts.
Company
Bring a Trailer
Bring a Trailer is a website where people can buy and sell classic cars through auctions. It's popular among car enthusiasts who want to find unique vehicles.
Car
Pontiac Firebird
The Pontiac Firebird is a cool car that was built in the U.S. from the late 1960s until the early 2000s. It's famous for being fast and having a sporty look, which makes it a favorite among car enthusiasts.
Car
Volvo 240
The Volvo 240 is a sturdy car that was made by Volvo for many years, known for its square shape and safety features. It's loved by many because it's reliable and can last a long time, making it a good choice for everyday driving.
Car
Volvo 122S
The Volvo 122 is an older car made by Volvo that many people still love today. It's known for being tough and has a unique style that appeals to collectors.
Car
Acura NSX
The Acura NSX is a sports car that was made by Acura, Honda's luxury brand. The 1991 version is known for being fast and fun to drive, and it has a unique design that makes it stand out.
Car
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing is a famous old sports car that has doors that open upwards like wings. It was very advanced for its time, but some people were scared to buy it because it was complicated to fix.
Car
Citroen Citron Ds21
The Citroen DS21 Cabrio is a stylish convertible car made by Citroen that was popular in the mid-20th century. It's famous for its unusual look and smooth ride, making it a favorite among collectors and car lovers.
Car
1971 Citroen DS21 Pallas
Featured on Bring a Trailer: 1971 Citroen DS21 Pallas
Car
From the BaT Stable: Clean 1972 Saab Sonett III
Featured on Bring a Trailer: From the BaT Stable: Clean 1972 Saab Sonett III
Car
BaT Exclusive: Keith Martin's Melee-Veteran 1960 Mercedes Benz 190b
Featured on Bring a Trailer: BaT Exclusive: Keith Martin's Melee-Veteran 1960 Mercedes Benz 190b
Car
Porsche 928
The Porsche 928 is a fancy sports car that was made by the company Porsche. It stands out because it has its engine in the front instead of the back, which is different from most other Porsches. People talk about it because it's a mix of speed and comfort, making it fun to drive.
LIVE
the bring a trailer
podcast Hello everybody welcome back to
the bring a trailer podcast Alex Porter
here director of operations for the
company thrilled to be joined today by
Keith Martin founder of sports car
market Keith thanks for joining us
pleased to be here thanks for having me
what a pleasure and an honor uh we
wanted to hit record as fast as we could
because there's so many topics to
discuss you know I I think a lot of our
our listeners will be familiar with you
but maybe uh to start out you could talk
to us a little bit about uh your
background obviously you're probably
most well known for sports car market
with our community but do cars run in
the blood do you come from a car family
Keith how did this all get started well
the way it started my uh my grandparents
raised me and we had a farm in Nado
about half an hour outside of San
Francisco and at the age of uh three or
so every Saturday morning had a Ford 9
and tractor and he would take me out and
perch me on the nose of the tractor and
I would hold on to the radiator cap
there and then he would drive around the
farm and just talk to me about the trees
and irrigation and digging ditches and
all the implements and I'll never forget
just sitting on that tractor in the
morning and feeling that heat and
vibration coming into my three-year-old
and four-year-old body and and I
Associated it with my great talks with
him so then when I was about five he
taught me how to drive the tractor and
he would just put me on the seat and you
know it had one of those slide throttles
so he would just kind of tape it in
place at low and walk away and leave me
for half an hour just to drive around
the farm and and uh I would always drive
by the edge of the farm where there were
kids from a subdivision and waved them
to let them know how cool I was and how
cool they weren't but that that my
memories of the freedom the vibration
the heat uh his trust in me kind of all
made me have a an affection for
motorized things and the not only the
sights and smells of them but the
emotions that they bring out in you
absolutely what a wonderful origin story
did you ever own a tractor as an adult
did you ever buy a for tractor I have
never owned well some of my cars could
have been
tractors but let's not talk about volval
right now okay oh man oh Keith you're
going right to the heart of you're
cutting right to the heart of a car that
a lot of our listeners love
I've owned plenty of Volkswagen tractor
esque in their own way so love of
tractors love of farm a lot a lot of
people have Farm origin stories I think
with cars when do you actually get
interested in cars themselves and maybe
in more in particular sports cars well
back then when rodent track or Car and
Driver arrived at the local drugstore it
was an unbelievable moment we would wait
all month and that was our only dose of
sports cars and I was a rodent track
reader uh from my pre-teens and I just
just loved rodent track uh I learned how
to drive on my grandmother's 65 Mustang
that she bought the day I turned 16 at
8: a.m I was at the DMV first in line to
take my driving test I took my driving
test and a friend of mine had a really
decrepit bugy Sprite that he wanted to
sell and he wanted $30 for it he wanted
an extra five for the factory hard toop
but I didn't have five so I paid him $30
and at 16 I owned a British sports car
amazing that's really amazing did you
take the driver test in the Mustang yes
I did and it was a V8 or a six-cylinder
do you remember the car six cylinder
automatic a six-cylinder automatic
fantastic was that still in Marin County
no that was in San I grew up in San
Francisco in the Avenues oh F that's
where I live Keith I was 20th in
traville oh amazing I I I walk down
there all the time to get uh to get
sandwiches for my wife and I well I
would I went to Herbert Hoover Junior
High and then Lincoln High School
amazing our son is looking at Lincoln
right now he's starting high school next
year and it's right across the street in
San Francisco in San Francisco
absolutely same school you're all M moer
amazing well the best thing then was
that a bus ticket you could get 10 rides
for 50 cents and what we used to do with
our skateboards was ride from 20th inter
terville all the way down to the beach
go through the zoo which was free then
and then just grab the El taval go all
the way back up and you maybe do that
two or three times in a row amazing yeah
you don't have to push you can just ride
the hill the whole way down it was just
great that's amazing uh and so you were
driving around San Francisco in the bug
eye I was I remember being in Golden
Gate Park on the uh paths that the
gardeners use that they drive their golf
carts on and being chased by them in my
bug
eyee and trying to find ways to elude
them by getting through the roted
dendrons or whatever would happened to
be wherever I could hide my car sure a
small car you can hide anywhere I drove
a uh bugy recently with a 1275 and a T5
transmission and it was just F it's
about the most fun you can have in a car
I think I agree with that when I I when
my son turned 14 I think I had a bugy
built for him with a 1275 and a 387 rear
end um and the the challenge for me then
was those cars are so unbelievably
unsafe in modern traic yeah you know
they just
um and the and I've written about this
that the the biggest problem with
driving a classic car today is when
you're in modern traffic and you're
around these giant cars with distracted
drivers and they just run over you
without even thinking about it yep
driving that that bugy this this was at
car week a few years ago and I was
driving it at night back from carmell up
the 10 I'm sure you know it well up the
one there towards Marina uh and seaside
and boy was it fun but it did feel like
a like a toy in this day and age you
know know even though you know you can
see how in the in back in back when uh
when cars were smaller and there was
less traffic it would have been
absolutely fine as a daily driver but it
did feel um a little exposed yeah I
agree with that beautiful cars though
and I love them so what came next what
