History

My history with MR2s goes back about 13 years. I recall when I first saw the SW-20, or second generation MR2 in San Diego, California. It was love at first sight…the mid-engine power plant, elegant lines, & exotic styling. I said to myself then that I would get my own someday. Fast-forward 10 years later when I was finally fulfilling that dream of owning the MR2 I fell in love with years ago.

It was a black 1993 in Orlando, Florida that I found on http://mr2.xcars.com in May of 2001. I had been combing the ads for quite sometime, and I was finally in a position to make the purchase. I made arrangements with the seller and flew down a week later to check it out and possibly make the purchase. Admittedly, I was a bit too eager to make a proper evaluation of the car. It was fast and looked pretty sharp for a car that was 8 years old. I made the purchase and headed back to Atlanta. Still to this day it was one the most fun days I had driving an MR2.

Sadly though, shortly after my arrival in Atlanta, I had an incident, which cost me the motor in my newly purchased MR2. I was new to turbo cars and didn't know about things like "detonation", and thus began my painful learning experience. The car had a J-spec motor, and I found out just how difficult J-spec parts are to come by. I also found out later that I was about to receive a hard lesson in how difficult it is finding a competent mechanic to work on your car.

I didn't cut any corners and used the best parts I believed to be available. The engine rebuild was completed in February of 2002 after long waits for certain J-spec parts. Sadly after that long wait, I had to tow the car home due to the mechanics inexperience with Haltech stand-alone units. The problem turned out to be rather simple; an improperly installed crank-angle sensor. My MR2 was finally back up and running!

From there I started making serious engine, interior, suspension, and audio modifications. Much of the custom work that is in my current MR2 today was designed and created during this time. I was spending good money after bad building my dream car, but all the while I was continually having problems with my newly built motor. It was one thing breaking after another, and the quality of the engine rebuild was always in question. Sadly, in August of 2002, a valve broke in the motor, and upon opening it, I discovered that it was on the verge of spinning a rod bearing after only 5000 miles.

Once again, even though I had taken great care of the car since the rebuild, I found myself back where I was right after I bought the car. I was extremely disappointed, but immediately started making plans for rebuild # 2. I bought all new parts to perform the rebuild and was in the market for someone to do the work. I was being far more cautious this time around in the search for a reputable mechanic. I always seemed to get conflicting information on how to proceed. Everyone had a differing opinion on what I should do, and I got to a point of not knowing who to trust anymore, especially since I was out so much money at this point, and still without a car to drive. I was already looking at other MR2s to possibly purchase. I found a very nice 1995 NA here in Atlanta, but someone beat me to it.

After continued frustration with the project, with the help of my girlfriend at the time and after a tearful night, I finally decided in early January of 2003 to cut my losses and part out the car and sell the thousands of dollars in new parts that I purchased for the rebuild. It was a very difficult decision to sell off the car that I had worked so hard on. I had still entertained the idea of purchasing another MR2, and the Hokori MR2 had made a couple of rounds on Ebay during this time, and I was talking with the owner about possibly purchasing it, but I was still feeling the burn of my last MR2 and wasn't sure if I could deal with something like that again. I was almost to the point of writing off MR2s forever.

A friend of mine locally found a great deal on a 1999 C5 Corvette, and within days I purchased it. The Corvette was impressive, even in stock form. I was happy to have a sporty car I could finally drive and not have to worry about it breaking. Meanwhile, my conversations with Rob Viteri, owner of the Hokori MR2 continued and I was really drawn to his car. I still had all of my custom interior, guages, and audio modifications…most of the really expensive things on the car that I was parting out. Rob was familiar with my project and liked where I was headed with it. He had his own reasons for wanting to sell his car, but was rightfully very concerned with who the next owner would be. He didn't want to someday see all of his hard work in the hands of someone who didn't care about the car as much as he did. In our conversations, he mentioned that the car would be at the Import Motion show in San Mateo the upcoming weekend. I decided to make the trip out to California that weekend to get a closer look at the car I had admired from across the country.

I needed a bit of a break after dealing with everything with the 93 MR2, and the trip back to the Bay Area fit the bill nicely. I had lived there in the past, and it was good to see it again. I also had the opportunity to meet some of my "internet" friends, and notable MR2 owners, who also live in the Bay Area. Among those were David Vespremi, Tuan Le, Chris Yap, & Josh Wong. I made my way over to the San Mateo Convention Center where I met Rob for the fist time in person and finally got to see the car he was offering for sale. I was very impressed with Rob and his MR2. I could tell right away that he was very down to earth, and was a true MR2 enthusiast. His MR2 was beyond impressive. Seeing it in person made me forget about all of the bad things I had been dealing with on my project. I hung out with Rob for the rest of the weekend. He showed me pictures of the car as it progressed over the years he had owned it. He babied the car, and I could tell he was very sad to be selling it. We were both impressed with each other's efforts with our cars, and he told me that he knew I could take his car to the next level. Admittedly, filling Rob's shoes was a big task, but we both knew I could do it. Prior to my leaving California, we worked out details on how I would purchase the car. I still had quite a mess to clean up at home with my other car, and I had no room to put the new one. Rob agreed to take a big deposit, with the remainder to be paid in a couple of months so I would have time to sell of the pieces of my car.

Returning home, the excitement of my upcoming purchase somewhat eased the pain of parting out the car I put so much work in. I set aside all of the parts that were going in the new MR2. I couldn't believe how much work was involved parting out the car. I was constantly on the MR2 forums http://www.mr2faq.com listing parts and answering questions. I was making trips to the car to remove parts, trips to FedEx several times a day, sending emails, tracking packages, and boxing up parts and tripping all over parts that were scattered about my house. It was non-stop for almost 2 months straight, and I still had a lot of parts lying around, although thankfully, the bulk of it was gone. In April 2003, I sent Rob the remaining balance on the car, and arranged enclosed transport from California. Six days later, I was once again living my dream of owning and driving an MR2.

Work on the new MR2 started right away. I worked night and day installing all of the audio and custom amp rack, stack gauges and the custom housing, Dynamat throughout the interior, and custom interior pieces. Engine mods were not far behind. I managed to procure a very rare, brand new JDM CT-20b Turbo for the MR2. A JUN light flywheel, new clutch, new Apexi intake, custom intake piping, and a custom downpipe from Shem's Garage were all installed during this time as well. Bride Brix seats were obtained during the summer of 2003. Finishline Motorsports in Marietta, GA was assisting with the modifications from the time the car arrived from California forward. It was great to finally be dealing with a reputable shop.

The show season was very successful for the new MR2 with it taking home Best Toyota at four Hot Import Nights and Import Xpression events in 2003 along side some very impressive teammates from TeamECI (http://www.teameci.com). It was honored with booth appearances with Toyo Tires at Nopi Nationals in Atlanta, GA, and with Meguiar's at Hot Import Nights. Nitrous Express was a big help along the way with a nitrous and an N-ter cooler chiller system.

Since having the car here, it has been running reliably and very strong. It was driven to all of the show events with exception of one, and has been on many mountain runs here in North Georgia. I've put 12,000 miles on it since the car arrived in April 2003 until December 2003, and it hasn't missed a beat.