The intelligent purchase of any classic requires a lot of homework before you ever go to look at a car.  For example, you need to learn how to evaluate the condition of a car and about other factors affecting the price a seller can reasonably expect to get for their vehicle.

You also need to know that buying a classic generally shouldn't be thought of as an investment. Unless you're a professional broker dealing in very high dollar cars, odds are you'll put far more money into your restoration project than you can possibly get back out of it when you sell the vehicle. In fact, for many of us, the price we paid for our Cougars was just a down payment on the final restoration project.

Then there's the emotion factor. Investments are supposed to be based on a rational decision process. Buying a 40 year old car that may require thousands of dollars in restoration work so you can drive it on good weather weekends is not rational by any investment standard. But it IS fun, and that's why we do it.