Lot's of good advise here. A few comments I would make are: 1. Focus on a limited scope of vehicles. As other have mentioned, each make, model and year have their pro's and con's. If you see a car, fall in love with it and buy it, without knowing a lot about it, you may fall out of love with it due to cost to maintain, availability of parts and repair specialists in your area if you need them. 2. Research. Related to number 1, is that you need to do detailed research on vehicles your are interested in buying, therefore, you need to keep scope of how many different types of cars within a reasonable limit. Internet, car clubs, books, buyers guides, etc. are great ways to collect information. Joining a club for a specific mark before getting a car is a great idea. Know what your skills are, and the skills your are interested in learning/growing, then find out what services are available in your area for he car your are interested in. Lot's of the old experts are retiring and closing shops, so support can be limited. Also research parts availability. I'm restoring an MGB currently. The good news is that your can practically build a new car from a catalog, including body shell, and the costs are reasonable. The bad news is a lot of the reproduction parts either don't fit well or are of poor quality. Anyway, research so you know what you are getting into. 3. Select the car that meets your needs. The advice to buy the best car you can is a good one. That running driving car that would be worth $15K if #2 condition, that you can buy for $8K in #3 or 4 condition could be a horrible deal. Just paint and interior could cost $15K, even if you do most of the work. However, if like me, you want to learn to do all the work, and don't mind being upside down in the car, and buy the car cheap enough, go for it. Before retiring I would buy cars, do the mechanical's, drive them a bit then flip them, not having the time or money to do a full restoring. I finally built a shop, put in a hoist and am doing a full restoration on an MGB GT with no rust. Still, by the time it's done I will probably have $20K in it, not counting the welder and other tools I have purchased, but I am doing it for fun and the experience. This is what I mean about a car that meets your needs. I could have bought done for $15K, but wanted a car to restore. 4. Be realistic. You most likely will not make any money on the car, and will likely lose money. As other have mentioned, shows like wheeler dealers are unrealistic. By the time you pay Ed or Ant a reasonable wage, pay the overhead for the shop, tools etc, that 2-3K$ the "profit" from the car is a joke. If you want a car to take a cruise in, take to shows, join a club, polish and maintain, buy that. If you want a car to restore and tinker, buy that. It's a hobby and hobbies cost money, so buy and do what brings you joy.
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