An MR2 Story
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An MR2 Story
An MR2 Story
So a few years ago I was trying to make a few extra bucks by buying slightly damaged cars from the Insurance Auction, repairing them and then selling them to enthusiasts. I didn' thave much money to play with, but my first few attempts went fairly smoothly. A Nissan 240SX, a Corolla, etc. I had my eye on an MR2 in Seattle and placed a lowball bid of $250.
The information on the auction website indicated that the car ran, but did not have a key. I assumed this was a typo because they had no way to know if the car ran if there was no key! I had a chance to find out, because I won the online auction and was notified that I had 48 hours to pay and remove the car from their lot.
Seattle is about 160 miles away from Portland, and I figured I could get this car to drive home. I had a friend drive me up to Seattle, I plunked down the $300 (with fees) and the car was brought out to the parking lot on a very huge forklift. They unceremoniously dumped the car at my feet and asked which truck I would be loading it on. Truck? I answered that I had obtained insurance and a temporary trip permit so that I could drive it out. No can do. They would only allow the vehicle to be towed out.
It was about 3PM on a Friday afternoon, so I had two hours to figure out my plan. We started driving around looking for a tow truck in the immediate area, hoping to pay a few bucks to have the car towed out to the street. No luck. We did happen across a U-Haul and realized we could rent a truck and dolly, tow the car to the street and immediately return the rentals. Unfortunately, the U-Haul manager wasn't going along with our plan. Apparently there is a very high rate of truck/trailer theft for local conbination rentals. Huh? He would rent me a truck, OR a trailer, but not both for a local rental. And the minimum charge was one day. Grrrr. We rented a truck for $19 and went off in search of a trailer. Down the street was a United Rentals, where we promptly rented a trailer for $25. (the trailer was more than the truck!) We headed back to the lot about 4:30P.
They loaded the car onto the trailer for us, I pulled out of the parking lot and immediately unloaded the car on the street in front of their office. I felt like making a statement, I guess. We ran the rentals back, collected the deposits and were back at the car in 20 minutes.
We had no way of knowing how this MR2 had been maintained, or even when it had been driven last. I crossed my fingers, used the key (I WAS right) and fired it up. Vroom! A little bit of blue smoke, but it ran like a top. I then tried to shift into first... no go. For some reason the car was stuck in third gear. Well, a little clutch slippage and I could start lugging the car enough to get it rolling... and once we got onto the surface streets it went along pretty good. Until... we got to the freeway. It was now about 5PM on a Friday during the summer in Seattle. Gridlock and 80 degrees.
It was an interesting drive back to Portland. I stayed in the slow lane through the traffic jam and tried to leave a HUGE gap ahead of me so that I wouldn't have to stop. Of course, people were using this gap to get ahead of the rest of the slow lanes, so it didn't work that great, but I could keep the car rolling most of the time.
After Seattle the freeway cleared up and I had no limits... except of course the redline in third gear. I drove about 65-70MPH in third gear the entire way home, hoping that the engine could take it. It did! As soon as I got home I promptly bolted on an extra set of wheel that wre laying around in the garage.
A quick call to the local Toyota wrecking yard landed me a $200 transmission, and the next day I had a running, driving, fun MR2. I stuck it up on eBay for a dollar and watched the bidding begin. A week later the final bid came in at $850. A woman in Eugene had purchased the car to be her grandson's first ride. Not too shabby, my first car was a beater sedan. She asked if I could deliver the car and I added another hundred to the total. Eugene was only two hours away, I figured that would cover the train ticket back up.
The next day I started the trip down to Eugene. Things were going smoothly.. I had the music up, the windows down, my hair was blowing. Awesome! I was about 20 minutes from Eugene when the steam started blowing out of the back of the car. I looked at the temp gauge, it was in the red. Oh no! I pulled off the freeway and let the car cool down, but the damage had been done. I blew the head gasket. I called the woman and explained the situation, then called the two truck and waited.
A tow back to Portland was about $120. Once the car was at my house I mentally added up my total. $300 for the car, $50 to get it out of the parking lot, $200 for the tranny took me to $550. I'm not counting time, here, folks. I threw my hands up in frustration and relisted the car on eBay with the damaged gasket. Believe it or not it sold for $650 a week later and the new owner (a mkII MR2 owner) picked it up with a grin on his face. He was building a track car and it was perfect.
That, my friends, is my MR2 story. The moral? I don't knowexactly, but it sure taught ME a lesson about how much effort you should put into making a quick buck!
