So a little background first, I have been kinda ridiculous when it comes to performance cars and love working on them. Import, domestic, euro, they all are awesome. But, there is something about a turbo'd import that really gets me all worked up. The past 2 years I really haven't had any car worth mention whatsoever. However, about a month ago I was dicking around with my auto insurance company and asked them how much a few different cars would be. Surprisingly enough, an MkIII supra is 3$/mo cheaper than my crappy little automatic corolla.

I told one of my best friends down here about it and he happened to know someone with a supra that was in great condition, no tear in the cloth, no body damage etc etc, basically made it sound amazing, and then the ball dropped... it had a blown engine. Well I don't really have the money nor the time to drop into a car with a blown engine, and then go searching around god knows how long to source a new engine to swap in and hope it works.

Fast forward about 30 minutes after that conversation and I call my brother about it. He says how cool it would be to swap in a 1j and etc, I basically tell him that I have no garage or place to store it while I do such an in depth swap, I would basically need to swap the old one out for the same kind of engine. The he starts asking lots of questions, "Does it still have the trans? Does it still have the engine? Accessories?" At this point I ask him what he's getting at, apparently he has a turbo 7mgte sitting in his shop that they were basically going to toss on craigslist. Came out of a running car and pulled strong no problems at all.

So I start thinking, well if I can get a good deal on it I can have a running turbo supra for pretty cheap. I get my friend to talk to the owner a little bit and he sends me his number to text him. I talk to the owner and get everything sorted and we agree to meet up later that week.

First time I see the car I am slightly skeptical about the quality of the interior, but as my friend was so emphatic about, for a 25 year old car it is in pristine condition. No dash cracks no faded cloth, no broken buttons or chipped paint. The outside was also in great condition for a 25 year old car, a few problem spots here and there, but nothing larger than a quarter and I think there are like 3 of them.

Fast forward two weeks from that and we have me sitting here, having seen the car a second time and pretty much finalized everything. Will be picking up the car later this month and getting the registration around the same time.

So I sit here, writing this, on the verge of starting the restoration of a turbo supra that hasn't moved in 4 years, and me having a running performance car for the first time in 2 years. Here come the pictures of doom!

 

Awesome. Strangely enough, I've been doing the same thing to my 91 mk3. I've owned her since 2005 which is a long time for me to keep a car.

 

Nice project and good luck !