'89 Toyota MR2 - '74 Celica GT - '86 Mits Mighty Max - '85 Ford Thunderbird

[BradMph]

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1989 Toyota MR2
This is a 1989 Toyota MR2 and is the last year of this MK1 styled body. They changed to a sleeker-looking body around late '89, which ended a long-range of this defined body style. There were only 2900 made of the one I own, so I own 1/2900th of them all. It is TRD and has the 1600 duel cam 16 valves fuel-injected engine. They also came with a nice supercharger in 88-89. Just recently I had to take a long trip to the other side of the state with a round trip of about 700 miles. During the trip I check fuel mileage and averaged an awesome 32 miles to the gallon, using premium fuel.

I happened across mine on a Craigslist auto ad and it was selling for $700. It had some damage upfront, but it caught my eye and I had to have it. The poor car had gone through some hard times because the front was damaged, there was a steering shimmy, all the trim and items inside the car were falling off and screws were missing everywhere. It was virtually falling apart and no one took the time to use a screwdriver or a wrench to it. It also had this outdated blue interior that was tacky for a white MR2.
When I got her home, I began the build on it. I replaced all the struts, poly bushings, tie-rod ends, sway bars & support bar supports. New tires, changed the oil, plugs, and many smaller things. I saw a long road ahead trying to locate so many missing items that this car didn't have. I went to our great local wrecking yards, found and replaced the entire interior from tacky blue to black. This also included carpets and some cool bucket seats. I repaired the damage in the front right of the car, pulled out the bent stuff to factory specs, replaced the damaged bumper, and installed a fiberglass front end. None of the lid covers, like the trunk lid, engine cover; front hood storage lid would open with the cable pulls. The front hood latch was completely missing, hence the ugly hood pins, trunk carpets missing, broken windshield... the poor girl was just a mess and begging for repairs. The good things about this car were very good. It is fun, fast, good gas mileage, no dripping or burning oil. These good things just motivated me to bring her back up to her potential.
I never left a wrecking yard without a full inventory of MR2 parts. Things worked out perfectly when locating these parts. I'd come home with a bucket of bolts and a trunk full of extra items that were missing or broken on the car. Replacing so many items on this car made me feel like the car at one time must have been stolen & partially parted out. Then located as is, and returned to the owner, where he did nothing to correct it. It was sad to see such a classic car treated like this.
I continued to take out the old stuff and in with the new, she was showing signs of recovery. There wasn't a moment the first year that the car wasn't getting an update of some kind. It took a little over a year to get the car comfortable and how I thought it should be. Everything now is working again, nothing is broken or missing and she rides very nice. I must add that sneezing on the freeway, if not paying attention, could cause a rapid lane change. These cars were called a legalized street Go-Kart and they fit the description perfectly.
Right around the mid-fix time, I decided to sell another vehicle I had owned for 37+ years. It was my 2nd car ever after rolling my first car which I purchased from my mother when I was age 17. I finally decided to pass it on to someone else who would bring it back from the sleep in his own way. Here is the car in its prime... 1974 Toyota Celica GT, the very first 5 speed GT Celica made and shipped to the USA. It was purchased in 1976 for $3,300 from a dealer and sold for $2,900. It will be missed.

1974 Toyota Celica GT - "SOLD"
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Engine Specs
*18RC 1990cc I4 SOHC
*Horsepower 140HP@4800RPM
*Bore 89
*Stroke 80
*Compression ratio 8.7:1
*Models with this engine: 1974-78 GT (USA)

Component Listing
• 78 Corvette Yellow w/Champagne Gold Pearl Clear
• Kamei Fiberglass molded Front Aero Dynamics Kit
• Custom Coil-Over Front Struts Springs
• BFG T/A's 50's-60's
• Holley/Weber Down-Draft 2 bbl Carburetor w/K&N Filter
• Mallory Unilite High-Fire Electronic Ignition
• Mallory Auto Advance Distributor
• Offenhauser Duel-Port Intake Manifold
• Extended Length Sprint Car Headers
• John De Long Sprint Car Full Race Cam
• Genuine Grant Engraved Signature Steering Wheel
• Removable Black Matrix Sunroof
• Carved Teakwood Hand Shifter
• Rear Window louvers
• 5 - Speed Manual transmission
• Complete analog gauge instrument panel
Had a Carrera Whale Tail for several years,
but removed it and went back to the stock trunk deck

It was tough to let it go, but the person who bought the car said, it was his dream car and was very excited to finally have one. The new owner lives just down the block from me and I'm sure he will bring it by someday when he is finished making his own improvements.
Well, that’s it. Hope you found this a little interesting to read about. I feel pretty lucky to of owned these vehicles and still owning the MR2, plus my 1986 Mitsubishi/D50 (Mitsy) truck. As you might notice, I keep my vehicles for a long time since I put so much time into them.


1986 Mitsubishi Mighty Max Pick Up
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1986 Mitsubishi Mighty Max ("Mitsy") Repair-Renew-Rebuild-Replace Thread Build


1985 Ford Thunderbird
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I recently picked up my first American car, a 9th Gen. 1985 Ford Thunderbird for $500.
It has a V8 5.0 302 cu in. engine with the AOD Transmission and a 7.5in. rear end.
The body is very straight and worth restoration with a resale price from $3k in OK cond, to 9k in great cond.
more below...


1988 Ford Thunderbird
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I picked another 1988 Ford Thunderbird for $600.
Put some rims and tires on and it is the perfect running car.


Ownership Time
Celica-37+yrs. SOLD
'86 Mitsy-32yrs. As of 2021
'89 MR2-13+yrs. As of 2021
'85 Thunderbird-2014
'88 Thunderbird-2019

Video: Toyota MR2 & Mitsubishi Mighty Max Pickup
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