happened after the bugy well I uh went
to a junkyard and bought a 58 MGA for
$250 that had a missing Grill and had
been painted silver with a brush that
was in 1968 and I decided with that m GA
that I was going to go to the Chicago
National Convention CU I was a hippie
and so I got a lot of uh like peace
symbols and and paraphernalia like that
and piled into the MGA with a friend of
mine and said well we're just going to
Chicago I mean it never occurred to me
that Chicago was a really long ways away
in an
mgaa uh we got just outside of twinfalls
uh when a rod went through the side of
the block oh man and I recall opening
the hood and looking down and seeing a
hole and part of a connecting rod and
thinking that my toolkit which was duct
tape and
STP were not going to help no not going
to cut it uh we got a replacement engine
uh drove up into Colorado and turned
around and came home but that that was I
had that car and then what happened next
was I a friend of mine came and looked
at it who had an alpha and he said when
are you going to get a real car I said
what do you mean a real car he said you
know an alpha come come look at this
engine and I he popped the hood and here
was this alloy twin cam engine with an
alloy gearbox huge drum brakes the I
mean the rear drum brakes on that Alpha
Julietta that he had were bigger than
the front brakes on my MGA and so I sold
the mg and uh I bought a 63 uh Julia
spider norali and I had that all the way
through college that became my first my
first experience with alphas and it
really they were so Superior to almost
anything else you could buy it in that
time frame and in that budget yeah
five-speed gearbox mine had three shoe
front drum brakes but it it was it
started a journey for me that goes on
today I've had an alpha since then
always have an alpha and by the way you
uh you avoided some potential uh some
potential issues at the 68 convention
there in Chicago so maybe that was a
fate blowing the rod out before you got
there no I agree I mean it it we were
busy looking at people putting flowers
and gun barrels but it kind of didn't
work out that way not not in Chicago not
with mayor Dy well Alphas I know have
been part of your story and in fact I
think maybe Matt crle Avant guard listed
one of your early Alphas on my personal
dueto yes that's right and and maybe an
earlier a 750 Sprint too something with
lightweight body panels was that yeah
it's called a comfort havet so it's the
same as a lightweight but it has steel
panels yeah do you know how many what
happened five years ago I had a
hemorrhagic stroke and it paralyzed the
left side of my body I have recovered
mostly but I can't drive a stick anymore
oh so I call myself an automotive
vegetarian um I amum and that was hard
for me to sure to give up that but but
you know first of all I'm glad to be
alive uh and it's caused me to shift
towards automatics I bought a V12 V Type
Coupe off bring a trailer I've got a um
Porsche
sportomatic oh those are fun those are
fun it is it's turned out to be really
fun I have an alpha spider a 90 series 4
with an automatic so I've just had to
change my approach to motoring uh to fit
who I am now sure which a lot of people
have to do right and you count your
blessings and you still get to drive
fantastic cars right that's exactly I'm
very lucky and my son who is now 16 he
loves driving these cars the Porsche is
his favorite he I've still got a Lotus
Elise and a uh 65 Alpha Julius spider
that can't drive but while I'm figuring
out what I'm going to do with those he's
busy in the sportomatic and in the alpha
spider what your is the sportomatic it's
a
75 911s that's got 50,000 original miles
on it oh my goodness it's an impact
bumper sportomatic yeah imp narrow body
car yeah that's that's a very very rare
car I have a 912e which is narrow body
impact bumpers but uh man there's very
few sport matics in those that's a
really really interesting Car Keith yeah
felt I was lucky to get it and we
actually we just had it out last weekend
driving it pretty hard and we've got it
set to European ride height new shocks
all around new suspension bushings the
thing it's it's it's extremely primitive
you know compared to Modern cars sure
but it's just a joy no you know no
assisted steering no assisted brakes the
sound of that 2.7 L magnesium motor is
just fabulous so I it's a real my son
drove it on a Porsche rally here he
drove it 1300 miles last year and he got
an Ward for being the youngest driver in
the oldest car on the event that's
amazing that's wonderful that must feel
uh it must make a father proud I have
three children but I don't know if any
of them are going to follow in my car
footsteps so it must be nice to have
somebody to share all that with it is
it's wonderful yeah yeah are you able to
work the gears well I I drove a couple I
used to work on Porsches a long time ago
when I was a late teen in my late teens
early 20s and we had uh 70 maybe 71 or
72 taret sportomatic that we worked on
quite a bit it was an original owner car
and I drove it a fair amount and I could
only kind of make it work in second and
fourth and you could drive it in second
and fourth but my boss who' worked on
Porsches forever he could he could drive
that thing like a like a race car he
could move that sportomatic like a you
know in an amazing way I drove kind of
like a manual well the the car you had
had a four-speed sportomatic by the 27s
they had a three-speed
sportomatic um and it's still once you
get used to U what the throw is of the
gear shift lever because it's a big
throw yeah long and you have to get you
have to put your hand on the shift lever
let the transmission kind of settle down
and then really reach to put it where
you want to put it it's just fine in
fact you know for driving around town
it's pretty cool to not have to worry
about a clutch yeah yeah and you still
get some feeling of Shifting your gears
yourself that's why I want I had a twin
turbo Tiptronic that uh that I sold
because the the problem with a Tiptronic
or a pdk is really you shift like crazy
the first half hour you own it and then
you put it in drive and you never shift
correct I've had a couple cars with dual
clutches and I never shift they they do
better than you do you know what I mean
the car that's why I really I looked all
over for this for a sportomatic and
finally it was this car was at the
Hershey uh in Hershey Pennsylvania in
the swap meet Corral and a subscriber
sent me a picture of the car with the
with its phone number and said you've
been looking for one of these haven't
you and and I called the guy up and we
had a great talk he'd had the car 40
years and I bought it that day and um
had it shipped home to Portland those
are certainly wonderful cars I own a 996
as well but not a not a turbo I I like
those a lot too I'm G to get uh carried
away and talk about Porsches all day
Keith which I I do too often uh do you
know how many out of curiosity do you
have a a track have you kept track in
your head or on paper somewhere of how
many Alphas you've owned over the years
less than a
hundred I think that's what they call an
addiction that's amazing any particular
eight I had eight when I had my stroke
uh and I had one of each that I could
afford that I wanted that Sprint vce
I've got the 65 spider vce I had a
Sprint Speciale a uh GTV you know I just
I had I had the cars that I wanted that
that uh talked to me there they're still
uh really remarkable cars compared to
the competition in that era yeah Sprints
pasal are are very interesting to me and
there's a a colleague of mine who
actually would like to sell me his uh
can you talk about those a little bit
they're kind of weird looking but I like
them am I allowed to give you a bit of
inside knowledge that will make you like
the big honcho at any Alpha meet you go
to 1,000% I need it Keith okay so here's
the deal this is what I learned with my
Sprint special and it's the third one
I've had it was a Julieta vce and I I
always prefer Juliet as to Julia's uh
just because they rev better they're not
better cars but I like I like the feel
of them sure to make The Velo well when
you put a 14400 kit in those cars you
bore out the liners and get oversized
pistons and let me give a first a plug
here to John Norman at Alpha Parts in