(written by Darren Seeman)
So a few years ago I was trying to make a few extra bucks by buying slightly damaged cars from the Insurance Auction, repairing them and then selling them to enthusiasts. I didn' thave much money to play with, but my first few attempts went fairly smoothly. A Nissan 240SX, a Corolla, etc. I had my eye on an MR2 in Seattle and placed a lowball bid of $250.
The information on the auction website indicated that the car ran, but did not have a key. I assumed this was a typo because they had no way to know if the car ran if there was no key! I had a chance to find out, because I won the online auction and was notified that I had 48 hours to pay and remove the car from their lot.
Seattle is about 160 miles away from Portland, and I figured I could get this car to drive home. I had a friend drive me up to Seattle, I plunked down the $300 (with fees) and the car was brought out to the parking lot on a very huge forklift. They unceremoniously dumped the car at my feet and asked which truck I would be loading it on. Truck? I answered that I had obtained insurance and a temporary trip permit so that I could drive it out. No can do. They would only allow the vehicle to be towed out.
It was about 3PM on a Friday afternoon, so I had two hours to figure out my plan. We started driving around looking for a tow truck in the immediate area, hoping to pay a few bucks to have the car towed out to the street. No luck. We did happen across a U-Haul and realized we could rent a truck and dolly, tow the car to the street and immediately return the rentals. Unfortunately, the U-Haul manager wasn't going along with our plan. Apparently there is a very high rate of truck/trailer theft for local conbination rentals. Huh? He would rent me a truck, OR a trailer, but not both for a local rental. And the minimum charge was one day. Grrrr. We rented a truck for $19 and went off in search of a trailer. Down the street was a United Rentals, where we promptly rented a trailer for $25. (the trailer was more than the truck!) We headed back to the lot about 4:30P.
They loaded the car onto the trailer for us, I pulled out of the parking lot and immediately unloaded the car on the street in front of their office. I felt like making a statement, I guess. We ran the rentals back, collected the deposits and were back at the car in 20 minutes.
We had no way of knowing how this MR2 had been maintained, or even when it had been driven last. I crossed my fingers, used the key (I WAS right) and fired it up. Vroom! A little bit of blue smoke, but it ran like a top. I then tried to shift into first... no go. For some reason the car was stuck in third gear. Well, a little clutch slippage and I could start lugging the car enough to get it rolling... and once we got onto the surface streets it went along pretty good. Until... we got to the freeway. It was now about 5PM on a Friday during the summer in Seattle. Gridlock and 80 degrees.
It was an interesting drive back to Portland. I stayed in the slow lane through the traffic jam and tried to leave a HUGE gap ahead of me so that I wouldn't have to stop. Of course, people were using this gap to get ahead of the rest of the slow lanes, so it didn't work that great, but I could keep the car rolling most of the time.
After Seattle the freeway cleared up and I had no limits... except of course the redline in third gear. I drove about 65-70MPH in third gear the entire way home, hoping that the engine could take it. It did! As soon as I got home I promptly bolted on an extra set of wheel that wre laying around in the garage.
A quick call to the local Toyota wrecking yard landed me a $200 transmission, and the next day I had a running, driving, fun MR2. I stuck it up on eBay for a dollar and watched the bidding begin. A week later the final bid came in at $850. A woman in Eugene had purchased the car to be her grandson's first ride. Not too shabby, my first car was a beater sedan. She asked if I could deliver the car and I added another hundred to the total. Eugene was only two hours away, I figured that would cover the train ticket back up.
The next day I started the trip down to Eugene. Things were going smoothly.. I had the music up, the windows down, my hair was blowing. Awesome! I was about 20 minutes from Eugene when the steam started blowing out of the back of the car. I looked at the temp gauge, it was in the red. Oh no! I pulled off the freeway and let the car cool down, but the damage had been done. I blew the head gasket. I called the woman and explained the situation, then called the two truck and waited.
A tow back to Portland was about $120. Once the car was at my house I mentally added up my total. $300 for the car, $50 to get it out of the parking lot, $200 for the tranny took me to $550. I'm not counting time, here, folks. I threw my hands up in frustration and relisted the car on eBay with the damaged gasket. Believe it or not it sold for $650 a week later and the new owner (a mkII MR2 owner) picked it up with a grin on his face. He was building a track car and it was perfect.
That, my friends, is my MR2 story. The moral? I don't knowexactly, but it sure taught ME a lesson about how much effort you should put into making a quick buck!
(written by Darren Seeman)
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