Supra Forums banner

Steals, Deals & Turbo-Wheels. What'd You Pay for Your Mk.3?

4K views 50 replies 22 participants last post by  chevydude 
#1 ·
As per suggestion of IdahoDoug here in Alex's thread down below.

What did you pay for your Mk.3, and more to that point how did you find said car? I thought it'd be fun to see where, when, and how you found it, especially in today's market; so I'll start.

Let me take you back almost 20 years ago. For me, a friend of mine had found my, at the time, 89. I think he found it on an online posting, maybe it was Craigslist, but it was ca. 2002. The guy's name was Jason, he was a car salesman, I think. The car had an Ox Blood cloth interior, was wingless, targa, 5-speed, non-TEMS, non-turbo, non-abs, non-LSD, and non-head gasket :p. Well, I think it had one, but was on its way out. When I took it down for a head gasket job, I found that the thermostat was cut to be open all the time. That, or it melted :D. Oh, and the rear driver side quarter window was shattered and missing with bits of glass in the rear seating area. He said his ex-girl friend picked up a brick from his lawn and you guessed it. Smashy, smashy with the glassy, glassy. Anyways, in my Supra knowledge now-a-days, I realize it was as cheap of a third gen as one could buy brand new. I think hardtop might have been more, as I've seen on window stickers that the targa was standard equipment. Alas, the car looked neat to me (especially the huge rear tail lights and they still do), the engine felt really smooth and quiet, and the transmission felt smooth too. It was a slick car....well to an ignorant and impressionable kid at least. Blast from the past, it was also on Kumho Ecsta Supras!

Pics are from about when I got it, and when I took it apart for a head gasket job. I think the pics are from 2003. I eventually sold it when the HG blew again, but I think it overheated and stayed overheated for an extended period of time, as I remember the SPAL e-fans I put in took a dump shortly before I got stuck in a hot summer days in traffic. I didn't know any better, but I should've just pulled over and had it towed. By the time I got home, the temps were starting to rise during the traffic log. Upon parking the car at home, I raised the hood only to see one of the fan blades broke off and lodged itself in the radiator, effectively stopping that one fan, and also seeing the wiring was melted or damaged or something, so both fans were dead. After that I let it sit for sometime, and decided to sell it. A kid from an hour and half north of me came to buy it with plans to JZ swap it. This thread corresponds with that story of me trying to find my old car again. No sarcasm,but thanks to @OaklandFd3s, I'm at peace with trying to find it again because the trail went cold.

Blah, blah, chevydude, how much was the car? I paid $2,800.

Also, please refrain from quoting any movies for naming your purchase price, pals. :D Let the steals, deals, and turbo-wheels commence!
 

Attachments

See less See more
5
#2 ·
I had finished a car project and was looking for another for a couple years. Always loved the Mark III. One popped up on CL out in SW Washington State. But it was a non runner and they wanted $1000 in 2018. A long way to go (7 hours each way) to look at a car. The car had been off the road for 19 years. So I let a couple weeks go by.

When I called, they couldn't really tell me much as it had been abandoned in a barn on the property by a former tenant, who'd later given them the title to pay owed rent. When I asked for a photo of the title, they had not mentioned it also had a lien on the title, which they were told was the tenant's friend who was owed money. Not sounding good.

Then I asked if they had keys. Nope. Wow. That's a lot of headwinds. But I'd foolishly already fallen in love with it. Body was excellent, interior also excellent. So I called around to the WA DMV's office to see how to deal with the title. I also called various people in the area with the same name to see if I could pay off the lienholder. I finally found someone who thought they knew the guy and gave me his number. Repeated calls went unanswered. Then I called the Idaho DMV and found a solution.

Knowing I could make the title thing happen, I called the owners and offered them $300 and I only had one weekend I could come get the car - 4 days later or so. They decided to think about it. Cash, I reminded her - and I'd have it out of their barn right away. A day later they said yes as nobody else had come to look at it - despite being a couple hours south of a huge metro area.

My then 17 yo son and I drove out with a car trailer and stayed at a buddy's south of Seattle. First thing in the morning, we headed over. The car was way better than I'd hoped, but the engine looked hopeless as expected. Someone had removed the valve covers and left it sitting outside and the cams were rusty, there were parts out of the engine bay, and sitting around the barn, and clearly a battery had frozen and oozed a hole in the battery tray. But everything was there. However, I knew this car was going to end up getting stripped for parts and they were thinking of having it towed to the junkyard so I felt great about "adopting" another orphan into our fleet. While I paid her and got the bill of sale signed, my son looked around the barn in case the keys were there. Score! He found them on the back of a cabinet on a single nail. Probably been there for more than a decade and they didn't even know.

