Now that the Corolla had been bought by Brad (with explicit instructions not to drive it like his road car - its a 20 valve - it needs to be revved), the search for an MR2 on which to base a race car continued. I was driving home from work one day when I spotted a facelift AW11 with old taillights (NZ new) for sale at a car yard. Now, you don’t see many NZ new facelift MR2’s for sale so I stopped for a closer look. The window card said it was a 1987 Targa Top traveled 170000 kms with 6 owners and power steering! (AW11’s were never made with power steering). The body was OK with the odd parking knock here and there and of course the front spoiler had been curbed, but apart from that it was what you’d expect with that many miles and owners. There were no service books, and the service sticker on the windscreen said that the next service was due at 161000kms - 9000kms AGO - and the last service had been done at Midas. The interior was also in average condition and the engine compartment had the usual look of an MR2 that hadn’t been near a service department for a long time. Upon driving it things improved,for an NA it performed well - it felt as quick as my last AW11 which had extractors and a K&N air filter - and under power the induction noise was considerable (for those that have heard the induction noise of Grant’s SW20 it was as loud as that), I stopped and pulled the air cleaner apart and it all looked standard hmmm. Back at the dealership I asked the dealer if he was negotiable on his $7500 asking price, and he said that he could come down to $5500. I told I’d think about it and call him the next day. The next day I called in and it had been sold for $6500 - has the world gone mad I thought,it must of been the power steering that sold it. I then spotted a 1986 NZ new pre - facelift with two owners, 150000kms and a service history. Condition wise it had once been crashed in the left-hand side and the car was in different shades of orange and red where the paint had faded. There was some rust above the windscreen and at the bottom of the A pillar posts. The service book wasn’t quite complete and on driving, the temperature gauge went off the scale, although the engine itself didn’t get that hot. Despite these anomalies it drove well, performance wasn’t up to the 1987 T top but it was still good, the shocks were questionable - there is a corner on the motorway that the MX5 will take easily at 100kph, but this MR2 was understeering and on the limit at 80kph! I got a quote from two panalbeaters for the rust and they were between $1000-$1500 so I took this figure off the asking price ($5000). The offer was declined, but he would accept $4000 - again I said I’d think about it. In the meantime I asked Malcolm if he would swap cars so I get a drive of Monica for a comparison, and despite Malcolm muttering noises about hairdressers and MX5’s he agreed. How did Monica compare to the other two NZ MR2’s? No comparison, Monica drove like a new car, completely belying her mileage - she drove almost as well as my last AW11. Despite having a good feeling about the 86 NZ MR2, I decided the rust would be too much trouble and continued the search. I saw an ad for a 1984 Supercharged manual which got me thinking - was it a prototype (I wish) or had a later model engine been put into it - I had to go and look at it. Sure enough sitting in the seller’s drive was an early AW11 with supercharger written on the boot lid. Having a good look around the body it was even rustier than the 86NZ one and opening the engine cover there was no 4AGZE to be seen- just a plain old 4AGE. The seller told me that plenum chamber housed the blower and it was driven off oil pressure! Maybe he was getting confused with the variable valve timing on the 20 - valve. On the test drive, he not only scared the hell out of me by driving as fast as he could up the access road to OneTree Hill,but he also told me that when the T-VIS came in at 4650rpm, that that was the blower kicking in - and he was serious. I glanced around the car to see if I could see any signs of Dr Timothy Leary, thankfully there were none. Not only did it not perform like a blown MR2, it was the first MR2 I’ve driven that was slower than the MX5. Normally hopping into an MR2 after the Mazda you notice a substantial power increase - but not this one and there was no syncro left in 4th gear either. Like a really bad morning after and waking up to a really ugly woman I made my excuses and left. I then spotted another red 1986 NZ new pre facelift MR2 with 4 owners,140000kms and a full service history. The front shocks had been replaced but the backs hadn’t, giving the car a strange porpoising effect on the motorway. It was fairly straight apart from some worrying repair work around the seam lines under the bonnet at the front. I decided against buying it as my wife pointed out that I’m never going to find an MR2 as good as my last one and will always be disappointed with the niggly little faults that are apparent, so it was back to looking at supercharged MR2’s again. The next MR2 I went to look at was advertised as a 1987 Supercharged Targa Top. The seller’s flatmate wasn’t overly helpful - I asked him what the body was like - to which he replied “ Sweet Mate”. Thinking it was probably an auto I went to look anyway. What I found is probably one of the rarest supercharged MR2’s in the country. As the supercharged MR2 was never available new in NZ, It was imported privately in 1987 straight after being bought new in Japan, so it is as close to a NZ new supercharged MR2 that you will find. The body still had the original rust proofing everywhere from when it was first brought in and apart from a couple of small dents and the prerequisite broken front spoiler (it looks a bit ugly, hence nice body shame about the face) it was in good original condition. Mechanically it was also good with over $3500 worth of service receipts over the years, the wheels were in good nik and not only was it a manual it also had an Alpine CD player and alarm. The owner was very reluctantly selling it to go to Australia and after some haggling we agreed upon $4300 - not bad considering he paid $21000 for it 5 years ago! Despite having only traveled 77000kms (thats the good thing about it being in NZ all it’s life is that the mileage is genuine) the first thing I did was book it into Toyota to get the cambelt changed, the coolant flushed and the air con drained. Next on the list is to get some harder springs and shocks, some TRD bushes, Mintex brake pads, link computer, a pulley for the blower, paddle clutch, a race seat, harness and a roll cage so I can go and play in the same sandpit as Steve and Adrienne, although their bucket and spade is considerably lighter than mine and will therefore be quicker, but I at least have an MR2 again.
Matt Haliday