1988 Toyota MR2 Supercharged 5-Speed Manual ONE OWNER 4A-GZE E153 DOHC AW11

1988 Toyota MR2 Supercharged 5-Speed Description

I think I love the “idea” of 24 hours of lemons more than I actually like doing it. Way back the 2nd year they ran @ CMP I raced a 1992 Lexus ES250 called the sexus, it was pretty awesome, but at the end of the day it was super stressful for people without tons of $$$$$$ or experience. No shade against them, we just weren’t that good at it and were true middle class folks without much $$$ to spend on sets of tires etc… Any form of car racing is a ton of $$$, motorcycles are the only half way cost effective way to road race but you’re trading $$$ for danger. Some people will argue the cars are just as dangerous and that more people die in car wrecks than on motorcycles, which is technically true, BUT that is mainly because there are 10,000x more people driving cars. I raced motorcycles very badly for 2 years and at least 2x people were severely injured or killed each year. 24 hours of lemons with the cheapest $hittiest cars possible in all the years they have been running has only had one death. SO I wanted to build another lemons race car, which is why I picked up this MR2. Realistically though my eyes are bigger than my stomach, I don’t think I have enough friends with enough free time to really put together an effective team. So instead of a lemons car I’ve decided to go back to my roots in casual off-roading with the Landcruiser you can see in the background. Below are the details on the MR2.
I was looking for a manual 5-Speed original supercharged AW11 MR2 car to then either swap or turbo, to have the widest range of options. I managed to find this ONE OWNER 1988 S/C MR2 that was bought in NC and stayed in Spencer NC its whole life up until I bought it like 2 counties over. It has no wrecks and only like 3 entries on its Carfax record, last reported miles are like 16,543 or something stupid low. The original owner never kept it tagged or state inspected, from what I’m told he just drove it however he wanted whenever he wanted, no telling what this car has seen. Unfortunately in the last 10-15 years it was parked outside next to a barn and it just sat which is the demise of any car. I wouldn’t recommend it for a restoration project but a race car or a parts car it would be great as. Below are more details.
I would like to point out some really cool features on this car. First off it has a fuel octane selection button from the factory that you can see in the pics, it has a button for regular or premium fuel and the Supercharger is actually driven with a pulley on an electronically controlled clutch so the car can turn the supercharger on or off and bypass it if needed. The air intake no joke goes into the trunk on the left side, wraps all the way around the back over the tail lights, and goes down to the scoop on the passenger side. So the scoop on the passenger side is a legit ram air intake! Also being a supercharged car this has the much stronger E-series transmission with the stronger CV axles which makes it a prime candidate for engine swaps or just leave it stock.
Exterior: Exterior wise it has very little body damage and all the paint is original. It had some surface rust spots which I did half ass race track repairs to just to stop the rust and seal them from spreading. Those spots are the front of the hood, left fender, under the passenger scoop, one small spot on the roof, and inside the trunk. No big cancer or structural problems with the car, the undercarriage actually is pretty good considering because it wasn’t driven in the snow/salt it just sat outside for a decade which let the rock chips spread. Everything works mechanically like doors trunk hood release engine lid release etc…. No cracks in any of the glass no evidence of any accidents.
Interior: Aside from smelling like it sat outside for a decade generally kind of musty and having some residue spots on the dash, it is in pretty darn good shape. The seats are in great shape, the dash does have one small crack above the clock, the rest of the interior is totally usable minus maybe the carpet. Inside the frunk (front trunk) some a-hole sprayed it with rubberized undercoating I guess to help with sound deadening or something. I removed half of it so you can see it is still white underneath, feel free to remove the rest.
Mechanical: Mechanically it is in what most would call a “ran when parked” condition, it rolls and steers and that is about it. I put 4 new cheap tires on it just to be able to move it around easily. The clutch/brakes don’t work most likely from seized components. The transmission shifts fine, the engine turns over with a wrench, but the starter is dead. It is all there all original never modified and technically has low miles. It isn’t going to run without some work, I have put battery power to it and the electrical system works fine from what I can see, check engine light comes on which means the ECU is powering up ok. Up to you which direction you want to go, car is a clean slate.
That’s about it, hit me up if you have any questions, not here to make $$$ on this car just switching projects.