It was a great deal, but it was still a nonrunning car and a complete risk. The rings were rusted to the cylinders in two holes from the coolant sitting in them. I sprayed penetrating oil in right away. Later, we pulled the engine, put it in the stand and pulled the head to see the full extent of the bad news (coolant, etc). It was still frozen, so I left the penetrating oil sitting on the engine with a wood dowel, and every few days I'd spray fresh and tap the pistons one at a time. After several months, one day the sound changed. I continued for a few more days and checked. Yep - it turns.

So I stripped it and completely rebuilt the engine with a lavish treatment of meticulous valve job, honing and even cam journal work, and a little over 3 years later, I turned the key and she started right up. I've put about 350 miles on the car and really enjoy driving it.
 
#5 ·
I had finished a car project and was looking for another for a couple years. Always loved the Mark III. One popped up on CL out in SW Washington State. But it was a non runner and they wanted $1000 in 2018. A long way to go (7 hours each way) to look at a car. The car had been off the road for 19 years. So I let a couple weeks go by.

When I called, they couldn't really tell me much as it had been abandoned in a barn on the property by a former tenant, who'd later given them the title to pay owed rent. When I asked for a photo of the title, they had not mentioned it also had a lien on the title, which they were told was the tenant's friend who was owed money. Not sounding good.

Then I asked if they had keys. Nope. Wow. That's a lot of headwinds. But I'd foolishly already fallen in love with it. Body was excellent, interior also excellent. So I called around to the WA DMV's office to see how to deal with the title. I also called various people in the area with the same name to see if I could pay off the lienholder. I finally found someone who thought they knew the guy and gave me his number. Repeated calls went unanswered. Then I called the Idaho DMV and found a solution.

Knowing I could make the title thing happen, I called the owners and offered them $300 and I only had one weekend I could come get the car - 4 days later or so. They decided to think about it. Cash, I reminded her - and I'd have it out of their barn right away. A day later they said yes as nobody else had come to look at it - despite being a couple hours south of a huge metro area.

My then 17 yo son and I drove out with a car trailer and stayed at a buddy's south of Seattle. First thing in the morning, we headed over. The car was way better than I'd hoped, but the engine looked hopeless as expected. Someone had removed the valve covers and left it sitting outside and the cams were rusty, there were parts out of the engine bay, and sitting around the barn, and clearly a battery had frozen and oozed a hole in the battery tray. But everything was there. However, I knew this car was going to end up getting stripped for parts and they were thinking of having it towed to the junkyard so I felt great about "adopting" another orphan into our fleet. While I paid her and got the bill of sale signed, my son looked around the barn in case the keys were there. Score! He found them on the back of a cabinet on a single nail. Probably been there for more than a decade and they didn't even know.
Great search by your son to look for the key!

1990 Cutlass Supreme SL. (Kind of a POS)

Here is a reaaaaly old photo of when I took it to the beach all the time for late night campfires / hanging with friends all night (Lake Michigan, Silver Lake / Stony Lake area)

90 Cutty! I had visions of cushy velour seats when I read that. Ha.

Also, I've never seen a bra for any Supra before. Was that a custom piece, or it was actually produced in mass?
 
#3 ·
In the year 2002, I picked mine up for $3,000.
It was owned by the parents of one of my friends in High School. (Another Engineer no less :)
Based on its history I am the 3rd owner, it was purchased new in Illinois.(Still have the window sticker)

I drove it once, looked at it once and purchased it the next day.
Honestly didn't know much about it at the time, but I saw it a couple times when my friend drove it to prom and whatnot.
Thought it was the coolest damn thing, since I otherwise had to ride around with by older brother in a 1990 Cutlass Supreme SL. (Kind of a POS)
Its the first car I ever bought!

Drove it for a long time with zero maintenance required (beyond normal service items), it was very reliable transportation.
The modification bug hit me and started swapping parts and ended up causing problems with reliability ect.. (Thanks SupraMania and IJ ! )
Parked it for a long time as I needed reliable transportation in College and beyond.

The rest is history, I've been working on it for 19 years now.

There were only a couple other import tuner vehicles in my small town at the time.
Another friend of mine in H.S. had a Subaru SVX Alcyone.
There was a bright red Mazda RX-7, only saw it a handful of times though.

Here is a reaaaaly old photo of when I took it to the beach all the time for late night campfires / hanging with friends all night (Lake Michigan, Silver Lake / Stony Lake area)
 
#4 ·
Too much. $5800 in 2018. My first project car, never turned a wrench before, 13th owner (luck number). Had a 7M-GTE with an ebay turbo and the standard lexus AFM route. Didn't realize the clutch was nearly dead. 2nd day owning it the 3-4 shift fork snapped while merging onto the freeway because I tried to force it in with no clutch. The rest is history (on jackstands for 2 years 🤡)
Tire Automotive parking light Wheel Automotive side marker light Car
 
#6 ·
Oh man...don't remind me me of the interior on those 90's GM vehicles.
And yes it was maroon inside ugh, ugly.
Drove pretty well in the snow though.