Berkeley because he's been my source of
alpha stuff for 50 years now and he's
just a remarkable man he knows
everything so on the alpha we decided to
punch it out to 1400 CC's we found out
that part of the way Alpha got more
compression in the Julieta voloes that
were in Sprint SP Charlies which are a
teo1 121 car it's a a different block
than than other VES of that era they
shaved the block and so you need to use
the sleeves that were in that car and
have them when you punch it out and put
in the 1400 kit you need to do it with
the original sleeves bored out if you
get other sleeves that did not come with
that motor when you put the motor
together you're never going to get the
head gaset to seal oh man oh you're
arming me with all the good knowledge
well it's it was it's pretty cool to
figure that out the sprin specialities
are wonderful car they they're quiet
they uh they handle well they're a
little bit heavier than a spider but and
but they've got a good five-speed in
them and I I just like the the Juliet is
especially you know they hit six to 7500
is a really good spot and you can get
modern cams to go with those now so I I
really loved that car I I really was
again I'm just part of me is very sad
about the stroke because I spent my
whole life on those cars but on the
other hand I'm still driving and I'm you
know always looking for the next
adventure yeah are you still doing big
road trips I know that was one of your
things and one of the reasons I I
believe this speciality that my
colleague has has a one 14 and I think
it's Conrad Stevenson put it together
it's I think might have so I'm sure it's
it's well done one of the things I'd
like to do with that car if I had it or
another uh another special La is is put
miles on it right I want to drive long
distances on anything and I've always
thought maybe the aerody dynamics of
that car would make it a good a good
road trip car I hope you're still doing
that Keith because that's one of the
things you're we'll talk L I bought a a
71 V12 Jag automatic on bring a trailer
four years ago and we just realized we
put 8,000 miles on that car since we
bought it it was a low mileage it's uh
like Primrose yellow and low miles isn't
that right yeah 20 uh just like 20,000
miles original and it's still all orig
it's the only car I've ever owned that
has all original surface the seating the
paint it's just it's not perfect but
it's really pretty and it's original it
must be a joy to get into a car like
that that's the older I get the more I
want to feel a car exactly like it was
when it was new you know what I mean you
make a really good point I mean the I
had the front end rebuilt on this car
and anything else that needed to be done
that was suspect so that I could
experience what this car was like in
1971 when it was built yeah that's like
that's what I that's what I really I I
all throughout my youth and this is you
know part of Porsche culture but it's
certainly part of alpha culture too I
modified everything make it faster you
know lower it do all these things and
now part of me is like hey I want to
feel the little skinny tires I want to
feel the body roll all the things that
were kind of the way it was designed by
the engineers is how I want to
experience it there's no question that
we went through a period of time maybe
starting 10 years ago when we started
going back to 18570 tires or 1651 15s
because we' all we had all gone to
bigger fatter tires and like on a GTV or
duetto that just destroys the handling
of the car because the steering becomes
too heavy it doesn't return right the
car was never designed to have that much
rubber on it and when we we all kind of
manned up and went skinny and it just it
it just it was like Joy yeah I I want to
do this I put two biger wheels on my
porra I want to put the stock small ones
back on sidewall and skinny also uh
there's been a really big maybe not a
revolution but there's so many more
vintage tires available now which is so
great and I hope they doing more and
more of that so let me tell you a little
bit about sports car market yes please I
want I want the whole story and I I I
would like to know kind of leading up to
it Keith were you always interested in
writing were you following the car
market what kind of LED you to founding
the uh the what what do you think I
majored in in my second College I'm GNA
imagine it was English dance at
[Music]
juliard that's fantastic I went to Reed
as a history major reeds in Portland and
which meant I commuted in my 60 three
Julia spider normali back and forth
between San Francisco and Portland and
and you know it was just a car then that
was in 6970 and I never thought twice
about just jumping in the car and
driving to San Francisco and I would I
did it in eight hours was the fastest
when we would leave at midnight leave at
4 a. leave at 4 pm try different things
but it was just my car uh I left started
dancing at Reed and I just fell in love
with it I was so happy being a modern
dancer that in my senior year at Reed I
decided I was on full scholarship there
and I dropped out so with I took $500 in
Travelers checks and moved to New York
to study dance um a fantastic time for
it a really interesting time in the in
in 7374 the national dment for the Arts
was very powerful the dance tring
program was had a lot of money if my son
did that now I'd go crazy totally you
know were your grandparents supportive I
danced with the father of American
modern dance was Charles Weidman I
danced in his company I was also a piano
player for dance so I played the piano
for Martha Graham who was the mother of
modern dance and after a year there then
I got invited to audition at juliard and
so I took the audition uh got accepted
danced there for a couple years came
back to Portland and I started the first
Ballet company in the state amazing wow
it's called B Ballet Theater they're
still here and I've been on the still
existence oh congratulations Keith
that's amazing that's a long that's a
long run for Bell well we had the the
first professional dancers in Oregon and
we did some wonderful things Firebird
petruska a lot of original stuff by a
man named Dennis Spate who was very
gifted uh and then it was I was done I
did probably 20 years of that and I had
I'd always written but I uh there at
that time there was a Ferrari Market
letter a panta market letter a Ford
Market letter a Maserati Market letter
but there was no Alfa Romeo Market
letter I remember thinking to myself if
I don't do one somebody else will do it
and it'll be really crappy and I'll be
pissed off at myself for not having done
one yep so we put an ad in hemings
magazine saying subscribe to the ALF
Romeo Market letter and we got like 30
subscriptions I like wow wow look at
this you know uh we started having
people all over the nation clip Alfa
Romeo ads for us out of the paper and
mail them to us so that we could then
put them in the magazine and have
National ad surveys we then put a big ad
in hemings We did an onert that went on
the outside of hemings and we got some
like 2,000 subscriptions from it wow
that's unbelievable yeah it was really
like cool yeah were you already part of
alpha clubs or did you have connections
there had you've been going to Alpha
Shows or Alpha me no it was just that
was basically because the reach of
hemings at that time because hemings you
know was the bad of its era of course
everyone got it yeah yeah and and you if
you paid an extra 20 bucks a month you
got hemings first class and that meant
you got it a week and a half in front of
the other 300,000 subscribers yep and
there were only about 10,000 of us that
would pay the extra 20 bucks so I paid
the money got the thing first class put
the brochure in with all the first class
ones uh and suddenly we had a magazine
yeah that's amazing and did you I mean
you you had to learn everything on the
fly right I mean how to how to publish
it were you hiring uh other writers were
how how did the contributors work early
on and we hired writers I've never taken
a class in journalism although my
editor-in chief now Jeff satini who was
excellent has majored in journalism I I
started writing for the local newspaper
and from there I ended up writing for
the New York Times and became their
classic car specialist and their Auto
