In the era before Cars & Coffee-style events, it was rare to see gatherings of collectible cars outside a highly organized setting. These were generally semi-formal concours-style events. They started with the early arrival of the entrants’ cars, sometimes before dawn. Cars were most often shown with the hoods shut, […]

Fred Amigo lived in a modest house on 28th Avenue near Quintara Street in the Parkside District of San Francisco. You could see the Pacific Ocean from the back of his home. I lived eight blocks away at 20th and Taraval. I first met Fred at an Alfa event in […]

“Dad, it’s like a U-shape. ‘Start’ is to the far left, then you move the wand across the steering column to get to the other gears.” That’s how my 14-year-old son Bradley explained the arcane and obtuse shifting pattern of the Citromatic transmission in our 1971 Citroën DS21 Pallas. When […]

If you live in the Maldives, you are aware that the seas are rising. Whether temperatures are going up because of diesel emissions, home barbecue grills or cows farting methane doesn’t really matter. In the end, the earth is warming and the ocean is getting higher. It’s the same with […]

Facebook didn’t exist when SCM was created. My first posts with pictures of Bradley were made 12 years ago, when he was 3. The equivalent period of his sister Alexandra’s life is captured in piles of three-by-five-inch photos scattered and stashed and filed and piled in innumerable places. I tell […]

If all goes as expected, I will be a full-time student at Portland State University next quarter. I will need to complete 45 credits, or about one year, to be awarded a degree. My plan is to enter the Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning. According to the PSU […]

Our former headquarters covered 6,000 square feet, and had both individual offices and conference rooms. Best of all, we had a 10-car garage in the basement. When my Alfa collection was at its peak, I recall the vanity and conceit of arranging the cars by coachbuilder, (Bertone, Pininfarina, Zagato), and […]

Recently, I took another vintage-car-inspired trip through time. For 44 years, Portland International Raceway has been the home of the All British Field Meet. Cars arrive on Friday, there is an informal concours on Saturday, and a swapmeet on Sunday. My good friends Paul Duchene and SCM contributor Jeff Zurschmeide […]

Three cars from the SCM fleet recently completed the 2021 SCM 1000 Classic. While they all finished the tour (“returning home on their wheels rather than a flatbed”), they were walking wounded at the end. This is not a bad thing. Old cars like to be driven, and by putting […]