I think the Bra came from Toyota, maybe an accessory.
I still have it if you want it. :)
 
#7 ·
My MK3 was the first car I went out of state for and had hauled back to me. It was advertised for $5800 with 124K on the odometer on Craigslist out in Wisconsin. It had the primary things I was looking for: good interior, good body, AT (I have another car for manual fun), and at least an '89. Owner wasn't exactly an enthusiast, but a mature professional who took decent care of it. The original owner before him (and one other) had it for about 13 years since new, and I have the stack of service records from that period. It was clearly serviced regularly, and clearly had some growing pains. Thinking of doing a post summarizing that part of the service history to give a snapshot of what a new MK3 Supra owner might have had to go through back in the day. Anyhow, on a cold December day of only 22°F back in 2018, I checked the car out and decided to buy it. Could only get the price down to $5600, "because it'll likely go up in value due to the new Supra coming out soon," he said.

Pics below from that cold day in WI.

Automotive parking light Wheel Car Tire Vehicle


Vehicle Car Motor vehicle Automotive tire Hood


It's still very stock, except an HKS turbo exhaust for a little bit of sound. And while it was pretty clean to start with, it's even more so now, especially in the undercarriage area. Runs a little better now too.
 
#12 ·
$10k this year in May. Bought it sight unseen over Facebook from a polite and nice mechanic. Had it shipped up from NC to NH. It's my trophy for paying off my house. Bought it less than 7 days after sending in the last check.

'89 manual turbo
99k miles
Sport roof
White with good/mostly complete interior.
Rebuilt motor with the usual oiling mods + extra capacity oil pan.


Not a perfect car... rust spots in the spare tire well and behind the mud flaps, no AC (condenser/pump removed) and Ebay hood vents that are not secured all that well. But it was pretty hard to find one of these with a good interior and the other things can be addressed.

Did I pay too much? Probably.

Jealous of all the good prices from the earlier posts!

 
#13 ·
$10k this year in May. Bought it sight unseen over Facebook from a polite and nice mechanic. Had it shipped up from NC to NH. It's my trophy for paying off my house. Bought it less than 7 days after sending in the last check.

'89 manual turbo
99k miles
Sport roof
White with good/mostly complete interior.
Rebuilt motor with the usual oiling mods + extra capacity oil pan.


Not a perfect car... rust spots in the spare tire well and behind the mud flaps, no AC (condenser/pump removed) and Ebay hood vents that are not secured all that well. But it was pretty hard to find one of these with a good interior and the other things can be addressed.

Did I pay too much? Probably.

Jealous of all the good prices from the earlier posts!

As someone who is looking right now, I think that's a very fair price. Nice ride!
 
#14 ·
I straight up swindled my Dad. It was 1999, and my Dad just got done restoring a '71 Dodge Demon 340. I was 17 and I wanted a muscle car BAD. Mysteriously, every old Mopar we checked out was one of two things: too fast, or too much of a project. I got annoyed with that game really fast. Eventually I bought a '93 Eclipse on my own by selling off a bunch of collectible cards from a game called Magic: The Gathering. Recently I learned that game was still alive and well, and many of those cards are now worth thousands of dollars and not just a few hundred bucks. Oh well.

Then a long story happens, but cliff notes is my sister trashes my Eclipse, so my Dad helps me buy another car instead of buying a car for her as he'd planned.

I opened an autotrader magazine and the page fell open to a burgundy '87 Toyota Supra Turbo 5-spd Targa. I immediately remembered being a 5 year old in ~1987 or so, when I saw a black 86.5-87ish MKIII driving through our neighborhood a few times. I was obsessed with Knight Rider at the time, and that car was the coolest looking car I'd ever seen. It really stood out in our blue-collar neighborhood. So in a moment it was settled, I needed a Supra.
My Dad, ever being a muscle car guy (at the time, anyway) just saw a big coupe with a puny 183ci 6 cylinder in it. He figured it wouldn't be any faster than the numerous Mopar slant-6 A-bodies and such that I'd already turned down, so he blessed off on it, turbo and all. After driving that '87 I was in love. But my Mom called the insurance company and apparently they had a real issue with me having a targa top - the turbo didn't change the insurance costs, but the targa roof nearly doubled it. My Mom kept asking for clarification, because even she knew that the turbo was a sensible thing to worry about, but the roof just seemed insane. But that ended my chances of getting the burgundy targa car.

