Junkyard Gem: 2002 Toyota MR2 Spyder

During

my junkyard journeys

, I see

Toyota

MR2s

here

and

there

, mostly of the

first-generation 1985-1989

type. The

final iteration of the MR2

was sold in North America for the 2000 through 2005 model years; sales never matched those of the earlier cars and the few that still exist seem prized by their owners for track-day duties, so I don’t see many in wrecking yards. Here’s a 2002 model in a Northern California self-service yard.

2002 was the first model year for the five-speed sequential manual transmission in the MR2, and this car has one. Up until that time, those insisting on SMT shifting had to buy a costly exotic.

The MR2’s SMT had no manual mode, so the driver had to shift using either the steering-wheel buttons (downshift buttons on the front, upshift buttons on the back) or the floor shifter. Futuristic stuff in 2002, like handling emails on a portable wireless device.

This one looks to have been in decent enough cosmetic shape when it arrived in this place; the frunk-lid damage is the result of junkyard employees faced with a stuck latch and required to drain the fluids RIGHT NOW.

The engine is a 148-horse, variable-valve-timing-equipped

1ZZ four

displacing 1.8 liters. The car weighed just over a ton, so it was good and quick (for the price, in 2002).

It was lighter than a Miata and had more power, but car shoppers who once bought sporty two-seaters were moving into macho-looking sporty trucks and truck-influenced machinery by 2002.

The message of today’s Junkyard Gem should be clear: if you ever wanted an

MR2 Spyder

, find one and rescue it before it ends up just as junked as an ordinary Paseo or

Avalon

.