How I Came to Own Peaches - My 1986 Toyota MR2

Recently I've been seeing a lot of people posting stories of what led them to buy their special cars and it inspired me to tell my own, in a length fashion...because blog.

Well I should start off by saying that I grew up in a GM family.  The only non-GM car any male in my family has owned, was my father and his Mark I Volkswagen GTI before I was born.  My father currently has a 2003 Silverado and his brother, a 1964 Corvette convertible with a 327 (drool).  Even my first two vehicles were 1980's Camaros and I broke the mold when I bought my 1985 Dodge D150 SWB pickup.

With gas prices on the rise, and my Dodge only having 3 gears mated to a 318 V8...it was time for a change.  I started looking for a small import to putt around in and still have a bit of fun.  All I asked for was that it had a manual transmission and had a decent aftermarket for once I got the urge for go-fast parts.

I saw an ad on Craigslist for a 1998 Honda Prelude, 5spd and bad paint that was at the top end of my price range.  Upon seeing the car in person, the seller failed to mention a few things.  It had been in a wreck, it had high miles, windshield was cracked completely across, wipers didn't work, and 3rd gear synchro was going out.  The test drive wasn't much better.  It torque steered like crazy, the synchro was frustrating, the exhaust was annoying and droned incessantly, etc, etc.  I left and continued my search.

I posted an ad on my local "racing" forum that I was looking for a small import, had to be 5spd, had to be RWD, and had to run.  A few people chimed in with their rotary RX-7s but rotaries are beyond me.  A few weeks later once I had started to give up hope, because anything that interested me was far out of my price range, a local sheriff's deputy chimed in that he had a 1985 Toyota MR2 5spd that needed very little work and he was willing to let go for half of my budget.  So I jumped.

We met atop a parking garage in downtown and my lord....I had never seen a car so small.  My truck was dwarfed by a buddy's F150, and my truck dwarfed this little micro-machine.  The car was accurately described to me upon inspection.  The paint was good but it had a horrendous off-center silver stripe.  The interior was half tan, half brown and there was no shift boot.  But for the price, it seemed like a reasonable deal.  Then came the drive.

Directly under the parking garage ran a road with a beautifully abandoned S-curve.  Getting used to driving a manual again took a little bit of slow driving and remembering, but I got the hang of it by the time I exited the garage.  I started down the aforementioned road.  I have no idea how fast I was going but I'm sure it wasn't within the legal limit, but I didn't care.  Not one car had put a smile on my face as big as the one that tore, not cracked, across my face when I hit those bends.  Not even my 450hp Camaro.  I had to have it.

I got back to my truck and the owner of the MR2, unable to shake my smile.  He knew I wanted the car because he asked "So...what day works for you?".  We scheduled a date for purchase and parted ways.  I was still smiling when I got home.

The morning of the day we were scheduled to meet, my heart was broken.  I had a voicemail.  Apparently this man had lent the car to his cousin, who had parked the car downtown on the biggest drinking night of the week.  It was rear-ended overnight and the engine was basically sitting in the cockpit.  I was furious.  And as stubborn as I am, I had to have an MR2.  I got on the internet and found another one....1000 miles from home, in Atlanta, GA.

I exchanged texts with the owner of this one, set up a time for him to meet me at the airport, convinced a buddy of mine to fly one way and drive home immediately after landing.  So we bought our tickets and boarded our plane at 6:45am.  I baffled the crew and surrounding passengers when I ordered a beer at 7am, but I was flying 1000 miles to spend $2300 on a car I had never seen in person...I needed it...and I wasn't charged for it.

Anway, we landed and the car arrived shortly after.  I was a little surprised when I noticed it was a hardtop as I had never asked and naturally assumed that it had a sunroof.  I noticed it had been in a front collision at some point because there was no front bumper and the support had been shoddily repaired.  All 4 tires were bald, the speedometer didn't work and I noticed the struts were blown.  Considering one-way return tickets bought the same day would probably cost as much as the car itself, I bought the car.  It was more fun than the flight anyway.

So we got all the paperwork together, shook hands, got the tires replaced and embarked on our 16 hour drive home.  This was probably the single greatest experience of my life.  Granted my calves were absolutely GONE after a few hours of no cruise control, but it was fun regardless.  It was incredible getting to know the car over such a long period.  Going through the back roads deep in the hills of Arkansas was amazing.  Even with a 270lb passenger and used tires, the handling was that of a cat on carpet.

It was long, risky, uncomfortable, and incredible.  Doing something similar is not for the feint of heart, but I highly recommend it if you think you can handle it.  These little cars stolen from Pontiac and re-engineered by the Japanese are one of the most overlooked tuner cars.  Mid-engine, rear wheel drive, the platform almost all supercars are based off of.  The handling is insane.  Sure they lack a little in the "go" area, but that can be remedied over time.  If you find an MR2 for sale, just go and drive it.  You won't regret it.