{"id":104,"date":"2026-08-20T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/2026\/08\/20\/buying-a-classic-car-what-to-check-first\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:00:00","slug":"buying-a-classic-car-what-to-check-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/buying-a-classic-car-what-to-check-first\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying a classic car: what to check first"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">A classic car is priced by its history as much as by its shine. Before you fall for the colour, check the three things that decide what it is really worth.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rust first<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Look underneath, in the wheel arches, the sills and the boot floor. Fresh underseal can hide a lot, so bring a magnet and a torch, and ask for photos from any restoration.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Matching numbers<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An engine and gearbox that left the factory with the car add a large part of its value. Compare the stamps with the build sheet or the chassis plate before you agree a price.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Paperwork<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Receipts, old registrations and owner letters turn a story into a fact. A thick binder is worth paying for; a car with no history should cost a lot less.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Drive it warm<\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many faults only show when everything is hot. Drive for at least half an hour and watch the gauges, the smoke and the oil pressure.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rust, matching numbers and paperwork \u2014 the three things that decide the price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":105,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_avava_byline":"M. Reyes","_avava_car":0,"_avava_notes":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[38,34],"class_list":["post-104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classics","tag-buying","tag-classic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/template-preview.com\/wordpress\/avavamotors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}