Friday Video: Wheeler Dealers Flip Toyota MR2

Wheeler Dealers – S02E01 S02E02 – Toyota MR2 Part

Over at Streetfire someone has uploaded episodes of Wheeler Dealers, a great UK show “keeping modern and iconic classics on the road.” The premise is this: each week the hosts find a beat up old car, fix it up, and sell it for a small profit. Along they way they talk a bit about its significance, meet with a dedicated owner that has a mint example, and show you how to do some basic resto jobs.

Well that doesn’t sound so different from any slew of shows available on American cable TV, you might say. But wait! This being England, they aren’t obsessively focused on muscle cars and, as a result, feature cars like this AW11 Toyota MR2, another 1984 contender. All are gobs of fun to watch.

Of course, a slew of old Jags and MGs also turn up, but so does German schteel, Italian metallo, a Mazda MX-5, Suzuki Jimny, and Lexus LS400.

And here we were thinking Top Gear was the only car show from across the pond.

See parts 2-5 after the jump.

Wheeler Dealers – S02E01 S02E02 – Toyota MR2 Part

Wheeler Dealers – S02E01 S02E02 – Toyota MR2 Part

Wheeler Dealers – S02E01 S02E02 – Toyota MR2 Part

Wheeler Dealers – S02E01 S02E02 – Toyota MR2 Part

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14 Responses to Friday Video: Wheeler Dealers Flip Toyota MR2

  1. zukiru says:

    wow the mechanic’s hands are dirty!
    won’t see that on US TV!

  2. Bob says:

    A few things I noticed watching…

    1. Fixing rust with bondo. :shake: Hold me back now, wanna pimp slap him.
    2. Didn’t change the filter during the oil change. I know some people don’t, but it seems kinda cheap/lazy.You’re already there, and it’s like $3-4. Come on.
    3. Painting the quarter with spray paint- I’m betting it looks better on TV than it does in person, like the paint jobs on cars in Monster Garage. Ever seen one in person? They look HORRIBLE, lol.
    4. I like how the fender was just sitting there in the yard, all by itself, and already the right color and immaculate. Looks like someone had a fender painted and just set up a shot.

    It does seem like an entertaining and cool show however, though I’ve only made the halfway point. 🙂 Thanks for the clips!

  3. banpei says:

    Haha, that alternator brings back memories! 😀
    The alternator mounting bolt of my AE86 was a bit worn and didn’t stay in place anymore. So when re-adjusting it for the third time I roughed up the mounting point and added a washer with teeth. 😉
    BTW: there is an easier way to determine the tension of that alternator belt: it is right if you can twist it 90 degrees max.

  4. Ben says:

    Bob: Lol, that fender comment cracked me up but US shows like Junkyard Wars have similarly “convenient” discoveries. They do seem to take a lot of care with cars like the Fiat 500 (used actual spray booth) but maybe the low resale value of the MR2 didn’t justify it.

  5. Jimbo says:

    It is a great show even if they take a few artistic liberties. I get it on Discovery HD, and they have several other UK car shows. I think the brits have more car shows than us. Look for “Auto Traders”, also with Mike and Edd from Wheeler Dealers, and “Classic Car Club”, which also features Edd China. Classic Car Club did a feature on the 1st gen RX-7, which does not seem to be online, but I found this one on the Lancia Gamma “coup- pay”:

  6. Dennis says:

    haha only parts i understood where alternator and sideskirt… lol @ the rear and front wing

  7. zulu says:

    ditto on what jimbo said. ive seen the one with the rx7 before and this one with the mr2.

  8. Bob says:

    Junkyard Wars was originally a British show, was it not? The guy who played Kryten on Red Dwarf, Robert Llewellyn (which I’m sure I misspelled) was one of the hosts, as well as that fiiiiine British gal. Though I think there was a US spin off, I remember mostly seeing the original British ones.

    I could be wrong, I can’t remember. Is that even on the air anymore?

  9. Alex says:

    Yea the show was called Scrapheap Challenge and there were several different girls on it over the years. Not sure if it’s still on but some of the later seasons were pretty unimaginative and the planted “junk” got a bit predictable and obvious. Still it was a lot better than today’s TV crap.

    As an MR2 owner seeing the bog job made me cringe, reminds me of shopping round for MR2s. I guess that car falls into “nice from afar and far from nice”. Also, he did say later on in the episode that he changed the oil filter, maybe they didn’t want to show what a pain in the arse place its in though. Also, I wonder how many miles were on the car and what condition other things like shocks, brakes etc. were in. It all seemed a bit contrived but made for good entertainment.

  10. Alan says:

    I guess C-pillar trim doesn’t disintegrate in cloudy England the same way it does over here in SoCal… either that or they couldn’t find replacement parts and said “screw it” the same way the rest of us AW11 owners do.

  11. RedMR2 says:

    They didn’t mention that the t-top seals probably leak if they haven’t been replaced. Just sell it in dry weather, it’s the next guy’s problem!

  12. rlee-lockhart says:

    saw this on american TV had a chance to buy this car however did not know how to import to the united states

  13. rlee-lockhart says:

    so i bought 1989 supercharged stage II

  14. Fred Sanford says:

    Why you people are commenting like this on a TV show is beyond me. You act like its some sort of important world altering documentary when its actually just a bit of fluff and fun to watch. Relax, sip your tea slower…My bet is even the people that buy the cars in the end are ‘freinds of the show’ or simply actors. Bottom line is its just for fun and not meant to be taken seriously, same goes for ‘Monster Garage’ or any TV shows for that matter. Sheesh.

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