Source: https://www.roadandtrack.com/car-cul...tion-trade-in/

As far as weird trade-in stories go, this has got to be one of the strangest. Earlier this week, Coad Toyota of Cape Girardeau, Missouri took in a total of five first-generation MR2s of varying specs and mileage from a single owner at once. Talk about unexpected. Japanese Nostalgic Car spoke with Ben Brotherton, the sales manager at Coad Toyota, to get the details behind this unusual trade-in. According to him, the cars were owned by a retired employee from the dealership building up the collection with the goal of owning one first-gen MR2 (otherwise known as the AW11) from each year of production.

The specs for the cars traded in are as follows:

• A 1985 fixed-roof sunroof car painted in yellow with over 207,000 miles on the clock. It sports aftermarket wheels, and was originally painted silver. According to Japanese Nostalgic Car, it's the only car out of this collection that's been modified from stock.
• A 1986 fixed-roof car with no sunroof painted in red, with around 140,000 miles on the odometer. It was apparently the owner's favorite out of the bunch, with regular visits to car shows and other events.
• A 1987 targa model painted in white sporting just 80,500 miles. It sports the OEM three-spoke wheels and an automatic transmission.
• A 1988 targa model also painted in white, and also equipped with an automatic transmission. This one sports phone dial wheels and a factory supercharged engine—the only car here that's not naturally aspirated. It has just 78,500 miles on the odometer.
• A 1989 targa model painted in a lovely shade of sky blue, equipped with the five-speed manual transmission. This is the cleanest, lowest-mileage car of the bunch, with just 28,000 miles on the clock.

Japanese Nostalgic Car followed up with the dealer, and just two days after they announced the cars would be sold off, all but the yellow example have already been scooped up (sorry prospective AW11 owners). Brotherton says the former owner replaced his collection with a single 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata with 10,000 miles on the clock . This probably isn't the way we'd sell off a collection of MR2s, but it's cool to see cars like this have been preserved. We hope he enjoys his new MX-5.

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There has to be more to the story. Otherwise, this guy is the "shrewdest negotiator" I've heard of.

 

 

I can't stand the original MR2 myself but the second generation W20 Turbo is still one of my all-time favorite cars...

 

There was a 1G MR2 for sale here in Houston for a couple years. Had a 20V 4AG-E Silvertop engine in it. Revved well over 10k & was a hoot to drive.
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Personally, I've always liked the 1G.

 

I had a 1988 Black on Black Supercharged, stick model. It was a monster little car. I could run with the Mustang 5.0 up to about 50-60 miles and hour, that's a 1.6 liter. It put out 200hp/200 ft-lbs, and weighed a bit over 2,400 lbs. It was really toss-able, and the best thing? It was a bullet proof Toyota.

 

one of our northeast mr2 members from Canada bought 3 of them from the dealership...

hopefully i'll see it at next year's Bear Mtn meet...

 

Why on earth would you go about getting rid of the collection in that way?

 

and for a miata that wasn't even brand new?

 

Dementia?

 

My head hurts.

 

I thought all FI 1G MR2s were automatics, but maybe I'm misremembering?

 

 

You could get it with a 5 speed stick. I was wrong on horse power and torque. Not sure how long the link will be good, but here's a clean example,

https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hs...2/3713921.html

 

I would of at least held out for a Supra.

 

Private party values on them is what, maybe $40k? Trade value probably about 80% of that? $35k would put you into a new Miata, not sure why a 2 year old with 10k on it.