So today I got a chance to take a look at the car for the first time and run through everything on the Nick Challoner list except the electrics as I ran out of time.
Going back in a few days to finish it off.
In summary given this is a 25 year old car that has been SORN for close to two years I was pretty impressed.
Its no were near mint but seems solid all round and given my limited mechanic and body work skills looks to be pitched just right to give me a solid base to work from.
What Id really appreciate is your general thoughts/concerns and an idea of what kind of price I should be looking to pay? I know that manual SCs in good nick are going for around
£2k and my big concern with the auto is the resale value should I ever decide to move it on.
Heres my summary
(sorry if it goes on a bit I had my phone with me so took plenty of pics!) of the state of the beast.
Its a white Japanese import MR2 MK1b Supercharger 1997.
Has 142,000 km on the clock
(88,000 miles) Imported in 2005 with what appears to be 3 owners since import.
No known mods except for a custom exhaust
(more on that later)
To start with this is what she looked like two years ago before being SORNed:
Note what looks to be a little bit of a lazy passenger side headlight, not quite aligned, crack to the front spoiler
(speed bump damage?) and what looks like poorly aligned Supercharger decals to the driver side door
does this indicate respray at some stage or were these decals left off the original import?
What
it looks like now:
Bodywork
Generally looks good.
Some small rust spots on the arches but pretty good.
Sills rock solid and underside of the car looks clean.
Front end especially very tidy.
There is one repair to the passenger floor which has made a bit of a mess to the carpet under the seat.
This was due to a t-bar roof leak.
A fairly clean repair by the looks of it.
Boot well floors solid.
Some patches of rust but I dont think anything to be concerned about.
Arches
Bonnet Peal
Passenger floor weld repair
Some small rust appearing where windscreen meets t-bar.
Front spoiler looks like it hit a speed bump.
Quite a bit of flaking in one area and a crack in another.
Wing mirrors are badly corroded strangely given the state of the rest of the car and some of the black paint on the top of the A-pillar is coming away.
Am I looking at new mirrors or can these be saved?
There is some bad rust on the rear drivers panel bracket where it attaches to the boot well.
Underside, looks ok?
Seals
Biggest obvious issue is that the t-bar roof is leaking badly.
Given Im in Scotland this is an issue.
When it rains it can REALLY rain! Am I looking at new seals? It seems the passenger side problem has been fixed but concerned to find this paper towel on the drivers side! Good news is the drivers seat seems to have soaked all the water up and the drivers floor/foot well is fine.
Interior
Generally very clean.
Only real issue is a missing triangle plate on inside of passenger wing mirror
(maybe a previous owner thought about changing the mirrors?) and of course the damaged carpet under the passenger seat.
Some cracking 80s rear speakers added from the B-pillars.
No idea if they work.
As mentioned have to check all the electrics next time.
As a tall guy
(64) it was really quite comfortable.
Snug around the knees
its big centre console with a lot of plastic
but generally length wise plenty of room.
Engine
/ Exhaust
Battery was dead, was once jump leads applied started first time.
Idled nicely from cold but a little noisy from the supersized exhaust.
Once it warmed up it really purred.
Didnt have time to really spend too much time looking at this in detail will do so next time, but coolant and oil levels/condition looked fine and the engine was running smoothly all things considered.
I took a YouTube video so will try and link to that later so you can hear it.
The exhaust is a custom made effort in stainless steel which cost
£120 a few years back from a garage in Aberdeen! It is big and noisy! Not sure I like it much but can live with it for now.
Last MOT was failed because it was too noisy so mate had to stuff with steel wool and reduce diameter of one of the pipes using a reducing ring.
Other stuff
Surprised
if this car isnt well known.
Started off in the Borders
(Kelso) before heading to Aberdeen where it got the custom exhaust, then Inverness before finally arriving in Dundee.
There are spare plates in the boot indicating it had another registration previously.
Doesnt look like a cherished number so not sure why this would be the case
has the mark for WRC-SALES.COM which doesnt seem to be live on the web anymore.
Maybe the importer? My mate is none the wiser either.
Cause for concern?
No radio.
Couldnt check electric ariel works.
Cheap additional one stuck on where t-bar meets windscreen
Headlights
heres that passenger side headlight again.
Just misaligned or a sign of a potential bump?
Links/steering rack
from the very short drive up and down the off street parking area I didnt have any issues.
Looks tidy under the car, but will need to check in more detail.
Same goes for the shocks.
Brakes
rear right seemed to be sticking/grinding
probably a seized calliper.
Im expecting Ill need to change all disks and pads.
Tyres
one flat and wrecked.
All mixed.
Will be expecting to change them all out.
Battery
going to take it out this week and charge.
Hopefully its serviceable
Cam belt
changed at 93,000 km so probably ok.
Thinking Id like to do the pulley mod to get the extra juice if I go for this so will factor that in.
Its SORN so Im going to have to organise MOT and tax and agree a price reduction with my mate for this
it will also need a full service with oil/coolant/filter changes etc.
So what do you all think? Worth making an offer and if so roughly what do you think I should suggest?
as I have crept into my early 40's 