Then two months later, a mechanic friend of the family had a coworker selling an '87 Turbo 5-spd hardtop. Silver with a grey cloth interior, 80k miles, 100% stock, and absolutely gorgeous. $4400 I split the cost 50/50 with my Dad and we're both listed on the title. 2 months later I'd found the SOGI email list, a week after that I'd taken a piece of rebar and a hammer and punched out the precat in the downpipe and shimmed the wastegate. About 2 months after that I rod knocked that engine street racing everywhere like a knucklehead. My Dad bought me a city bus pass. I scraped some more money together and bought a cheap JDM 7M-GTE on a pallet, delivered to my driveway for $650, seemed like a ton of money back then. Took me three months of weekends and figuring it all out, with the help of that same family mechanic, and it had a running engine and I had a new appreciation for what the redline on a tachometer meant.

Still have that car... and I need to revive her..
 
#17 ·
No lie, if I'd ended up with a 340 Mopar or a Fox 5.0L Mustang or similar, I'd almost certainly have totaled it in short order. When I was still learning the finer points of 4 wheel drifting, I tried to hot dog a bit for my friends in front of my high school by kicking the back end sideways. I'd intended to just let it hang out once and straighten out from there, but I scared the shit out of myself by overcorrecting back and forth and back again several times. I finally got the car straight again and lifted off right at the stop sign. Everyone who watched thought I was in total control the whole time, so of course I played it off like I was. I took to rotating my tires several times at a friend's house to hide the additional wear I was putting on those H-rated Continentals. I knew my Dad was checking.

I forgot to mention, though, that my silver '87 needed a brake job when I bought it. The first aftermarket parts I ever installed were some Brembo cross drilled rotors and a set of Hawk HP brake pads, and I flushed the fluid out with several cans of ATE super blue - back when that stuff was still blue, too!
Despite being a 17 year old knucklhead, somehow I was smart enough to spend the money on good brake parts. I almost bought McAutozone stuff so I could afford the $149 HKS exhaust downpipe as well, but I knew my parents would hate seeing me hot-rod the car. So I bought good brakes and punched out the cat instead. The hot-rodding came later. :)
 
#16 ·
My MK3 was owned by a doctor who bought it for his wife. His wife didn't like driving the car because it was standard and not automatic. The doctor would use the supra to tow his golfcart with a custom-made tow hitch. He grew tired of it and went to the dealership to sell it. My grandpa happened to work at this dealership back in 1994. My grandpa was the #2 car salesman in the US for the company, and if you met him you'd understand why, haha. It was either Toyota or Autonation, he worked for both at some point in life.

So the car comes in, and my grandpa rushed out there and said "I want this car. I'm buying it right now." The GM of the dealership said "No WAY, I'm buying this for my son." My gramps then sold his manager on why it would be a terrible purchase for his kid. "Insurance alone would KILL the cost benefit of this car" ..etc. His boss gave up and my grandpa bought the car that day. I was born in 1990, but some of my best memories were driving around in that car with him listening to music and going "fast". From about age 5 I told him that I want his car one day.

Fast forward. I was given the Supra on my 16th birthday. One of the best days of my life! I learned how to drive stick that same day, and it didn't take long to get the hang of it. Gramp had let the car sit as he got older, with no cover. The sun had done a lot of work to the paint and interior was cracked. The dash was bad too. Because it had sat so long, it developed many problems, and I fixed a few thanks to Supra Forums. I grew up without a dad, so everything I learned about cars was self-taught through these forums. It had a non-start issue when the engine got hot, which I recently determined must have been vapor lock. It was a pain to drive through highschool due to the issues, but I was obsessed with my car.

Fast forward again. Needed a reliable car for college in 2009. Found a garage kept SC300 for 5k. At the time I had no idea it had a 2JZ in it LMAO. Drove that car for many years until it was totaled due to some kid hitting me. It sat at my mechanics for years, and about 4 years ago I yanked the 2JZ out of it to put in the Supra. Now here I am today, building my dream car in my own garage.
 
#18 · (Edited)
I graduated high school in 1988 and a few of my friends had new Toyota pick up’s . While at the dealer for service, one of my friends wanted to go look at the Supra’s. We walked over and looked at a loaded super red targa. Well it didn’t take long before s salesman was telling us we couldn’t afford and was mad at us touching it 😂. Understandable as we were there with an 87 pick up that cost $10k new.
Now it’s 2001 and I bought my first house and it actually had a garage to park my 71 Pontiac formulla. Well that didn’t last long cause I didn’t have money to keep it on the road and sold it.
Now fast forward to 2004 and I’ve alread been in my first house for 3 years with nothing but my dirtbike and motorcycle in the garage.