Rider and also wrote for radent track
and
automobile uh so I I had a freelance
career uh at the very first I was the
first person to write about classic cars
and you know in the magazine we we have
these little auction reviews they about
150 words that go with the car that are
snapshot Auto Week wanted that from me
automobile wanted that because I was the
classic car specialist and it was really
the first time somebody had written
about classic cars on a regular basis
sure a classic car meant something very
different at that point in time right
what were you writing about primarily
you know that's a really that's an
interesting question and that leads me
to something very important that I want
to share with you uh because what we're
looking at now at sports car market is
how we get the magazine into the hands
of bat readers for instance because when
we started if we didn't write about a
sale it didn't exist was like if Barrett
Jackson was this strange unknown
phenomena off in the desert and uh
nobody had heard about it that we'd go
to Cru auctions in Indiana we were the
only source of information about
auctions now it's 247 uh my my son and
let me take a quick sidebar here when
when people jump up and down and moan
and cry about the Young Generation not
being interested in cars that's just
oh man I wanted to ask you
about this I like to ask every guest
about I also think it's my son
is on bat
247 you know and the daily driver he has
right now I've got a a 2,000 disco to
and we put steel bumpers on it and rock
sliders and he's trying to decide does
he want a Volvo 240 wagon you know which
which is like the Disco is a better ski
car the Volvo would be more fun but here
he is back and forth all day long
sending me pictures of wagons for sale
all over the place um discussing you
know what years are the best years
should you get a Volvo with the F with
the four-speed and overdrive should you
get it with the five-speed I all these
things that yeah he and he's thinking of
um going to mcferson in Kansas and
majoring in autor restoration well you
know a Volvo is those kinds of Volvos
today are I mean I think a lot of people
would consider that a classic car it's
30 35 years old you know and my young
colleagues love
when I I'm 41 years old Keith and when I
went to high school that was the hand
me- down you know that was the car you
didn't want that your parents was
sitting in your parents' driveway yeah
and now my young my colleagues in their
20s they love them and I have kind of a
nostalgic fondness for them too because
it's what I used to those were the
beaters when I was in high school well
and I had I've had several 122s and I
just love those cars because you can get
a handling kit from ipd and I went on a
Porsche rally with my one of my 122s and
I surprise people in terms how well I
could make that car work with a
four-speed and an overdrive absolutely
people rally those 123 GTS I see uh on
kind of vintage car rallies all kinds of
Volvos are really wide swath even up to
some of the square Volvos you know well
so let me just offer an opinion here
that will make somebody angry I have
never understood the 123 GT because what
it is a tachometer in the middle of the
dash and a couple of of fog lights I
mean there there's nothing mechanically
different about that car that should
make you want it that's right but I I
think all of those are Fant 242s I I
like all of them as rally cars because
they're rugged and they can go faster
than you would think and I know I just
said I love originality but you can
modify them and you know there's parts
that will go on all of them will make
them faster and more reliable you can
put turbos on them you can do all kinds
of things well there's also an installed
base of users correct what you asked
earlier was what kind of cars do we
write about then you see you think about
it when I bought my Alpha in 68 it was a
63 so it was only 5 years old right it'd
be like today buying a you know a 2020
car yeah you wouldn't think that as a
classic car right they were just all
used cars and we were fortunate to be
able to buy them before they had because
they became worthless and then they
became pieces of crap yeah when we
started the Resurgence of classic cars
we had a lot of pieces of crap yeah uh
to deal with cars that were really worn
out it used to be you could get a car
and kind of recondition it for not too
much money and make it a runner I just
had a Mercedes a 71 or 2
250c that I sold on H bring a trailer
and it cost me
$45,000 all in to make that car right
again yeah because once you start trying
to make a car right an old car you can't
stop till you're done I know I know
there's a lot of things that once you're
in there you realize how many more
things you need to do to it yeah and you
have to do them because like we said at
the very beginning you don't want to
drive a crappy old car around so what
what's the feeling you have then bad
shocks no brakes bad acceleration so we
ended up putting weers on it and uh
electronic ignition uh swapped out the
rear end from a 300D so that it would
Cruise more efficiently now all those
things made it a really great car for me
and I only lost $20,000 when I sold
it I have a few projects that are in
that same kind of boat that I'm thinking
of the guy I hope guy who bought it is
listening because he he's getting like
the best 250c in the world but the
problem is the best 250c in the world is
worth $25,000 right that's exactly right
I mean for me you know keeping these
cars running as long as you get to
experience them this why I like to drive
them as much as I can as long as you get
to experience them I'm thinking of
selling my or I am going to sell my 1991
NSX that I've had for a long time and
that's a good
car and it's been a lot of money to keep
it going but I've driven it 20,000 Mi
and that's a worthwhile investment to
get that kind of experience in that kind
of car car yeah that's exactly right so
as you were talking about what uh what
the fact that these were kind of used up
cars when you were first riding about
you know people were scared of a lot of
those cars I remember my dad telling me
somebody offered him a gull Wing in the
80s for $15,000 because it was they were
terrified of it they didn't want to fix
it they didn't want to work on the
mechanical fuel injection so people were
scared of Porsches and alphas and old
Mercedes I think yeah not so much the
Porsches but certainly the that mer I
know that in that era those Mercedes
with that slanted eight cylinder engine
and the the mechanical fuel injection
you had to be a wizard yeah that's on
that car yep right at least with
Porsches you have some Volkswagen
Heritage that made it easier to get into
the four-cylinder Motors the carburet
ones it still takes an artist to make
those Motors work right but you could
you had a better chance of being partly
wrong and getting away with it yeah well
people were scared of those 27s in those
midar Porsches like you have yeah and
and I uh my car uh has got broken suds
y uh but I've been told it's got great
compression and I put an oil cooler on
it you know the oil is shared between
the um torque converter and the engine
on those cars and so you need to keep
that oil cool I've been told if I keep
the oil cool and I have good compression
and I don't Hammer that motor it might
go another 50,000 miles before it needs
to even with broken studs sure can is it
uh do you have the oil cooler up in the
front or do you have one in the back an
up front great fantastic still have the
old uh five blade fan on it or did you
put a more modern fan on it uh it's got
the it's got its original cam oh my gosh
that's amazing it's wonderful um I
didn't even know there was a difference
between four and five and now I have to
go look it
up um so uh back to the kind of
foundation of of sports car market I
would love to hear so you're doing the
alpha newsletter and then does that kind
of morph into sem or how how does that
all evolve yeah well I started the uh
first the way our auction reports
started being the length they were is
the let me back up a little bit we were
born at the same time as desktop
publishing and the same time as the
internet so if it had not been for that
we never would have had the magazine
