To bypass the pre-history leading up to my interest in Toyotas MR2 I'll start with a small ad I saw in the automotive section of the L.A. Times in late 1986. The ad simply stated if anyone was interested in Toyota MR2 convertibles please contact Modern Motors in Torrance California . Having a love of convertibles and the love of affordable mid-engined cars (2 enjoyable Fiat X-1/9s and 1 god awful Fiero) I contacted them. After a brief conversation I was told that they were building convertible MR2s for Toyota as a market test and the cars would only be built as ordered, you ordered them thru any Toyota dealer or in my case thru my Auto broker Pacific Auto Sales in Upland California . I asked if it was possible to see how the cars were converted before I made my final decision and they were more then happy to have me come down to Torrance to see the work. The morning I arrived at their shop they had 6 MR2s under construction (approximately a total 15 were built, all early 87s and 3 86 pre-prototype models). Once the car is ordered with whatever option was available for MR2s at the time ( with the exception of no sunroof and no t-top) they're sent directly to Modern Motors for the conversion before being delivered to the customer. The conversion consisted of completely stripping the interior and removing both front fenders. The next step was to cut openings toward the rear of the front wheel wells at the base of the windshield posts, a cross brace was welded to the posts to strengthen then and then square channeling was run thru the door sills, all openings were sealed and finished to factory specs before the top was cut. Once the top frame, hardware and material was installed it was just a matter of installing the interior then delivering the finished car to the customer thru whatever dealer they ordered from. I had my broker upgrade the tires and rims to 15” Enki black centered wire mags (later upgraded to 16” Rotas) with BF Goodrich T/A before I took possession. The night I took delivery of the car (a story in itself) you couldn't slap the smile off my face. Unfortunately the next morning I woke up with Strep throat and was out of commission for 2 weeks (thought I was going to die before I could enjoy my new car). For the next couple of years I received forms from Toyota regarding different aspects of the car (what the public thought, how was the dealer handling it etc.) usually a check accompanied these forms to compensate me for my inconvenience. Less then a year later I had the Pacesetter exhaust added (free because they didn't have any exhaust systems for the MR2 and borrowed mine to hand make one to make the buck for the originals, which are still available). After 140,000 miles the car is still pretty solid with very little body flex. I still get pulled over and asked questions about the car which to this day still brings a smile to my face. Bob Freitas |
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