I decided that I wanted a project car to stick in the garage,so started looking through want ads and yankee swappers ( some of you young gone might not n
know those magazines ) . I ended up seeing Supra’s in the ads and most were selling for as cheap as $2500-3000. After looking at some in poor condition ,I found one in north end of my home state. After calling I found out it was a father selling his sons car. The father was a decent guy and was upset his son bought it for his first car. Car was more money then I wanted to spend but he sold it to me for $4500 ,which was less then the son owed on it. So there I was loading up my 81,xxx mile 92 super red turbo targa auto with the shadow grey black leather 😊 a week before i turned 34 .
Im still working on this car to this day and I’ve barley put 10,xxx miles on it . I vow to put this car back on the road in 2022 god willing as now I’m about to turn 51 and have had this thing 17 years.🙏🏻
I also have a 91 turbo white package that I bought 6 years ago with 64,xxx miles for a birthday present to myself 😂
Tire Wheel Automotive parking light Car Vehicle
Automotive parking light Tire Wheel Car Vehicle
Tire Wheel Vehicle Car Motor vehicle
 
#19 ·
This year I remembered my dad owned a "Supra" with a cool red interior and these neat bucket seats in 2001 when I started high school. Since I remembered it, I wanted the exact same one (and my god did I pick a bad time for that with the JDM resurgence!) and the first time I looked there was one 150 miles south in Oregon with 115K miles in pretty good shape.
I met with the gentlemen who builds custom cars and had the valves and head gasket work done, I talked him down to $8,000.

Seems like the upper end by far most pay for 7M-GE non-sport supras, but it felt too right to pass up. A/C didn't work and it developed a power steering leak since, plus the radio was shot so, $2K for the stereo, $4.2K just recently for all the mechanic work (All fluids, timing belt, converting A/C). And today I took the fiberglass quater window shades and rear window shade to be painted and mounted and that's at least $1.5K there.

It's the most I've spent on a car before by over double so I didn't expect to put an equal amount in before the year was over lol. Unfortunately, the first month of ownership with it outside saw both front/rear bumpers paint peel, so that's another job. Still, I have to feel like this car deserves it, it's way too exceptional to neglect and the attention it gets never gets old. Absolutely adore this thing.
Wheel Tire Car Automotive parking light Automotive side marker light
Car Vehicle Motor vehicle Window Automotive design
 
#21 · (Edited)
Sorry, was having a bit of fun with filters there! It's the "Ford" grey paint, stock. Body paint is in OK shape, but showing a lot of micro fractures and wear on the targa top. Thinking about just having the front bumper done in the future. The passenger mirror had a large chip fall out of it recently so no clue how I'm going to fix that one.

The pain of having a garage kept/babied car outside is REAL.
Automotive parking light Car Wheel Land vehicle Tire
Tire Wheel Automotive parking light Car Vehicle
 
#23 ·
Alright, Its July 6,2019 I am fresh out of highschool looking to get a car to take me to campus around 30minutes everyday. At the time I was looking at older muscle cars and a few sports cars even a few turbo supras my dad always disapproved and he was the guy lending me the money so it wasn't gonna be easy getting a car i would enjoy. But on that weekend right after 4th of July I decide to go with them to a swapmeet and on our way back home we see this black car on the street with a for sale sign and my dad is the one who brings it up and asks if I want to turn around and see it, me wanting a car ASAP said yes in a heartbeat, we stop and I notice its a supra and I start falling in love with it and get my dad to call the guy who didn't answer at first but called back 3 hours later asking if we wanted to take a look at it and instantly dropped $500 off his original $3500 price. Me and my dad leave my uncles house and go get $2700 as a way to get him to lower his price even more and we get there and the car seems great all be it he lied about it having A/C a big deal here in SoCal but we get back and I find out he was the dad of a guy who I had mutual friends with and it was his car, I felt bad but knew this was the car for me I tell him I have $2500 saved up and thats all I could pay and he just says yes. My dad throws me the keys and I take it for my first drive (I only had a permit so my dad test drove it) and I drove it right back to my uncles house and couldn't stop going back and sitting in it. I post a picture of it and within 5 minutes I get a call from a friend and he asks me if that was the car of (guy who owned it previously), I said yes and then he tells me that he's upset and even crying about it being sold. I felt bad but the joy was overwhelming any sense of empathy. That's how i got a 100% stock mk3 for $2500 ( a picture of when i first got it)
Tire Automotive parking light Wheel Land vehicle Car

And she's been reliable ever since with minor stuff like oil changes and one major brake master and brake booster change but now she needs a distributor
 
#24 · (Edited)
1996 LAX car auction. $5,000+$200 auction fee. My car at the time car was a 1984 Chrysler Laser Turbo. The Supra looked similar but better. When I drove it home I found out why it was in the auction. The overflow tank was gurgling and overflowing onto the ground. Believe it or not, I drove it from Irvine to Las Vegas and back that way. As long as you're driving there was no issue. It only overflowed when shutting down the engine. I replaced the head gasket at 110K and drove it another 100K miles before the next repair. Currently, I have 302K miles on the body and 3rd engine (Its a long story). The engine, transmission, and differential properly rebuilt by me in 2014 are going strong. I only have to do regular maintenance now. When admirers ask to buy my car, I tell them they will have to wait for the estate sale.

Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Automotive tire
 
#26 ·
Alright I'll go, I've wanted an mk3 supra my entire life (31 now)
I recently sold my 06 is350 to my next door neighbor for a steal at 4k. It had 264k, bc coilovers, spc camber kits, fsport exhaust and intake. I bought a sienna for the wife and kid which got some heat off me to buy another shitcar (current daily is 04 matrix xrs which I've put the last 2 years of time, effort and fun coupons to what now is my solid daily/track car)

Window shopping on Craigslist I came across her, a white 87.5 NA mk3 listed about 30 mins from where I live, asking $3900 posted 11 hours ago by the time I saw it. I wasn't planning to buy another car that soon but the posted photos looked clean. After contacting the owner, he said someone already coming to look at it that afternoon, he'd let me know if he flakes.
Allegedly he flaked so i grabbed a buddy with me and checked the car out. Owner was an older gentleman, I assume in his 50s, car belonged to his father who passed away. His son has no interest in cars and he claims he doesn't know a whole lot about it, but had a thick folder of service records. I ran the carfax while looking at it and his story/names seemed to match up.
The car was purchased new in 1987 at Toyota of Marin and steadily been maintained there until 2019.
I took the car for a test drive, obvious 30 year old car issues (tie rods shot, bushings, shocks well worn, very dirty under the hood.
I checked the common rust spots and all checked out. About 20 mins of talking/haggling came to a deal at $3400 drove it home with 2 sets of wiper blades, the thick folder of maintenance records, factory service manual and a rock in the center console with the words "I have called you by name" painted on it.
My dumbass threw the wiper blades away not knowing they've long been discontinued.
Progress on the car is on my signature.

So its not the turbo targa in white that originally made me fall in love with the mk3 supra but here in Northern Cali it's hard to find an mk3 in any condition for under 10k. I'll most likely drive the 7m til it decides to die. Ideally I'd like to keep the car mostly original but if I come across a non vvti 2j I'll most likely go the 2jz na-t route. Til that day comes I'll be happy driving the 7m
Tire Wheel Automotive parking light Vehicle Car
 
#28 ·
179k.
The service records don't indicate head gasket work but last time I had the valve covers off, cams / surrounding area were super clean and timing belt, water pump, and accessory belts are newish. With this many miles I'd assume the hg already blew once before, but who knows? I just drive it assuming any time I take it out may be the last time it holds compression. Lol
 
#31 ·
Te72 - dont be sparing the stories! Thats what the thread is for! Those sawblades just look soooo right on the car. Truly iconic. I used to get frustrated with the wheel designs on Japanese cars in the 80s n 90s when American and german wheels were strong. But when I saw these i nodded in respect. The Gen 4 wheels totally sucked - looked like Oldsmobile wheels on a sports car...
 
#32 · (Edited)
I have a red 1988 NA running that I just happened to run across in my father in law‘s junkyard one day. I’ve always wanted a Supra since I was a kid so I was all over it then to find out he had three more a red 87 NA manual, a 88 white turbo targa and a red 92 turbo targa ( both turbo didn’t have engines 😔) But I was in parts heaven 😍 To my surprise once I got the car out I discovered that the O-rings in the valley were the cause of the problem that filled valley with oil, for my benefit thank God for terrible mechanics because the previous owner was told the engine is blown. It set for ten years because of this before I found it in 2016. I had it running in three days, $63 a car and a trip to the clerk of courts office and the titles were mine. I stopped driving it for a for 2 years because I had a lot more work to do with it, but now it’s back baby. I love this car, I forgot how it felt to roll around in my Supra. It needs a paint job and some interior work from sitting but versus a new car payment it’s so worth every penny. Coming soon will be the white turbo. I just needed to have the Supra motivation 😍 Supra fever has set in 😁 … I added pictures I buffed the car and brought it back to life also included rear end Before and after the taillight and exhaust switch.
 

Attachments

#36 ·
(I had time to write this up today.)

It's early 1992 and I have started my first job out of college, so now have income. It's time to upgrade from the 1974 SAAB Sonnet III which has served me well in college and taught me quite a few things about fixing a car.

A couple of (older) good friends are deep into working on cars, so I can get some advice. One of them has hopped up several old cars, but focused on suspension upgrades. Believe it or not, some full-size Fords from the late 1970s have good suspension geometry and are fairly easily to make handle quite well. Replacing the soft rubber bushings with polyurethane does wonders. The friend who hopped old Fords also bought a Supra about the same time I did, so we upgraded suspensions together. I've lost touch so have no idea if he still has his Supra or not, though probably not.

