The Six Hundred Dollar Car

"Justin Hughes" (justinhughes54) 01/06/2015 at 11:20 • Filed to: Mr2

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For #MR2sday.

The story behind this... I had a silver 87 MR2, which I sold to a friend. She drove it a while, then the motor died. I'm not sure why. So she bought this pink red 85 that needed some work, and told me that if I could help her make one good car out of the two, I could slap on my autocross tires and race it. So I did.

Then I got the idea for this Six Million Dollar Man parody and went crazy.

Brumos59-2 > Justin Hughes 01/07/2015 at 10:11

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Wow, Justin, that is the funniest AW11 MR2 themed YouTube video I have seen since Regular Car Reviews.

My first car was a 1986 MR2 (sunroof) that was painted a non-factory metalflake maroon but all of the body panels were different colors underneath. The rear spoiler had been removed (or stolen) and replaced with a Pep Boys special but at least the stock bolts were still sticking up out of the trunk lid and painted over. I bought it in 1995 with just over 100k on it for $1,100...and I overpaid. Then I paid $700 or $800 for a white '87 T-Top parts car. I can't even begin to fathom the abuse that '86 must have taken in it's first 100k miles because every suspension component was completely shot. The bushings were so bad as to cause dynamic toe out when you unloaded the rear end when braking or even when lifting at high RPM. If you didn't anticipate it and countersteer you would find yourself sideways or backwards in another lane. It did teach me a hell of a lot about driving though, I'll give it that. Years later when I drove a mint 1985 I found out that my T-VIS had never even been working properly. Haha, I could go on and on and on about that car but I'll spare you.

Thanks for the laughs.

Justin Hughes > Brumos59-2 01/07/2015 at 10:14

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That sounds hilariously fun! Dynamic toe-out, and mid-engine. How do you keep the rear wheels behind the front?

Brumos59-2 > Justin Hughes 01/08/2015 at 11:48

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Very carefully!!! You did not want to turn the steering wheel while decelerating unless you wanted to go for a ride. It was hilarious fun except for the times it tried to kill us. Dad took it to work once and on his way home was passing someone on a 2 lane country road. He lifted completely off the gas at redline in 3rd and it jumped sideways on him. Luckily he is a skilled and experienced driver...but he was white as a ghost when he walked in the door a few minutes later. When he told me what happened I said, "Dad, you can't do that in that car!!!"

I was already autocrossing dad's '86 Civic SI at the time but I was afraid to auto-x that MR2. It did teach me a hell of a lot about trailing throttle oversteer and weight transfer and using the throttle to catch it, balance it and power out of it though. That's probably why I am faster in front wheel drive cars to this very day.