What should you do when you have too many projects and are starting to feel stressed about not being able to get anything done? Buy another one, of course! I really need to stop scrolling through facebook marketplace when I'm bored.
This listing caught my eye immediately: $2500 1986 AW11 MR2, 2 owner, 75,000 miles. That was the only useable information from the listing. All of the pictures were corrupted on upload and only vaguely showed the outline of a white mr2. No other information other than a name and a phone number.
I normally would have scrolled past, but then I noticed that the location was shown as only being 5 miles from my house! I figured it was at least going to see in person. I called the owner and made arrangements to see it the next day. That unfortunately ended up being during a snow storm and temperatures below 0F with windchill, but I was still able to check out the undersides of the car and poke around it a bit. Imagine this, but with a couple inches of snow covering the top.
I spoke to the owner for quite a while before agreeing to purchase the car. I have no intention of keeping it, only to fix it up and resell it. I wanted to make sure that he was ok with that before I bought it. He is an older gentleman (77?), and he bought the car in 1999 from his neighbor. He has known the car since it was purchased brand new. The interior of the car is in beautiful shape, but unfortunately the car was driven in winter a few times, and there are a couple of rust holes in the far corners. The majority of the common aw11 rust spots are completely clean though!
I picked the car up last night and got it off the trailer into my garage. I drained the nasty old fuel out of the tank in preparation for starting it. The car "ran when parked", and was taken off the road because the alternator failed. It will definitely need all new brakes as well. Initial inspection of the engine is looking good. Oil and coolant look good, spark plugs are all clean, and it turns over freely by hand. I will hopefully be able to get it started this weekend.
My plan for this car is to get it running well and get the body cleaned up as good as possible before listing it for sale. I'm not planning on this being a show car level finish, just a nice 10' car that drives well. I am hoping that I'll be able to pass this on to a new mr2 owner and make a decent profit to help fund my other projects.
Ah, a 1986. It has the interior and side vent of 85 & 86 but for 86 they got a 3rd brake light built into the spoiler.
The trim surrounding the hvac and radio looks to be clean. These are impossible to find in good condition. They either get too much sun and get brittle or as they get brittle they also get knock by the driver's knee and get busted that way. Actually, on super zoom, yours might be cracked at the right bottom.
Still has the ashtray. These too often find their way missing (because they are easily removable.)
I owned a '88 MR2 SC from' 00-'04. Loved it. In those years I sold a lot of MR2 junkyard parts. I once sold a radio surround for $100 via ebay (and actually got paid the $100) More typical, the radio surrounds sold for $40-$50 (20 years ago.)
In reply to John Welsh :
Yep, plus it has the latter side skirts that they started to introduce in 86. The dashboard is also crack free, which is almost impossible to find.
I had to do a double take because the previous owner's name is John Walsh!
In reply to Mrfurzzy :
Ha. It seems like a simple last name but really it's a 5 letter word with 4 ways to spell it...
Welsh, Welch, Walsh, and Welsch for those that want to cover multiple bases. I'll answer to any and take no offense. I usually answer, "not like the grape juice but as if from Wales."
But, I'm thankful it not hard like Schneider, Snyder, etc.
Jerry
PowerDork
12/31/22 4:38 p.m.
John Welsh said:
Ah, a 1986. It has the interior and side vent of 85 & 86 but for 86 they got a 3rd brake light built into the spoiler.
The trim surrounding the hvac and radio looks to be clean. These are impossible to find in good condition. They either get too much sun and get brittle or as they get brittle they also get knock by the driver's knee and get busted that way. Actually, on super zoom, yours might be cracked at the right bottom.
Still has the ashtray. These too often find their way missing (because they are easily removable.)
And the handbrake is still on the left side of the console. Easier to use, makes the legroom a little more snug for cornering. (I had an 87 and 88 SC that I regret selling both.)
A big box of parts showed up today! I ordered all the common maintenance things, brakes, timing belt, water pump, belts, and seals. I will also unfortunately have to drop the tank and replace the fuel pump. Many people complain about how difficult it is in the aw11 but it seems to get easier after the first couple times you do it.
I also picked up another MR2 last night. It popped up last night for only $400! I messaged the seller within minutes and was on the road within 30 minutes of it being listed.
