Review by Wallace Wyss –
TITLE: Toyota MR2 Coupes and Spyders 1984-2007
AUTHOR: Brian Long
PUBLISHER: Veloce Press
COUNTRY: UK
FORMAT: Vertical, perfect bound
PAGES: 200
PRICE $29.99
One has to give credit to Japanese automakers for, although supplying the bulk of inexpensive commuter cars in the half century in America, they still tried to make something unusual or sporty maybe just to show they could.
I had no idea that the MR2’s were in production so long or that there were different body styles. This is one of those rare books that shows the concept cars and that’s important to us fans because we get to see the roads they could have traveled. The paths not chosen as well as those chosen and well-traveled.
The book has a forward by Chief Engineer Tadashi Nakagawa, so you know Toyota co-operated every step of the way.
The softbound book has 200 pages, is in full color and has a perfect binding which means the binding end is squared off which makes for a stronger book and one where you can read the title on the spine when it’s on your bookshelf.
Only 17 pages are devoted to Toyota history, which needs to be there to show how Toyota embraced the opportunity to give Americans the cars they wanted. Detroit made mid-engined cars too on occasion but say “Fiero” and you don’t envision much worth keeping.
The book describes the first MR2s in UK and then coming to America. Many innovations along the way are discussed such as a T-bar roof, and a supercharged model. Then just as the sun fades and the first gen bows out of America it chronicles the 1992 models.
Though we don’t think of it as a race car, there were race cars built. The final models discussed are the 2001 through 2007 model years.
As a frequent design critique writer I appreciate the inclusion of clay model shots because they show the designers in Japan really were willing to reach out to almost what you would expect from Porsche or Lotus. They did not feel humbled by competing against European marques, though they were pitching at a different market, other than the Fiat X1/9 which was another economy mid-engine car until the Fiero came along to give them some domestic US competition.
One surprise model that looks good is the Technocraft MR spider offered in April 1965. I can’t fathom by the brief mention that Toyota sold it through their showrooms in Japan but it was briefly available. Then there is a whole chapter on a smaller version of the MR2 that was proposed, called MRJ, which had a hardtop that hid in the trunk but that remained only a prototype. That one has a very European look, almost French.
There’s also a chapter on the MRS-S soft top convertible versions. There is a brief page on engine specs. and a cutaway drawing of the 35-GE engine. The book is more about general concept and design than about mechanicals or how to get more power produced.
The only thing missing is any discussion of the car’s development problems during its more than two decades on the planet, quite a contrast with the same publisher’s Lotus Europa book which goes on at length about this engineering problem and that. It was not a smooth road for Lotus. So with the Japanese mid-engined car by Toyota it was reliability first, while with the Lotus it was get-the car-out and-worry-about-problems later.
The quality of the book is top notch. I was a little surprised at the $29 US price, having seen a hardbound book at Barnes & Noble on Hypercars for only $20 last week but for anyone who treasures owning an MR2 this is THE book, 400 pages, most production cars but more than a few glimpses of where they could have gone…
THE REVIEWER Wallace Wyss is a long time book publisher now turned fine artist.
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