In my 19 years of owning MKII MR2's, I've never seen such difficulty as these last few years (mechanical/body). I miss when I could order anything at a Toyota dealership. My driver's side fender has needed replacement for the last 4 years. It's rarely driven the last 5 years.. so I only search every now & then, but I've had 0 luck finding one other than modified (vent design) fiber glass fenders. Have times reached a point where this is just reality for us MR2 owners? Or am I just not aware of the right place to look? What if an MR2 were to get crashed into a little more intensely, where would a body shop look for replacement parts? All I want is for my MR2 to look whole again, but I hope I don't have to wait many more years.
Increasing difficulty finding parts
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This issue plays out with most cars special interest cars when they reach a certain age. The NOS parts supply begins to dwindle as attrition simultaneously takes most of the donor-worthy candidate out of circulation. As also owner of a Datsun 240Z, I've seen this movie before. Once the SW20 reaches a certain appreciation point, then the ROE to make reproduction parts become a profitable endeavor. For now, support the businesses in our small community who produce parts and encourage them to lean forward.
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These are the times where the casuals sell their MR2s and the obsessed collect. Unless you are obsessed enough to be watching forums and craigslist and facebook constantly you are likely not going to pick up what you are looking for. Things come up for sale and are gone within hours. If you want to keep the car and mint it out you will need to be vigilant and serious, with cash in hand. If you cannot enjoy the car without it being perfect and do not have the time or care to do so perhaps sell it on to someone else. It will only get harder from here on out in my opinion. Only you can decide if it is worth it.
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7,164 Posts
CL and ebay will be your friend.
This board and FB groups are great too
This board and FB groups are great too
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7,164 Posts
To add - do a nationwide CL search via searchtempest and it'll help you find stuff and many are willing to ship...though a fender is tough. Ive done it, it sucked.
Toyota generally keeps parts for their cars available for 20 years past the last production date. Which for MK2s was 1998. So yeah, left over production stock has been rapidly disappearing over the last few years.
CL = CraigsList
CL = CraigsList
Live cautiously when driving aware of others.
Have considered your quandary. There's not too much a choice for an auto these days. New autos do not offer much and there is still confusion about
propulsion. No infrastructures to speak of for EVs. Last year my battery failed. Got a jump and DROVE to auto and replaced. So far EV's are unable to be that
easy. ICE are still the way.
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5,969 Posts
Yes, my original post had some EV ramblings in it. I'd swap my 3S for an EV pusher in my SW20 tomorrow if our infrastructure/distributing could handle it, there's just no proof it can right now. But this is really a whole 'nother subject.
Another solution is clumsy but something I've also been considering.and have mentioned many times on this board: buy another SW20 as a parts car. There are problems with that too.
Falling hard for a rarity can be a bitch. Agreed that today's cars are uninspiring replacements.
Another solution is clumsy but something I've also been considering.and have mentioned many times on this board: buy another SW20 as a parts car. There are problems with that too.
Falling hard for a rarity can be a bitch. Agreed that today's cars are uninspiring replacements.
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Look at the v160 transmissions on Supra. New from Toyota for $2800. Discontinued. Now you can find them on ebay new for 15k-25k... TRD strut brace was $200 new. Just discontinued, now they are $600+.
Having said all this, my garage is stocked with new OEM Supra parts and I have a brand new E153 sitting in my garage for an investment.
Having said all this, my garage is stocked with new OEM Supra parts and I have a brand new E153 sitting in my garage for an investment.
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5,969 Posts
^ Buy gold right now. Now that's a true investment, especially this & all of next year.
What about Japanese/European part sources? Or New Zealand? I haven't checked in years, but least we forget the SW20 was manufactured until 1999 and only North America had it until '95 (Canada only '93). Maybe across the pond they have a bit more NOS floating around.
What about Japanese/European part sources? Or New Zealand? I haven't checked in years, but least we forget the SW20 was manufactured until 1999 and only North America had it until '95 (Canada only '93). Maybe across the pond they have a bit more NOS floating around.
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137 Posts
This is one of the reasons I hesitate to sell my '02 Celica GT-S (itself already getting hard to find many of the old performance parts) to get an AW11 or st165. I'd prefer having an '80s Toyota again, but it's hard enough to find one in decent condition, plus knowing that parts are 15+ years more scarce than the parts for the Celica...sigh...
A couple years ago I had a 1967 Datsun Roadster 1600 project car. Not the easiest thing to find parts for either.
A couple years ago I had a 1967 Datsun Roadster 1600 project car. Not the easiest thing to find parts for either.
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192 Posts
TRD SRS steering wheel ,Recaro Confetti seats and more
Notice - Please DO NOT POST BELOW if want to contact me - I will only be looking at DMs No longer have any MR2s after 25yrs so clearing out remining stash of parts -TRD SRS steering wheel with airbag. Red grip wheel is near mint condition . Good not mint condition black wheel with red...
www.mr2oc.com
I just got a set of 98 tail lights from this guy hes legit. He says he has some fenders better message him.
Have ordered from MR2 Ben (England) previously. Pricey but good service then!
The issue with the MR2 is its US production numbers. Only ~22k made it to the states. Manufacturers base the amount of spare parts they'll produce off of the number of cars sold.
The MR2 is my daily, but my "fun" car is a Fiat/Bertone X1/9. By comparison, the X1/9 is far easier to get parts for eventhough on today's roads it is a much rarer car. This is because ~168k X1/9's made it to the US. So while there are maybe only 2-4k roadworthy examples still left, there were a lot more spare parts that were manufactured and there are a lot more parts cars available.
I'm honestly considering switching the roles of these two cars . . .
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The MR2 is my daily, but my "fun" car is a Fiat/Bertone X1/9. By comparison, the X1/9 is far easier to get parts for eventhough on today's roads it is a much rarer car. This is because ~168k X1/9's made it to the US. So while there are maybe only 2-4k roadworthy examples still left, there were a lot more spare parts that were manufactured and there are a lot more parts cars available.
I'm honestly considering switching the roles of these two cars . . .
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What year was your x19? I had a 75, and it was really a tin can. I bought that car new, and it was falling apart before I even drove it off. That said, it was a really fun ride. However, when I got my 86 mr2, I quickly decided that it was twice the car that the Fiat was. I hope that they improved with production.
Mine's an '85, bought it about 5 years ago. 70k miles, no rust, in really good shape. Rebuilt the engine (eventhough it didn't need it) a few years ago. Added a hotter cam and sports exhaust to bring horse power up to the point that it can at least keep up with modern traffic.
It's definitely fragile. 40 year old Italian plastics don't hold up like 30 year old Japanese plastics. The SW20 is also engineered to a higher degree - there's more overhead built in to the cooling system, electrics, transmission etc.
That's the main reason I daily the SW20 eventhough there is nothing wrong with the X1/9 - the MR2 is more robust.
The X1/9 definitely handles better . . . Bertone had plenty of experience with the mid-rear layout, while Toyota did not.
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