Toyota
MR2 Mk1
F890 NAR
The
car was bought after the death of that great Northern character, Fred Dibnah.
Fred was just my age and I doubt if he would have liked these "new fangled
Japanese things" but it brought to mind that this life is not a rehearsal.
As you can see, I had a Mk1 that I had to sell on. I really missed that car! I had to kiss a few frogs before I came across this one. I never regretted it. It is a credit to it's previous owners, having only covered 80k in it's 16 years. It is not rust free but very close for a Mk1. It had an excellent black interior & everything worked. The passenger window needed looking at, but I never got round to it. The handbrake needed adjusting and that cost a fortune to fix. The wheels were low profile 17", they took your fillings out on bumpy roads, they needed balancing. It certainly made it a very nervous car to drive. I was so glad to get its original wheels & tyres on, it transformed the handling.
I had a few bigger projects to complete for the future.
1. A paint touch up & wax oil.
The rusty is bubbling under the edges of the wings. It should have a complete
respray but finances dictate otherwise. Our local family body shop, John
Ashworth & his son Phillip, did their usual excellent job.
2.
Change the wheels back to the original teardrops.
I feel that these 17" wheels make the car look good but nervous in its handling.
I did favour originality in a car 16 years old & started the improvement in
their appearance by repainting (by hand) the original wheels I got with the car.
It transformed the whole car & once again it was the outstanding car that it
came out as in 1988.
3. Clean the engine bay.
I have never experienced an oil cap come off in an engine bay before! But it
makes a mess. I'm not sure how good a job I can do but Howard my retired
engineer (!) checked out the car, claimed it was very good & cleaned the top
part of the engine. It's up to me to keep it going!
I had to sell, this time, in an effort to get my motoring costs down. I couldn't get classic insurance, as it was my only car & its top rate road tax (even at only 1600cc!) If I took it easy, I could get 36mpg. Not that you want to take it easy with an MR2! It was going to be a Smart car next!