With so much going on across the classic car market, it’s hard to keep up with what’s desirable and what’s not – and what’s the hot tip to buy. Our advice is to buy what you love – if you do that you’ve a much better chance of avoiding disappointment – but we think these cars are worth looking at.We’re going to concentrate on the middle of the market here. While we’ve seen significant price increases in some models at the bottom end of the market – the MGB is a good example – as buyers become more knowledgeable they are moving away from the well trodden ground occupied by British classic cars such as the Jaguar E-type and Austen Healey.  The desire to stand out from the crowd is a strong one  and as the industry develops and grows there are more and more able specialists with the knowledge and ability to look after more unusual marques and models – which is helping those cars to find homes.

Maserati have a fine selection of understated classics on offer – the Bora and it’s sibling the Merak are great looking cars that offer a good drive, a degree of practicality and low volume production. The Maserati 3500 GT also look pretty good value against its Maranello-born cousins and, the Khamsin has the type of love-it-or-hate-it looks (but certainly more elegant) shared by the Lamborghini Jarama without the responsibility of a V12 to look after.

From the UK, we like the look of the De Lorean DMC-12 – it’s appearance in Back to the Future gave it iconic status and the brushed stainless steel body looks fantastic, but don’t buy one if you’re looking for all-out performance. They’ve been good value for years  and look set to become more desirable as the Back to the Future generation start to choose their classics. The Volvo P1800 is a great looking car that also hailed from the UK (they were built here) and enjoyed notable product placement in TV series “The Saint”. Exquisite inside and out, values have been building – the pick of the bunch is the S, which was actually built back home in Sweden after quality control problems with UK built cars…

Expanding “The Back to the Future” theme – the techno-cars of the 80’s and 90’s (Youngtimers, as the Germans call them) are undoubtedly on the up with rally heritage playing an all important part in the equation – think Lancia, Ford and Audi. Again this is a generational thing and there are plenty of poster cars from that era beginning to pick up momentum. There is good infrastructure and support for these cars now – as well as specialist dealers – so expect the market to grow.

Finally, and rather obviously, Ferrari’s of this era have risen tremendously in price, and we can’t see that stopping. Choose carefully, but the Testarossa and its baby V8 brothers look better and better with age and they carry the most important badge in automotive history.