You know the feeling – It’s Saturday evening, you’re a bottle of red deep, you’ve completed your Auto Trader saved searches and ended up getting lost in Sweden on Collecting Cars.
That’s when it happens.
We’re talking lightning bolts. The sound of angelic harps. When everything else in the room fades away. …and there she (he/her/him) is, your first real car and you’ve got to have it.
I’m not sure if I’ve just aired my typical evening routine but I suspect this is likely what happened to this fellow owner when he spotted his one true love. A Toyota MR2 on eBay.
It’s the perfect Saturday night surf. Two seats, mid-engine, 80’s vents, spoilers, pop-up headlights, you name it. As if all that wasn’t enough, the owner only had a matching spec example in period! Original photo of a photo above. (If you don’t know what that means you should stop reading now).
Another glug of Cab, a click later and she was his.
A week or so later, I get the call, “I’ve done a thing”. Or words to the effect. I’m not sure who was more excited at this point…
Once I got the car on the ramp I could see what we were dealing with and I suspect the previous owner had been a tad creative with the last MOT.
However, the mileage stacked up, the service history was good and there were a fair few spare parts. But the ace card was the doppelganger colour combo which simply pulled every nostalgic string possible. So, we got to work.
As with any car, we discussed the pros, cons and options at length. This stage went on for 3 months in fact. Finally, we align that we’re not aiming to hit Pebble Beach on this one. Simply to recapture nostalgic heyday memories, safely.
What a lovely brief.
I rather like starting with an independent pre-MOT in case we have missed anything so we settled on stage one being an underside refurbishment and general restoration.
The rear of the car had previously been worked on so we inherited a style which helped answer further considerations and kept it easier on the wallet. A real rabbit run can happen under here but most of the bushes were OK so some areas could remain for another day. Post scary stuff came the making good and or replacement of the suspension components and brakes.
One clean MOT pass later and our work here is done. When I say done, I mean nowhere near done. We will now be moving onto the bodywork which I’ll share with you in another instalment.
See you next Saturday!
A few candid photos of the exact car the owner had in period – if anyone knows of it’s where abouts please reach out.
The authenticity of a photo of a photo – also helpful wheel reference for upcoming referb.