MR2s are not necessarily hard to find, but less frequent are those project-grade examples that come with the parts needed to complete a light restoration. This 1986 model has some body damage and is tired cosmetically, but the seller claims the rebuilt engine has a mere 40,000 miles on it which should provide many more years of service. Find it listed here on eBay for $3,500 or best offer.
Toyota’s mid-engined sports coupe found favor with enthusiasts of all kinds, from backroads cruisers to autocrossers that routinely attended Nationals. The reliability, tossability and relatively low costs of ownership made it a car almost anyone could live with. Sheetmetal was sensitive, however, and the rear quarters are rusty on this car like so many others. Fortunately, the seller is including a left-side quarter patch panel as well as a replacement door skin to fix a driver’s side dent.
A common repair on these cars is the timing belt, which thankfully is not an interference engine design. However, what is critical is to set the cam timing correctly as not doing so can have disastrous consequences. I actually had a neighbor who worked on one every night after work to get the timing belt and water pump done only to not set the timing correctly; he quickly had a boat anchor on his hands. Hopefully, this job has already been done on this car.
The seller is including or offering for sale a variety of spares, including this pair of recently reupholstered bucket seats (these are for sale separately). Noted spares include the following: “Extra parts included such as a front grille, a new distributor, new “eyebrow” moldings, and a new fuel pump (needs to be installed).” Overall, this seems like a sensible project with just the right-side rear quarter panel the lone item needing sourcing.
These were fun cars to drive. The 4A-GE twin-cam four is quite a lively engine, especially when equipped with the on-demand supercharger.
NZ got a lot of these as secondhand ex-Japan imports, many with an auto trans. I passed up scoring a low mileage, but very rusty, supercharged/slushbox JDM example, due to a lack of space, at the time. Price was a more-then-reasonable NZD $500.
My neighbour, back then, had a base-model ’84 Corolla, which if I’d been able to score, my grandson and I would have found space somewhere to swap the 4A-GE out of the MR2 and drop it into the Corolla. It would have made a fun bracket car at the drags.
If I’m not mistaken, the Corolla’s here DID get the twincam engine; FX-16?
Anyhow, talked Dad into getting a first-year model. That car was a hoot to scream on the Merritt Pkwy.
Yes, but my neighbour’s car was a base-model 1200 with a four speed and a plywood cargo floor instead of a back seat.
Those early FX-GTs were quite a hot hatch when they were new. Sadly, most in NZ have rusted away into oblivion.
I quite liked these back in the day. Especially the removable roof version.
I remember when the Toyota MR2 looked like this. I had one like the one advertised here. I liked everything about it except there was something missing from the windscreen surround that was allowing the windscreen to leak when it rained. I never could find out what the damn problem was, but it was a first car for me, and I was saving money to buy something better, a 2nd gen Camry or something.
Street-legal go-kart, just great fun in the upper part of the rev band.
I have an 85 that I drove off the dock brand new. Never driven in winter so it’s totally rust free. It has 106,000 miles now and I did the timing belt once about 5 years ago. Apparently I got the cam timing right because it runs great. Since it is a non interference engine what are “the disastrous consequences” resulting in “a boat anchor” referred to above if getting the cam timing wrong?
I had a white ‘86 and went head on with an el camino…sitting on a trailer….that broke off the tow vehicle. And i lived to tell today. ;)
If I was 16 and looking for my first car a first gen Mister Two would be on my short list. Great little sports car.