I find I'm more interested in good handling than lots of power, plus I'm concerned about affording the insurance cost. Plus, on the street, you don't need a lot of power to get in trouble. Looking around, I find the Supra, but can't afford a new one. I decide the turbo model is not worth it for a measly 20hp, especially with the bump in insurance cost. If only I knew then what I know now about that.

The Supra has decent power, but what interested me was the suspension geometry. The car handled pretty mediocre from the factory, but if the suspension geometry is right, that can be fixed. Still to this day, The Supra's suspension is hard to beat. That 5-link rear is sweet and the front double A-arm with lots of caster and SAI is perfect.

At that time, the newspaper classifieds are the place to find a used car. I test drove a couple, including one with a sunroof, but my torso is too long and my head hits the ceiling. Absolutely, I need a manual transmission. One day, there's an ad for a gray '88 NA hard top with 43k miles. That was my lucky day. It turned out to have the Sport Package, which had everything I wanted (manual, hard top, LSD) and not what I didn't (turbo). He wanted $8000, but I didn't have that much saved, so I got a loan for $6000. My dad had to cosign that loan, which still annoys me since my credit was perfect.

The car had been wrecked and fixed. The body repair was good enough, but they did not completely fix the suspension, so that was the first thing for me to fix. The car is slightly twisted, but not so far it can't be aligned properly. My best guess is someone got hit on the driver's door and shoved into a curb. It had the wrong size tires on the rear, and the TEMS shocks were basically dead. My first upgrade was Koni Yellows, along with polyurethane swaybar bushings.

The rest is history. It was my only car until late 2003 when I bought a 350Z. The Supra is still the one I drive if at all possible. It has never sat more than 5 months, and that was late 2019 to early 2020 when I had a lot of body work done. It was time to de-rust it and re-fix the old work.

Since I got my Zed, typically the Supra sat for about 4 months every summer because the AC did not work. I finally fixed that properly mid-2019, so now it's an all-year-long car. The Zed sits quietly now.

It's impressive to think that it's sporting its 6th timing belt and I personally replaced 4 of them. Like Bruder, anyone who wants to buy this car will have to wait for the estate sale.

I actually don't have a photo of the whole car besides this one from 2006. There are lots of photos in my collection of parts, though.
Wheel Tire Car Vehicle Land vehicle
 
#39 · (Edited)
It was my only car until late 2003 when I bought a 350Z. The Supra is still the one I drive if at all possible. It has never sat more than 5 months.....It's impressive to think that it's sporting its 6th timing belt and I personally replaced 4 of them.
Since it sounds like it's been driven a lot, how many miles are on the body? It's got the original engine?

An enthusiast up in the Seattle area took it off my hands for $500. I drove it up there and dropped it off with my fiance, guy had a cool shop with 3-4 other Supras, MK2's mostly and an MK3 if I remember right. Anyways I hope something ended up becoming of that car, but who knows.
Do you still have that dude's contact info, e-mail, phone? I'd encourage you to reach out (same with @Asterix and the buddy with Fords & Supra) to see what became of the car. People tend to keep their e-mails. I've had my email name (not email) since 1997 or there abouts.

Edit: That Celica reminds me of the 1st one I ever saw in person. It was about 17ish years ago. It was night out and super cold, and I was dropping off a college buddy at his apartment. I'm heading out of the complex and there it was to my right side with an orange flood lamp to the back of it framing it for my eye. It was a black notchback with black mesh wheels and polished aluminum lip. It looked a little rough, but I still remember my excitement to have spotted it, even in such low lighting. Ever since that moment, I've had a soft-spot for black Celicas. I still remember where it was, I think I'll swing by for nostalgia reason. Ughh, now I'm reminded me of the 1st gen NSX I saw on some neighborhood street "abandoned" covered in dust with rusty brake rotors. For shame! Come to think of it, that Celica and NSX were less than a mile apart from one another. Hmm, I was able to find out who owned the property right next to where I saw the NSX parked, I assumed property and NSX owner were one in the same, so I hand wrote a letter expressing my interest in the car (figured the owners thought it was just an old Honda and would let it go for a steal), but alas I never heard anything.
 
#37 ·
Had to dig into the archives before posting this up. Here we go.

I wanted a Mark 3 Supra forever. Since High School. For scale, I graduated in the year 2000. I remember having an issue of Car and Driver (I think) where they featured a MK4 Supra vs a Corvette and a Porsche, something like Asia V Europe V US, from like 1994. But even with that, and way before F & F, it was the MK3 for me. I definitely recall browsing this very site as early as 2001, just wishing and learning. Even then, a clean MK3 with BPU was around $5k, in my area at least. To say, way outside my price range, haha.