because I couldn't have afforded to pay
somebody to put it together every month
sure I think we used Al this page maker
and we and this is like mid 1990s is
that right Keith yeah or late late 80s
late 80s okay because this is our 37th
year now oh okay wow congratulations um
we the database that we used dbas 3 we
found a program that would talk between
dbas 3 and Al this
pagemaker and it had a limitation of 256
characters per field so that's how our
auction reports ended up being 256
characters uh for the analysis
field love that and we we it became our
specialty the way that we develop the
way we write about cars is it I was
selling a lot of cars
overseas and uh fax machines would just
been invented and so when you would
write on a fax machine youd keep the fax
fairly chur and you have a descript the
VIN number a description of the car uh
did it run or drive uh and then uh we
added with the magazine was an analysis
this seemed like a good buy for that car
or the panel fit wasn't good and we
always did it by an in-person evaluation
so I went to so many auctions by myself
with my clipboard just writing down all
this stuff about each car and we were
the only people to ever do that kind
kind of description coupled with an
analysis of whether this was a good or
bad buy yeah that secret sauce and even
today the reason to read sports car
market is you get experts opinions on
something sure uh it's it's one thing to
have all the trolls who I happen to love
and the gallery there it's another thing
to have one of our staffers who's an
expert and goes to many auctions
standing there and looking at the car
and saying this car just sold for $5,000
too much
or this car has been hit hard and put
away wet take your pick but but that's
why people should subscribe to the
magazine because you're getting an
expert's opinion of the overall sale how
I'm curious how you find those folks
Keith and and whether you have to kind
of train them up yourself I was just we
had a bring a trailer event back East a
couple months ago and it was hosted by
Philip RoR who's written for you uh and
also uh Dean lombok was there who's
written for you he's a big seller on
bring a trailer as well Dean's actually
in the current issue we've had we had
Dean lbeach uh r ray Spencer and Pierre
hadari analyze why I lost so much money
on my
250c Pierre said because I told you
never to buy one in the first place yeah
yeah yeah D those are the right guys to
tell you about that uh good fory the
sports car market because we're able to
draw on real experts uh and who they
love writing for us because they get to
really talk in their own voices about
something they know a lot about yes
right it's a perfect outlet for folks
who have all this expertise in your head
and I I must imagine Keith I I remember
watching you on on TV with with Donald
Osborne you're building and you seemed
like such an expert to me and obviously
you are but it must be all these
auctions you've gone to you're just
building up expertise as you look at car
after car after car I mean you know that
nothing can kind of make up for that I I
think that what you end up doing is
learning how to get a feel for a car
very quickly what we always would tell
the auction reporters when they were new
is the first thing you do is just walk
around the car and see what it says to
you yeah because every car talks to you
somehow yeah sure when you start as you
walk around you know maybe the stance is
not quite right or maybe the upholstery
in the front seat doesn't match the back
you and all those things it's like a a
dialect and each car I'm really good at
56 to say 74 Alphas I really speak that
language well but when I step back from
that there's always somebody who speaks
another language better than I do sure
and you've got to find people who can do
newer and newer cars right younger and
younger folks who are interested in 80s
cars 90s cars that's interesting for us
like like I said my son went on this the
Porsche rally and he was in a 75 and was
the oldest car in the rally you know to
me 75 is almost like a new
car yeah and most of the cars on the
rally were 19 you know 95 to
2010 and those guys had air conditioning
and anti-ock brakes and you know it's
like being in a like a big station wagon
yeah you're almost cheating if you're
doing a vintage rally in a car with air
conditioning and cruise control and
stuff as far as I'm concerned yeah I've
thought about that the Porsche Club here
is really the Oregon region of the
Porsche Club of America is really active
they have something almost every week
and I thought about on their next
upcoming tour I could uh rent a a con
and drive that on it then I thought why
am I doing that you know you know I mean
because part of the joy of an old car is
the PTSD you have 100% from going you
know I was in a I had a Citron ds21
beautiful car and which I bought on bat
and it is pulling on to the main express
freeway here as the sun was going down
and the car failed in the fast lane just
failed so I was able to Coast across
three lanes of traffic and pull off onto
the curb and then I was able to get
somebody to tow me home but CHR I Alex
I'll never forget I've got my son on the
the back seat and his dog back there and
the car is stopped right the car has
signed out for the day yeah done you man
that really that really terrified me
sure sure that's part that's part of the
like with an old car even when they're
really good you're not 100% sure you're
going to get home absolutely I've had
mini cars break down on events for me
and also even if it doesn't break down
if you've had a long day and it's been
really hot you're dripping in sweat you
feel like you've accom something driving
500 miles in an old car on windy roads
uh you know for a full day well it's
it's yes and the way that we explain the
last couple weekends ago my son and I I
took the E type and he took the 91
spider and we drove about 40 miles
outside of town on two lane roads to go
to a place that serves marry and Berry
pancakes and milkshakes fantastic it it
was really good and he was uh he loves
the alpha spider because I put a great
sound system in it oh that's important
that makes him happy right they've got
no radios most of my other cars we just
put a Bluetooth speaker in these days
you know we talked about going home and
how if we'd been in a regular car we
wouldn't even have thought about the
driving yep but because we were in Two
classic cars we were looking at each
other seeing if there's any smoke coming
out when you accelerated absolutely
feeling your brakes so the being in an
old car puts you back into the time that
that car was built that's exactly right
and it also puts you into a different
kind of brain space which I think we
could all use today unplugging from from
all the other distractions and craziness
happening in the world and that's so
healthy you've got to be on empty roads
yeah you can't be on a freeway you have
to be where you're in like a sports car
would have been in 1971 yeah I mean
that's the that's the thing I always
want to experience Keith is to actually
feel what it was like to be there you
know back in the day and uh all you can
do is do your best to approach that you
can't quite get there but you can try
you can get close yep so what is your uh
what is your involvement with sem today
I every time I pick up an issue I love
reading your you know your column in the
front what else are you doing kind of
day-to-day these days well you know I'm
still the publisher I'm still uh working
at it my editor and chief reports to me
that's Jeff satini and Rory Jerica
reports to Jeff they've got a team you
have 10 people in the office we when
covid came we went from a $7,000 a month
big garage lots of offices place to a
little tiny office for 1,300 a month and
everybody works remotely absolutely it's
a big it's really a big deal and so I'm
uh every day I'm talking to Jeff and to
our it Guy Brian Baker we have two art
directors Kristen he and David tomorrow
we got a great ad salesman Darren Frank
who's back on the East Coast um I'm busy
strategizing and our big I talked to
Randy about this and actually you guys I
I sent you that note that you responded
to most I would guess that many many bat
users have never seen a copy of sports
car market yeah we we're on news stands
