When I was a teen, my father subscribed to Consumer Reports Magazine and I was a heavy researcher into knowing what products worked well. I would watch MotorWeek on television and cars had a magical charm to me. The Toyota MR2 had an incredible appeal to me. It was high tech, it was fun, it wasn’t terribly expensive, it had pop up headlights and a spoiler, and it was Japanese. Growing up with two older brothers, I can remember the family cars had been a variety of brands from BMW, VW, Volvo, Jaguar, Cadillac, Buick. The cars I got to drive were always high mileage European cars that were always breaking down on me, which is partly why I like to tinker and fix things, but also why I wanted a Japanese car because of their reliability. While the MR2 was always my first love, the Corolla FX16 was an option I considered due to having the same engine in a body that was a bit more practical since I was headed off to college.

Tan interior MR2’s are pretty rare. But then again, finding an MR2 that’s clean and unmodified is pretty rare as well. I didn’t love the interior despite its uniqueness. I had to customize it, to make it my own.

After the transformation, I participated in some local shows just for fun. In 2017, I had the opportunity to place my MR2 inside my booth at SEMA representing CS-II USA. It attracted a great deal of attention and had an incredible article written up as seen below “Japanese Nostalgic Car”. You can also find it by typing in “MR2 SEMA” into google.

Thanks to the SEMA exposure, I would get a chance for my car to be included on an episode of Jay Leno’s Garage. Season 4, Episode 14 ”Limited Funds Unlimited Fun!”. The show featured Bob Pham’s SW20 and my AW11. I was told another AW11 was originally scheduled for the show but it blew a head gasket and they needed to find a replacement in a hurry. So they went to Google and found the above article of my car at SEMA. Through some local AW11 groups, they eventually found me.

Our good friend Jason Boulanger captured these great pix of our MR2 in downtown Los Angeles when I had changed to some black wheels. When I drove to this shoot, I hadn’t drive the MR2 that far before and as soon as I arrived, the car wouldn’t start. I later found out there was a leak in the intercooler piping.