Summer of '02, my buddy, who knows I want a Supra but knows my budget, calls me. He says, hey, there's a 1981 Supra for sale, $500. Not even a Mark 2, but I'm interested anyways.
It was a POS, interior wasn't great, had been sitting, engine was shot. So I did the right thing, and bought it anyways.

Wheel Tire Automotive parking light Automotive side marker light Car


Doubling down on doing the right thing, after doing some research, figured out that a 5M-GE would "bolt right in" to where the stock 5M-E was.
If you haven't ever seen a stock MK1 engine bay, well it's a thing of beauty:
Hood Vehicle Motor vehicle Automotive battery Car


I never bothered trying to figure out that engine's issues. I was spending a bunch of time on celica-supra.com then, which is still around as well. Also a great site, I popped in there the other day to see some of the OG's still around. Heart warming.
Anyways I was able to find a used 5M-GE from a guy on there doing an engine swap, which I bought from him, including the entire wiring harness, with shipping, for $500. From across country. I think he made nothing on the sale. If you're still out there - thanks!

Got the engine swapped, then did more of the right thing, and spent more on exhaust and wheels and tires than I did on the car. But it had a 2.5" magnaflow knockoff and sounded pretty good, and looked good with the MK2 wheels and white letter out BFG's.

Wheel Automotive parking light Automotive side marker light Tire Car


Louvers mandatory.
Automotive parking light Vehicle Grille Automotive tail & brake light Car


5M-GE fits nice
Car Vehicle Hood Light Motor vehicle


I got out of college and the car's little problems kept adding up. I think if it was a stick, I might still have it to this day, 7M-GTE swapped or something crazy. But it was an auto.
So I posted up on celica-supra.com saying I needed to get rid of the car, and rather than let it go to waste, would anyone take it, for any amount.
An enthusiast up in the Seattle area took it off my hands for $500. I drove it up there and dropped it off with my fiance, guy had a cool shop with 3-4 other Supras, MK2's mostly and an MK3 if I remember right. Anyways I hope something ended up becoming of that car, but who knows. Probably scrap... That was in '06.

Fast forward to 2016.
My best friend buys a house, one of those take what you get, try to figure out how to get a loan deals. House needed a ton of work and was full of junk.
Part of the junk just so happened to be a 1988 MK3.
This friend was present for the entire MK1 Supra saga, so he knew my Supra passion.
In 2016 I bought the car from him, untouched from how he acquired it in the junk pile in his garage, for $1500.

Here it is pulled out from his yard, loading it up on my trailer. Kind of a mess.... it had sat probably 8 years is my best guess.
Car Wheel Land vehicle Automotive parking light Tire


But it was all there. 5 speed swapped 1988 MK3 turbo, had a huge pile of papers for work done, including MLS headgasket, and a nice 3" full turbo-back exhaust.

Just today, now having it running I guess what I would call reliably, went by his house and took him for a ride.

Build thread is here: Reluctanse's 1988 Turbo Rehab - Valentine

And for the record, that was a '98 2500 Suburban with the 6.5 turbo diesel hauling the trailer. I miss that rig.
 
#38 ·
Had to dig into the archives before posting this up. Here we go.

I wanted a Mark 3 Supra forever. Since High School. For scale, I graduated in the year 2000. I remember having an issue of Car and Driver (I think) where they featured a MK4 Supra vs a Corvette and a Porsche, something like Asia V Europe V US, from like 1994. But even with that, and way before F & F, it was the MK3 for me. I definitely recall browsing this very site as early as 2001, just wishing and learning. Even then, a clean MK3 with BPU was around $5k, in my area at least. To say, way outside my price range, haha.

Summer of '02, my buddy, who knows I want a Supra but knows my budget, calls me. He says, hey, there's a 1981 Supra for sale, $500. Not even a Mark 2, but I'm interested anyways.
It was a POS, interior wasn't great, had been sitting, engine was shot. So I did the right thing, and bought it anyways.

View attachment 266875
Very cool, especially because my first car was a '79 MKI, light blue, auto. I lusted after the MKII, but my dad was buying and the '79 was what I got. Can't say I thought it was awesome at the time, but I liked it enough. Unfortunately, it only lasted about a year before it overheated and the block cracked. Before I got my MK3, I almost bought a black one like yours from a forum member here, but then I decided I was probably interested mostly for nostalgia reasons, and that it would be more interesting to move forward and get a Supra I hadn't had yet.

Hope that guy you sold it to helped keep it on the road!
 
#41 ·
Lol these posts make me think of what could have been. My first car was an 87 cressida that started everything for me. At the time, I didn't have the funds or knowledge to keep up with that car and I sold it to who I believe was a pimp lol. The car was impounded a few months later and my mom could have gotten the car back if the tow yard fees were paid, that didn't happen but now pre 89 cressidas are almost extinct
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top