all over the country but people today
don't get their information and news the
same way they used to yeah now we have
over 10,000 subscribers and the number's
growing a little bit but part of the
reason for doing this podcast uh is to
encourage people to take a subscription
up to sportscar Market we can do one now
six months for 1995 and I'm going to
plug myself here if you go to sportscar
market.com
slcm friend uh the special offer pops up
it's a different it's almost a vintage
way of getting information yeah I love
reading them I pick them all up you know
it covers the industry that that I'm a
part of so I love reading them I've
particularly loved seeing uh you know
kind of increasing coverage of bring a
trailer and other Online Auctions which
obviously have been a big game changer
for the last 10 years and uh one of the
reasons I like reading your column so
much is you know you acknowledge the
kind of changing of the market which
some people can have trouble seeing you
know that there's change or that things
are different in their field than they
used to be but that doesn't seem to be
something that's troubled you and I'm
I'm just kind of wondering how your
thoughts have evolved on how to use your
outlet to cover an industry that's
really been in a tremendous amount of
change over the last 10 years or so it
has been and it's been interesting to
think about like let's go to trolls for
a second all the comments on bring a
trailer I think about well before I
bought my e type I don't know a thing
about V12 e type not one thing I mean uh
I know they have 12 cylinders okay yep
but I let the trolls just pick that part
they were like buzzards on the carcass y
uh and the owner came back right away to
every one of them with really good
answers and I I let them uh vet the car
for me yeah by the way that tells you
something about an owner when they're
able to answer those questions and
they're upbeat about it those are the
kind of people you want to buy a car
from right and that used to be harder to
determine sometimes when you would meet
somebody in person and only have a few
minutes with a car well think about this
we would go to an auction in Monteray we
went for 25 years I've gone and you'd
walk into a big tent let's let's say
it's Russo and Steel's tent that was
there and you walk up to a car and if
it's an alpha spider there's probably
two other three guys around it who you
already know and then the three of you
kind of walk around the car and look at
it and talk to each other and that's it
you know there's no shots of the
undercarriage there's no communication
with the seller you're you're really
buying on Blind Faith in that situation
and that's true of any land auction it's
not to disparage them because they bring
good cars together and they also bring
motivated buyers and sellers sure and
they're a community celebration just
like when you at Philip's Farm
absolutely you're the community and when
you go to a land auction you're part of
the community there but there's really
no opportunity to inspect a car or to
drive it or to have a long conversation
uh or to have trolls there and yeah so
that's why I first of all information
part of what we have always believed and
if we were looking back through one of
my issues from 25 years ago and I had I
talked about wanting to have a bidder's
Bill of Rights yeah totally every car
card would have the VIN what see and
remember this was before Carfax yeah so
you know there was no the only way you
can get past Carfax now is by our
Platinum database which goes back 37
years I when I bought That Jag I looked
it up it had beened a cruise auction 25
years ago and the mileage on it was like
16,000 which correlated with the 19 or
20,000 had on it now yep but there was
no Carfax now you've got a Carfax now
the the latest thing that I really like
that you and some other auctions are
doing now is setting the VIN number to
be automatically Googled when you click
on it absolutely absolutely that is a
huge deal huge deal transparency has
always been our thing Keith and it's
been as you note very well it's been
somewhat absent from this industry right
or there's puffery or kind of people
talking about the mark but talk to me
about this specific car and give me as
much Rich factual information as you can
that's what we want as buyers right give
that to people that's right and and then
we want to make a a Reason accentuated
by The Passion of the moment yes um yes
decision on a car no I I'm really a fan
of as much disclosure as possibly have
it when you're buying a 50-year-old used
car there's no guarantee all four wheels
aren't going to fall off the M moment
you take possession yep but but you can
get know I I use um 911r Matt crle up
here because he's close to me and Matt
and I both were GMS at the Ferrari store
here uh one ahead of the other but what
his Mantra is answer all the questions
before they get asked absolutely not Che
to do that it's not Che I'm gonna use
I'm gonna use Matt to sell my NSX he
also does such a wonderful job with
presentation you know he's just a master
of this yep and and it it creates a
sense of assurance that we never had
before I mean the number of cars that I
bought out of hemings that were I I
bought three I called them pigs in a
blanket after I saw them uh it it was
three Alphas from the 70s and like a
berina and two other ones and they were
in Idaho and someplace and the the truck
pulled up in front of my warehouse he
said your Alphas are here I said those
aren't my Alphas he said yeah these are
your Alphas I said no my Alphas are like
restored and beautiful and pretty and he
said these Alphas are
junk that's where we learned the word
fright Pig oh yeah which we created but
I was talking to the driver of the car
and I said well where were these cars
and he said them all cars are out in the
field them all fright
pigs and I thought you know fright Pig
was such a perfect description for how I
mean these cars had no floors yeah it's
all but there was there was no way to
know in those days I mean think how
excited we all got when autot Trader
came along because they had a picture of
the car absolutely I would read it uh
every every time I went out to lunch I'd
pick up an auto tra I mean I loved I
still love it I still I like all these
all these any way to look at cars Keith
gets me excited so I love your magazine
I love Auto Trader uh listen I was just
I was a bring a trailer fan for many
years just applied to every job Randy
put up on the website till I got one I
never thought we'd kind of end up where
we are but it's for the same reason that
I love Auto Trader right well let me
tell you the beginning I was at the
California Mill and Martin Swig brought
me up he said Keith I want you to meet
Randy he's got this thing going on that
might turn into something someday but I
and so Randy and I talked became friends
I bought a Saab saet from Randy one of
the first cars that was sold before the
auctions when it was just was this ry's
orange Sonet you bought that from him oh
interesting I remember reading about
that car yeah we brought it up here and
my daughter loved it because she went to
OSU and their colors are orange and
black yep and then we went to the bat
reunion at Delta Park at Portland
International Raceway and drove that car
there and then I sent Randy a 220 uh s
blue with red interior and he sold that
for me and then I had a Land Rover
Series 3 and this is all back when it
was you know just a little newsletter
that went out I've bought and sold cars
from Randy right before it was bat and
I've always appreciated just again like
you said the straightforward nature and
all we're trying to do is find out what
we're buying yep absolutely we're just
trying to expand the the love of the
hobby the love you know I mean how would
you want to be dealt with right be
straightforward be honest tell me all
the problems the car has I can't tell
you how many emails I've sent Keith over
the years trying to to convince sellers
it is in your best interest if you want
somebody to believe you on the internet
to tell me all the problems the car has
right let's put them all out there so
that everyone's on the same page and no
one's surprised when the you know when
the alpha pig shows up right and there's
