I was just wondering where I could buy classic cars, or specific cars.  Theres a bunch of Cups like the Italia cup or Japanese classic cups and I can't tell whats an Italian company, Japanese company, and furthermore I don't even see cars older than 1979 for the Japanese classic cup.  Am I missing something that gives me more information?  I spend a lot of time jumping from the requirements page of a Cup to the Dealerships just to go "wait........ what kind of car did I need again?"   
 
Is there an easier way to do this.

" I was just wondering where I could buy classic cars, or specific cars.  Theres a bunch of Cups like the Italia cup or Japanese classic cups and I can't tell whats an Italian company, Japanese company, and furthermore I don't even see cars older than 1979 for the Japanese classic cup.  Am I missing something that gives me more information?  I spend a lot of time jumping from the requirements page of a Cup to the Dealerships just to go "wait........ what kind of car did I need again?"     Is there an easier way to do this. "

I made a thread about exactly the same issue. It's so annoying having to remember all the names of the cars that you need to be eligible for the race only to go all the way back in the menus and not remember because they don't really give a description. This game is so annoying like that.

What I actually had to resort to is writing the names of the cars down that I needed. Kind of pathetic. The navigation in this game is a mess.

I figured I wasn't the only one.  I could careless about load times in a video game, but I spend more time in the menus in GT5 because I'm confused more than anything else lol.
 
Also wanted to know if there's a way to tell if your cars need maintenance without going into the maintenance section and checking each individual thing.

Agreed. The load times don't really bother me especially when there is no loading between restarts which is nice, I can understand loading from a menu to actual gameplay. But sometimes I just find myself at the GT Life menu thinking, "OK now what was the purpose of me doing that again?"

I know this thread isn't a "what would make this game better" but it'd be cool if there was a tutorial and advanced tutorial mode you can turn on whenever you want.  So when you spin out, or fail at a license they tell you what your doing wrong.  Sometimes slamming on the gas or break during a turn after a opposite turn can cause too much friction and momentum and spin out your car......... I don't even know if that's right I had to make that up because after so much trial and error I guessed that's what my problem was :p

The way I went about the game, I never had to buy a standard car, but have so far been able to complete all the Beginner events, and enter some of the more restrictive ones in Amateur, Pro and Expert. It might not be a path you want to take, but doing the licences and special events usually rewards you with a car you can use for one of the series events - often it's a much faster car than everyone else too. 
 
Asides from that, unfortunately the only way would be to wait it out and pick one up in the dealership when they become available. 
 
As for spinning out, a lot of it depends on the drive-train of the car. Front engine, rear wheel drive cars are notoriously hard to manoeuvre around corners at speed. While the car is turning, it needs to maintain traction to stay stuck to the road - when you jam on the accelerator, the rear wheels can spin (because they're going faster than the car is moving) and the result is a complete loss of traction from the wheels that are driving the car, so the car will end up spinning on it's axis (the heavy engine at the front). What you want to do is prepare for the corners before hand and visualise what you're going to need to do to make it through without error. For the most part, this involves gradually braking as you approach the turn (preferably not while turning) and then gliding around as much of the corner as possible, feathering the throttle to maintain enough speed to see yourself through it. Get the car pointed straight out of the corner before putting more power on the throttle as you exit. With enough practice, you'll eventually get the feel for it, and become much quicker at taking corners and may also be able to throttle earlier on the exit if you're confident you'll be able to countersteer the inevitable "drifting" the car will do. 
 
Before each licence test, they do give you a brief description of what you're going to need to do. Maybe not as in-depth as you'd like, but the core ideas are there.

As far as Licenses go all I can say is to use your ghost as the basis of improvement. If you keep at it and keep beating your ghost you'll eventually get the gold. I got all golds on the first set of licenses (B) last night by doing this. You will need to get the feel for each car they give you and it won't be something you just pick up, you need to keep at it and you'll notice yourself becoming more efficient.

 For the most part, this involves gradually braking as you approach the turn (preferably not while turning) and then gliding around as much of the corner as possible, feathering the throttle to maintain enough speed to see yourself through it. Get the car pointed straight out of the corner before putting more power on the throttle as you exit