What do you do when that fateful day comes and you decide that an old classic car is just what the family garage needs to keep you at home and busy on those long winter nights. There is allot of very good advice out there, and I would like to take this opportunity to share some of mine. Having now owned over 40 cars, more than my age thankfully, I most definitely have first hand experience in what to do and more importantly, what not to do.

Personally, it is seldom that I seek out a particular car to buy, they usually find me either through friends, the car club, or someone running after me saying they know of another car like mine for sale. Although this can work, I wouldn’t rely on this method until one has developed a very good "car sense". There are just too many poor cars out there that are far beyond economic or practical restoration.

This leads me to my first point. I feel that at the beginning you must decide if you want to buy a car that someone else has done up, or do you want to tackle the job of restoring on your own. There are pluses and minuses to both. Someone else’s restored car might be my idea of a "cleaned up mess" that you couldn’t give away. The term restored is over-used and I would tend to ignore that term altogether. When looking for a car that you can just jump into and drive away, be prepared to pay for it. Someone has to pay for the labour, time and money spent on the car. I do find it is generally far cheaper to buy a properly restored car than having to do it on your own. This only makes good sense however, when you’re able to check the quality of work that has been done. Find out what shop did the work and go there to see what other cars look like while being worked on. If a car is stuck in the corner piled high with cardboard boxes and oily rags, rest assured your potential buy suffered the same fate. While there, tell them what you are doing, the shop workers are bound to tell you some of the cars history the owner doesn’t. You’ll usually hear phrases like " I remember that piece of crap" or hopefully "gee, that was a real great car to work on".

Another major and common problem with a restored or fixed up car, is that the owner had good intentions at the beginning but the job soon became too big and expensive. This means that somewhere along the line a decision was made to cheapen the job and cut corners to "hurry up" and move it out. This results in poor work that will show up a year or two after you pay for the car and just foster the feeling of disappointment with the it. Too often a "bad car" is really one that proper time and care wasn’t taken with and the poor owner becomes disillusioned and he just wants to get rid of it, forever spoiling him to the joys of classic car ownership.

On the other hand, if the work checks out, and the car appears to measure up to your standards then investigate further. I never rule out "gut feelings" when buying something, and have yet to be disappointed using this method. If something or the owner just does not "feel" right, then it isn’t and walk away. There are more cars out there looking for new owners than the other way around. Assuming you have basic mechanical skills I would suggest that a thorough inspection is next. If you don’t know what you are doing, it is worth paying some one who does. The owner of the car should have no objections to either you going over the car or taking it to a garage. If they do, then there is a problem and you don’t want this car, I have avoided expensive mistakes this way. More than once I have learned of someone buying a car I rejected only to find some major fault was in hiding.

Future columns will deal in greater detail with what I do when having found the car that I want.

Should you chose to do your own work, make sure you do not over-estimate your abilities. Anyone can weld or paint, but doing it properly is another matter altogether. I feel this is where education comes into the picture. Buy books, rent videos or even take night school courses that teach you these skills. Even if you do not choose to do all of the work yourself, knowing what you are talking about will result in proper communication with the person you do hire to do the job. More than once a "good body man" has revealed his ignorance to me by saying something I know was just not correct. I do not want to pay someone to learn on my car with my money.

I most definitely feel that assessing your skills should come before deciding on what car to buy. This way you can size up the potential project and confidently say that it is within my skills and budget or not. Always remember, even with doing your own work, many thousands of dollars will be spent just buying the parts you will need.

Having confidence in your skills and knowledge will now lead you to the next step of educating yourself on the car. Now decide on which type of cars you like, I have mostly Jaguars and MGs. Again, buy books on them, join a relevant car club, and just talk to people who own examples already. Just about everyone has a car club and car show in their area. In this way you will find out what to look for in a potential purchase and know their weak spots and strong points. Some cars will have strong motors but poor bodies. This just might fit into your skills, some friends of mine love to do body work and hate the mechanicals, buying a Jaguar with a blown engine means spending $5000 extra after you’ve done all of your work. I suggest spending a bit more money on a car not needing repairs done in an area that you don’t want to tackle.

I think that it is important to remember that a classic car is more about you than the car. Once "you" are sorted out, the car becomes fun and will transport you spiritually as well as physically down the road of "funtastic car ownership".