got no floors right well that thing that
we like with the 250c we were going to
um the speedometer did not read it was
read six miles an hour slow because we
had swapped it out of a 300 deep CU
those cars rev too high at at freway
speed today but we went round and round
and finally I said to Matt I said let's
just put in the description speedometer
reads slow yeah absolutely or when I
read it says power window doesn't work
okay just tell me yep that's exactly it
but people get they get scared about
saying those things because they're
afraid it'll diminish the value of the
car and it's counterintuitive but it
actually helps people feel confident it
increases their faith in the seller when
you're just honest about that stuff and
it's you know we're we're kind of
re-educating people after Decades of
them acting the opposite right trying to
hide those things trying to spin them
into something that they're not and it's
uh it's a little bit a little bit of a
re-education program but uh it's nice to
see you know so many people are kind of
copying the bring a trailer style now
although nobody uh I will tell you your
secret sauce is the directness of the
descriptions and also the trolls yeah oh
no they're fantastic you know people who
who get mad at the bad Trolls you just
filter them out I mean it's no big deal
you go that person's a jerk that person
doesn't know that and you don't you
don't worry about it because you can
always read in a thread who really knows
what they're talking of course and we
want all the experts around it and by
the way we have an very active Community
Management Department uh shout out to
them they're going to be some of them
are going to be here in the office with
me a day after tomorrow so that we are
we're watching for Bad actors too but uh
to your point bring a trailer is above
all Elis and that's thanks in part to
you Keith from your early championship
of the site it's a community that's the
maybe the number one we are you know
most people who are registered users
aren't buyers and sellers we don't have
their credit card information on file
they're just here to look at awesome
cars and say that they're great or
they're the expert on a red block Volvo
motor and they'll tell you why it's not
a tractor and you know maybe that
person's never going to buy or sell but
we want their expertise and we want them
to comment on the Volvo auctions well
and then if if I pull this back to
sports car market for a minute what you
get by reading the magazine is experts
looking at these cars and giving you a
written description
and their sense of how you know they'll
say well these 250 GTE have this
consistent problem and this one has not
been fixed absolutely ab and that's
where I think for a to be really an
informed collector you be on bat all the
time and you're reading the sports car
market every month absolutely I agree
with you I'm I'm doing both things Keith
uh what's what's next what should folks
know about what's coming up for sports
car market well we're doing a a digital
we're remaking ourselves with more of an
emphasis on digital we've expanded the
online auction coverage as you've
noticed and we were hesitant to do that
because in our 37 years we had never
written about a car we had not seen in
person and we finally got all the
auction editors together and we talked
to them the auction writers and they
said they felt comfortable with a bat
car where you have lots of photos and
the description that they could give a
realistic assessment of the car without
seeing it person but it was hard for us
I I love the ethics behind that they
want to meet the same level of
professionalism and the same level of of
believing in what they're saying before
they're comfortable putting it in the in
the pages of sem and that's hugely
appreciated that's why people trust you
so much uh I would agree with that I
think you know you talked about bad
Community SCM has a much smaller
Community but it's a community of maybe
20,000 people but they're scers and they
they're used to a certain standard and
Jeff and I both wrote for the New York
Times and Rory wrote for Motor Trend we
want every article in sports car market
to be to the standard of the New York
Times absolutely want really good
writing absolutely I never got a
journalism degree either I also came out
of a history background and uh for me
it's it's just the facts as much Rich
factual information as possible don't
flower it up don't fluff it up just tell
people what they want to know and be as
truthful and straightforward as you can
which is actually kind of hard in the
car world because there's a lot of
puffery in our industry well you know
puffery is a defined word i words that's
that's what legally
that's what the auctioneers say on stage
that's kind of overblown sometimes
that's legally called puffery and they
are not legally bound to actually tell
you the truth I also I I just don't like
it you're not help you're actually
undermining my confidence in you when
you're saying things like it's the best
one it's the only one it's the perfect
one it's I hate phrases like nut and
bolt
restoration it's I like well we sold one
just like this yesterday for 10,000 more
yeah you know and on bring a trailer
when the guy was buying my
250c uh he said I just looked at what
they sold for and offered you a little
more than the best one yep that's great
I love that because they got excited
about it Keith and they got excited
about your ownership well they know they
know what a realistic price is corre me
that's that's the problem often when
you're with cars that you don't know
it's okay well is an mg twin cam worth
twice as much as an overhead valve motor
I don't how would I know I know I know
you know the one I like is the deluxe
where it's got the disc brakes and the
Dum Lop wheels off a twin cam but it
still has push yeah the push rod motor
still oh I like those mg a lot you know
those cars all those cars come to life
with a five-speed gearbox yes correct
you know I mean I with all my Alphas I
swapped out the rear ends from the four
FS they came with to 41s and they that
makes them breathe at 75 miles an hour
and makes them really good for
high-speed touring yep which is what you
love doing you got you got any more of
those I guess what I'd like to close
with Keith is what's coming up for you
personally I'm sure people would like to
hear that well first of all i' I've got
my little collection pretty well settled
like the 911s has taken me a year it was
in storage for 40 years and there were
so many little things to get right and
it's my son and I just drove it uh to a
friend's house last weekend and it the
heater was working the wipers were
working the Hela H4 I mean so it's it's
turning into a good car now well he's
going to take it on a, 1400 Porsche
rally in June I don't know yet whether
I'm going to go on that rally in the
jaguar or I'm not sure yet but I but
cars only have value if they're in use
so all my cars I have them because I can
get in and out of them even with my
handicap I have a lithian ion powered uh
mobility scooter that actually folds up
and fits under the hatch in the back of
the Jaguar no kidding wow which is
pretty cool yeah that's extremely cool I
think my collection is down to five or
six cars and it's kind of going to stay
that way I mean that's that's the right
number of cars and you know with old
cars one of them is always pissing you
off at one time or another it's like as
there's you know six cars and seven days
in the week you only get one day with
not being angry at your cars sometimes
it's more than one Keith well I'm I'm
aware of that well I took my 91 spider
in because the seat belt stopped working
and so the internals of the seat belt
had exploded oh God and you can't can't
get a replacement so we'll get a
universal one from John Norman and put
it in but it it had that and and
somebody in his past it had 20,000 miles
on when I bought it somebody in its past
and it's an automatic somebody in its
past life insanely had put in power door
locks in this car and the way they
chopped up the interior of the doors
keeps making problems because it's it's
bad it's just bad and stupid and I'm if
the guy's listening to me right now I'm
sorry but it was bad and stupid
but so we we've got to have a whole new
