Back on 1 September I talked to a chap who had just bought an immaculate 30,000-mile 1996 Virage V8 for £32,000 plus £3840 auction commission at Historics. He reckoned it would be a good bet. But the maintenance costs of these cars are crippling, and always have been. There are signs that now the stock market is recovering, the heat may go out of classic cars as investments. There has been a lot of hype about £8 million and £12 million Ferraris pulling up auction prices. This can be a very easy way to make several million. You buy a rare car for £5 million, but put out a news release that you paid £7 million. Then another comes up at auction and, on the strength of what you apparently paid, it makes £7 million, so your £5 million car is immediately 'worth' £7 million.