The 10 Best Places To Find An Affordable Classic Car Pt 5: Auto Trader & Auto Trader Classics

Part V:  8. Auto Trader & Auto Trader Classics (print and online)

These are two solid publications that also boast equally complete online versions. Auto Trader covers cars from 1981 to present, Auto Trader Classics covers mainly cars 1980 and older. The national market is well represented with these two. A good mix of private party and dealer ads show up here, as a result there are some real bargains to be had.

Great for paging through in bed.

Auto Trader Classics has come a long way from its “Old Car Trader” roots. The print publication got a serious facelift with more color photos and some full color glossy pages as opposed to the old days when it was all black and white newsprint. Both publications have their own websites which are powerful tools to conduct comprehensive, local or national searches for specific cars.

Image rich, lots of color.

While I like to buy the occasional print copy of Auto Trader Classics at the bookstore to browse through in bed at night, it’s clear that the website is the place to be. New listings are added all the time, everyday. The print version comes out once a month. It’s nice to page through sometimes, but if you’re serious about finding a car, you’ve got to be on the website and you’ve got to be fast. You’ve got to see the new listings before the next guy if you want to swoop in and take advantage of the best deals on the best cars.

The wave of the present, and future.

The thing that separates Auto Trader Classics from Hemmings Motor News for me, because they are similar in many respects, is the fact that Auto Trader Classics is so much more image based, especially the print version. Every classified in auto Trader Classics is accompanied with a photo, that’s what they’re all about. Online is pretty much the same way, the only ads without photos seem to be some of the newer ads that might be waiting for a photo submission.

Auto Trader Classics is where you’ll find the old cars, 1950s, 60s, 70s. The regular Auto Trader is full of modern everyday drivers and specialty cars. It can be a good place to find a deal, an older classic listed there may fall through the cracks. If you’re looking for modern classics, say a 1986 Corvette or mid 80s Alfa Romeo Spider, Auto Trader is the place to look if you want an early 70s Vette it’s Auto Trader Classics.

There seems to be about an equal amount of dealer listings and private listings in Auto Trader Classics. You’ve got everything from the big vintage car dealers with large inventories and very expensive cars, to the one man show with a dealer’s license and a couple of cars for sale, all the way down to the guy in your neighborhood listing his car on the national market.

While browsing listings online what inevitably happens is that I click on a particular car listed by a dealer, there is a link to that dealer’s website which I click and I’m on a dealer’s website that I didn’t know about previously. Maybe I find myself looking at a car that I had no intention of looking at. In short, searching Auto Trader Classics has introduced me to many classic car dealers that I didn’t know about before. I’ve bookmarked their websites and find myself visiting their sites regularly.

Just searching these classifieds has expanded my knowledge and understanding of the larger collector car market and the players, big and small, in the car hobby. This is an added benefit of most of the sources on this top ten list. In the end it’s all networking, the more people in the hobby you get to know the more fun you’ll have, the more opportunities to buy and sell cars will come up.