uh window regulator put in which John
Norman now has rebuilt and the heater
blower light has gone out and it's $200
to replace the heater blower light
because the cluster has to come out of
course I thought well you know I just
kind of have to do it because everything
else works on this car and it's it's
really a right car and it's got billins
on it and it feels good and it'll make
me crazy if I don't fix that like so I
called John I said do you have any LEDs
or you know they'll he goes are you
nuts he said why are you even fixing it
I said well I I so got to do that on the
uh the alpha spider and there's not my
car I've kind of cycled through all the
automatics that I can own what I've
learned like I had a 122s automatic and
I had a 928 automatic the problem with
the the Volvo or the alpha could
desperately use a 5-speed pdk
transmission sure if they had that they
would be just the coolest cars in the
world yeah but they have these
three-speed usually Borg Warners yeah
the Jag has a Borg Warner 3p speed but
it has so much horsepower that doesn't
matter you can just power through but
with the Volvo uh and the alpha they're
just sad you know a little bit they just
aren't developed well as automatic so
I've kind of lost interest I don't know
of another automatic uh I don't want to
get a 996 Tiptronic I don't want another
twin turbo because again like like we
said you just put it in drive and yep
you never shift at least the Sporto
forces me yes to have the illusion maybe
of being a participant but I get such
joy out of moving that lever of course
so in way to answer your question right
now things are kind of quiet I uh my son
is is kind of getting hot for a 240 but
he also loves the Disco that's his
everyday car it's a car it's got 240,000
miles on it the the it's been to the
moon and back we bought it from Doug
Shipman here in town who's put you know
those cars that generation did not have
the center difflock in them or they had
the the mechanism was there but the
linkage wasn't there so you bought a kit
and so we've got a center diff lock
which makes it really work yeah the
electronic diff locks were hopeless so
so that car is a good car for him right
now while he decides if he wants that or
Vol I'm kind of I'm more focused on how
the magazine is going to evolve and have
a stronger digital presence how we get
in front of the bat audience so that
they can decide it might only be 2,000
of them that would want to have the
written side of it but I think they
would find that they would become better
collectors when they have that kind of
information to go along with what bat
has well I'm glad that we have had you
on the podcast here which I think is a
start of that and we'll have a post
that'll go up along with this and it's
always a pleasure to to see you engage
with the community Keith I know there's
a tremendous amount of respect for you
out there so uh I think this is
hopefully kind of an ongoing thing that
we can partner on and work on because I
think that sem provides just a
tremendous amount of valuable
information for folks and you know a lot
of people to your point are on bring a
trailer specifically because they want
that expertise you know consumers are
educated these days right they want to
see what things are selling for they
want to see the peanut gallery to your
point pick cars apart right it's a great
place for people to do their research
and obviously that dovetails very nicely
with sem it's an honor to be on here and
I said I've I was introduced to Randy
before bat started and we have always
been enthusiastic fans because what
you're doing is providing users with
information that helps them make
decisions yep well you're doing the same
thing Keith so we're kind of in the in
the same boat there and you know another
long-term bring a trailer employee is
Howard Swig Martin's son you know he was
kind of employee number one around here
and I came on shortly after him so uh
it's been Delight have a quick story to
tell you here oh yeah tell tell Howard
was a what do you call him not an
apprentice uh he came up to work for the
magazine One Summer and we went out to
atoria and uh I said you want to drive
the Ferrari this David that was with me
because David's the older son yes that's
the that's our older brother okay so it
was David So this sorry Howard you're
not in the story um I said David do you
want to drive the Ferrari he goes I've
never driven a Ferrari I said well it's
just a car you know let's just get in
the car and go and he still tells me
he'll never forget his very first time
in a Ferrari was driving across the
asoria bridge in a 330 America oh what a
wonderful story I'm very fond of David
as well and he as you probably know now
drives very fancy race cars at the
Monterey historics and I know I know
he's an impressive guy and it's an honor
to know both the swigs I never knew
Martin but uh they're both great guys
Howard and David well thank you Keith so
much for making the time to do this I I
know our audience is really going to
appreciate all of your insights and and
you sharing your story with us um any
parting shots anything you'd like to
leave folks with before we uh close out
all I would say is I have absolute faith
in the Next Generation and their love
for cars I mean I just uh cars are magic
they are personal Mobility machines and
they give you Freedom they are magic
carpet for you and whatever form they're
in they will always be magic and we're
just fortunate to be a part of that
magic man that's so well said that's the
perfect uh ending to this podcast thank
you again Keith so much from sports car
market Keith Martin and thank you all
for listening please uh don't hesitate
to reach out uh with any questions
concerns or feedback to podcast
bringatrailer.com and we will catch you
next time
About this episode
Keith Martin, founder of Sports Car Market, shares his fascinating journey from a childhood on a farm to becoming a pivotal figure in the classic car community. He discusses his early experiences with cars, including his love for Alphas and Porsches, and reflects on the evolution of the car market. Keith also addresses the challenges of driving classic cars today, the importance of transparency in car sales, and the changing landscape of automotive journalism. His insights into the future of car collecting and the younger generation's interest in cars are particularly noteworthy.
Original notes
In Episode 102 of the BaT Podcast: Sports Car Market Editor and Publisher, Keith Martin (BaT username: 330america), talks about his wildly varying career arc; formative times on a tractor in Novato; vintage Volvos; a $30 Bugeye as a first car (and one uniquely suited to the utility paths at Golden Gate Park); being driven into the arms of Alfa Romeo by a prototypical experience in an MGA; one of many tough aspects of recovery from a stroke; Sportomatic stories; Alfa SS hot-rodding tips; going "skinny" after years of fat tires; perhaps the least likely use of a dance degree from Juilliard; what counted as a "classic" car in 1968; vintage page layout software; the "secret sauce" of SCM, then and now; doing old car things in new cars, and vice versa; the current structure of the magazine and a plug for subscriptions; the most loving use of the terms "troll" and "reeducation program"; the importance of adhering to one's standards no matter how times change; one inescapable truth about any car collection; and absolute faith in the next generation's love for cars.
Follow along! Links for the listings discussed in this episode:
1:00 Sports Car Market magazine
8:42 Keith Martin’s 1966 Alfa Romeo Spider Duetto
8:50 1958 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Sprint Veloce Confortevole
9:24 1971 Jaguar E-Type 2+2 V12
24:45 McPherson College
35:37 1971 Citroen DS21 Pallas
45:39 From the BaT Stable: Clean 1972 Saab Sonett III
45:57 BaT Exclusive: Keith Martin’s Melee-Veteran 1960 Mercedes Benz 190b
45:59 BaT Exclusive: Keith Martin’s 1973 Land Rover Series III
50:54 Puffery (noun) Merriam-Webster
54:52 Jon Norman: Alfa Parts of Berkeley, CA
Got suggestions for our next guest from the BaT community? Let us know at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to get them on!
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