"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
09/24/2015 at 22:07 • Filed to: beater, mr2
2
16|
"yitznewton" (yitznewton)
09/24/2015 at 22:07 • Filed to: beater, mr2 | 2
| 16 |
In my quest for a small, light, agile RWD car, the top of my shortlist is the AP2 S2000, and the Mazdaspeed and ND Miatas. There’s one additional entry which is something of a fantasy, but one that might be realized one day.
You see, as an ’80s boy, there’s something special about the AW11 (first-generation) Toyota MR2. Manual everything, sharp ’80s lines, pop-up headlights, corduroy-esque seats, and light mid-engine goodness make this a unique car with special appeal for me. The facts that the newest one is over 25 years old, and that most are rusted to hell, are dampeners, but not dream-killers. The holy grail would be a red supercharged model.
In theory I might consider a faraway copy if I found one up for sale, but never having driven one, I would have a hard time pulling the trigger. So when I saw an AW11 listed in a used-car lot within a couple miles of my house, my ears perked up. Granted, it was pretty rough-looking, with 170k miles and a host of rust, but I figured this might be my chance to finally experience the car, and possibly even find a project car.
How wrong I was.
This was one sad, sad copy of an MR2. The brakes were barely able to stop the car, and there must have been at least 20 degrees of play in the steering, so that pretty much shot to hell any hope I had of sampling the car’s greatest appeal: its excellent and distinctive handling. We also broke down on the test drive because of some electrical gremlin or other, and possibly also due to running out of fuel. We made it back to the lot with a gas can, and a portable battery charger wedged into the engine bay. I was busy worrying about dying because of the brakes and steering, but the syncros also seemed bad.
There were some positives though. The engine itself actually seemed pretty strong, and so I at least got some vague sense of the acceleration. I was also able to feel the fit of the driving position, which was wonderful: the seats are both bolstered and plush, so they really hug you when you sink into them. Steering-wheel and shifter placement were also plusses. The clutch pedal may have been a little far right, and I didn’t get to test heel-toeing - again, trying not to crash. Blips for rev-matching worked fine, once I got used to slamming the worn gears into place.
Hopefully with this experience, along with an earlier no-brakes NA Miata incident, I’ve learned not to bother with miserable cars in an attempt to gauge the worthiness of a good example. There is just no basis for comparison.
LongbowMkII
> yitznewton
09/24/2015 at 22:21 |
|
nice.
CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> yitznewton
09/24/2015 at 22:22 |
|
How about a Celica All-Trac?
|
yitznewton
> LongbowMkII
09/24/2015 at 22:23 |
|
I know?!
|
LongbowMkII
> yitznewton
09/24/2015 at 22:23 |
|
that car is in need of a motivated young person with not much financial sense.
Im guessing it was ridiculously priced.
Trunk Impaired 318
> yitznewton
09/24/2015 at 22:23 |
|
I’ll sell you mine!
|
LongbowMkII
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
09/24/2015 at 22:25 |
|
light, RWD.
|
yitznewton
> CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
09/24/2015 at 22:27 |
|
Hmm interesting... I can’t remember the last time I’ve even seen a Celica of that era, and cars.com has no All-Tracs in a 500-mile radius of me. I’m not sure about where you are, but it seems like in the Tri-State area they’ve all/mostly gone to rust or wreck.
|
yitznewton
> LongbowMkII
09/24/2015 at 22:28 |
|
$1420... the 420 is accurate enough :D
Birddog
> LongbowMkII
09/24/2015 at 22:31 |
|
Tramp Stamp.
|
yitznewton
> Trunk Impaired 318
09/24/2015 at 22:33 |
|
Tell me about her...
|
CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
> yitznewton
09/24/2015 at 23:48 |
|
You can probably get one imported from Japan under the 25 year rule for rather cheap...there is on goo net for 5 grand, in the special wide body gt4 version
|
LongbowMkII
> yitznewton
09/25/2015 at 01:15 |
|
probably traded for $500. $700 makes a NP
|
LongbowMkII
> Birddog
09/25/2015 at 01:19 |
|
Is there an equivalent for the front?
Quixotic
> yitznewton
09/25/2015 at 02:41 |
|
First, The butterfly shadow hood ornament is awesome!
I have low standards for cars. As in: “I’ll give you $275 for that valiant with damage to all four corners and a leaky head gasket.” or “Sure, it’s no problem to test drive this car while sitting on a milk crate, since there are no seats.” Still, I am occasionally amazed at how rough a car can be. Questions arise, like: Where did all the interior panels _go_? But how did you manage to break that bit? Why are you using a piece of strap iron for an interior door handle, when rope would hurt less and work better? Do you really think all those zip ties are holding the motor mount to the body? Crappy used cars can be truly amazing.
|
Trunk Impaired 318
> yitznewton
09/25/2015 at 11:55 |
|
http://elmira.craigslist.org/cto/5222805770…
Not perfect by any means but she runs strong and has been very good to me
Swayze Train GTi
> yitznewton
09/27/2015 at 15:23 |
|
Suspiciously butterfly-shaped