Ever get tired of driving the van? I did, so I went out and got something "old" and "fun". It's the original Mid-Engine Japanese 2-seater sports car - the Toyota MR2. These are classics-in-waiting, and definitely a great mid-life crisis car.

As you see from the pictures, I've found this car to be SO much fun, that I have a small fleet of them! The project MR2 is the shinier of the two blue 87's, and then bought a third MR2 which has since be acquired by my daughter.

The blue MR2's are nearly identical, but the project car (think shiny) shows a lot better than the second car. No matter how they show, all the MR2's drive exceptionally well in the city and on the open highway (yes, and that means going pretty fast too).

Restoring the MR2 Mk1

 A history of the exterior restoration is basically shown on a couple more pages starting with:

Interior and power train restorations are also recorded under details about the restoration project, but this has over time become quite long and detailed. A shorter picture version is available for the interior and power train:

A restoration of this scope tends to cost a lot of money, but in comparison to buying a BMW or Porsche it is a mere fraction of their cost. It takes roughly the cost of a the MR2's original cost to bring it back to a top-notch used car condition, so this kind of thing isn't for those who are hesitant to drop money into such a project.

One big step I took was to start stockpiling parts for the future. This includes a full second MR2 (same year, colour, power train, etc.) to be an organ donor. The second MR2 is a high mileage car (>340k km) and is in daily use. As can be expected for a car with such high mileage, it has its own challenges. One of those is that has become a second project, but one that I'm not afraid to work on myself (particularly the bodywork restoration).

While these cars are nearly identically appointed now, this only happened in summer-2004. In order to illustrate the significant differences between the basic and more richly appointed 1987 Mk1 NA, the following link provides a pictorial comparison. Some of the big differences (aka rust) between a restored and unrestored Mk1 are part of this. As well, there is an identified repair history for the Second Mk1 (>340,000 km) which is showing its age.

The MR2 club of which I am a member is:

A couple of the best MR2 sites that has helped me a lot are:

When doing restorations, you are always looking for parts or cars, there is a very good support sites for the MR2:

I do watch eBay for MR2 parts use this nifty link to go straight to find MR2 parts:

Having a 1987 MR2 Mk1 means my interest are pretty focussed on that model. Why, you may ask, would anyone want to be concerned about parts for their MR2? I've got a few juicy tidbits as to why right here: