Buying a car from an enthusiast who has some history with the car, who knows what's been spent on the car and where it's been for a number of years, can be a safer road to follow. You still need to be careful for this may be an owner who has devoted hundreds of hours of loving care and attention on his car or lavished thousands with genuinely good companies, or he may not fall into either of those categories.

He may be a DIY man who has rather more enthusiasm than experience and skill. He may have had to take short cuts to save money on parts, or he may have been the victim of one or several of the many rogue restorers. So, care is still needed but there is no substitute for personal contact. This will allow you to build up a picture of the sort of person you are dealing with and how he will have treated his car.

Obviously, the greater the history with the car the better, including invoices, MOTs and suchlike. A full photographic record should be very helpful. Photographs will not necessarily tell you the work has been done right, but will certainly illustrate the level of work undertaken. You should be careful of comments about a car being restored by a particular firm, whom you have established are reputable. It is possible they may have only done part of the work, and yet their good name is being applied to the restoration as a whole. These comments also apply to buying from a dealer or an auction house.