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  • Dammit: This Solar Yellow MR2 Spyder Sells on Facebook Marketplace in Six Hours

    I own an MR2 Spyder. It’s a 2000, it’s bright red, it has 63,000 miles. It’s genuinely the most fun car I’ve ever owned. I cherish it and would never consider selling it.

    …Except I definitely will now, because one with two thousand less miles than my own sold for over $17,000 on Bring A Trailer recently. Considering what I paid for mine, hanging onto it in these absurd times feels foolish. After all, these cars get posted on Facebook Marketplace all the time; I can just get another one.

    Expect to see this for sale sooner rather than later.

    So I’ve been looking, and looking, and looking. Unfortunately, it seems a lot of Spyder owners have also gotten the news that these cars were crafted from solid gold. $10,000+ asking prices are the norm for sub-90k examples, and the owners I’ve attempted to haggle with have all but laughed directly in my face. I’m sure if I tried to offer $6500 in person they actually would, immediately before chasing me off their driveway.

    Yesterday, I received an alert on our Discord server. You can enter what make, model, year range, and mileage range you’re after, and my bot will tell you when there’s new matches. Two MR2 Spyders had just gone up for sale: the one pictured in this article, and a white 2001 with 63K on the clock, which was optioned identically to the one that just sold on BaT.

    I immediately clicked on both and sent offers. The BaT clone was asking $8000; I offered him my customary $6500, to which he replied that was simply too low as his inbox was filled with interest. Fair enough.

    Solar Yellow, the only color louder than Absolutely Red

    The yellow MR2 was being offered at $6500. Located a mere 28 hours away by highway in a suburb of Los Angeles, this 89,000 original mile Solar Yellow example actually included the OEM hardtop, color matched of course. Underneath was a black top and black cloth interior, just like mine. I offered him asking price. I told him I had cash in hand. I did everything I could to secure this car. He sent me the VIN and some jovial conversation, telling me how much he loved it, how much he hated to see it go. I told him I needed to book a flight, just don’t sell it.

    This OEM hardtop is worth $3000+ if you can even find one.

    Of course, you know how this ends. Within six hours of listing the car, it was sold. This car, with the matching hardtop and sub-100k mileage, is the perfect Bring A Trailer bait car. even with 50% more miles than the white and tan beauty that sold a couple weeks back, I’m sure if it were listed, it would fetch a similar price. The hardtop is basically impossible to come by at this point, much less color matched, and the solar yellow really does look insane out in the real world, surrounded by the usual tan and beige conveyance appliances most choose to drive.

    It’s not a matter of if, but when this car will show up on Bring A Trailer, Cars and Bids, or eBay. We’ll keep our eyes peeled and update on this car’s journey as it continues. I fully expect to see it again in the near future sporting a five figure price tag. The white 2001 Spyder I mentioned remains for sale at the time of this writing, but god knows for how long. I guess I’ll make another offer.

    One final note, if any of you live in the Los Angles area and want to act as an intermediary for these kind of things, jump on the Discord and talk to us. California has a wealth of great cars and we’d like to get our beaks wet from thousands of miles away. We’ll make it worth your time. Free stickers?

  • What cars do YOU want to see?

    I want to narrow our search a bit. Daily Deals missed a few days due to some issues with my server, but now that we’re back running, I want to make it something I personally actually want to scroll through. For me personally, that means 90s and 00s Hondas and Toyotas: the Civic Si, RSX, and MR2 Spyder. It also means 80s and 90s Nissans: Z32 300ZXs, S13s and S14s, and the Sentra SE-R. And maybe some oddball Subarus like the Brat could keep it interesting. What that doesn’t include, in my perfect vision, is hundreds of F-150s and Super Duties, any sort of German car at all really, and maybe less Plymouth Prowlers wouldn’t hurt.

    But nobody’s tastes are the same, and I want to make sure I’m still including your interests in these posts, and what we aggregate on the forum. So what do you want to see? Email me directly at collectorcarfeed@gmail.com to tell me what you’re looking for, or let me know in the Discord server.

    I’m also thinking about reducing the number of emails to every other day, or maybe three times a week. If you know about this site and come here regularly anyway, do you really need a daily notification in your mailbox? Do you want one? I’m open to either way, continuing daily or switching to a few times a week. I’m pushing the limit on my free Mailchimp account right now, so dialing it back wouldn’t hurt. Again, let me know what you think!

    There are some new features in the Discord server (get notifications for specific searches, with filters for year price, mileage, and keywords!), and a few other updates worth mentioning, but I’ll tell you about them in a separate post. Thanks for reading!

  • Found on the Feed: Better ACTY now!

    If you’ve ever been to Japan, then odds are you’ve had the pleasure to see what’s known as a kei car. These are smaller Japanese market-only vehicles that value function over form. Kei cars and trucks have been making their way to America for quite some time, but it’s only recently that they’ve become staples on many import shops’ websites, with some places going as far to only import kei vehicles. Powered by tiny, sub-660CC motors, in this ACTY’s case, it’s a 650CC I3. These vehicles also came in a variety of forms, from trucks to vans; there’s an ACTY for everyone.

    Bet you didn’t notice she wasn’t wearing shoes.

    It should be known that when I pulled this example up during the Feed’s offices daily “T. Flats and Trucks” luncheon, there were several vomiting noises, and we can’t be sure which caused it. [editor’s note: we don’t all agree with Atlas’ disdain, I THINK IT’S CUTE] However, here’s today’s 1994 ACTY Van, currently listed on Facebook Marketplace. It’s been in the states for less than a year and only has around 50,000 miles on it (76,000 km). It’s a stick shift and the seller states that it’s in great condition for its age. The seller, a Feed discord regular, has a deep-rooted love for the ACTY platform, and when asked what makes it special, he said it’s got a rare double sunroof, for taking your six-pack of Asian thots on a pleasure cruise to the nearest beach for an afternoon of backgammon.

    The seat that’s held 1000 Japanese farts.

    Overall this example seems to be fairly clean and with a good detail, and some carpet extraction, you’ll be the star of the next Cars and Coffee. Priced at $8,000, I think this vehicle won’t last long. It’s a fair price and if Bring a Trailer has shown us anything recently, it’s that 90’s JDM stuff is on the rise and this ACTY is about as JDM as you can get.

  • Found on the Feed: Rally Spec Pulsar GTI-R

    The Nissan Pulsar is the (already) eccentric Nissan fan’s Nissan. These were some unique little hot hatches made for the Japanese market, and never quite made it here to the United States (we got the Sentra instead). That’s kind of a shame, because certain models (GTI-Rs) came with a SR20DET, all wheel drive and the rest of your classic 90s Nissan tropes. The only thing this little car didn’t do is race Mt. Akagi against a certain panda Trueno. [editor’s note: fact checked for accuracy. It’s true: Takumi never races a GTI-R]

    That brings us to today’s model, which is set up to be a true Group A rally car, which, according to Wikipedia, was an actual thing Nissan did! However, this particular example, found on Facebook Marketplace, is a recreation, appearing to be a GTI-R underneath, as stated by the seller: “NOT saying its a NISMO car !! Has some Nismo parts !!” But nevertheless, this is a cool car, decked out with everything you’d need to attend the next New England Forest Rally with your favorite co-driver.

    There do be a redtop there

    Now, the price isn’t exactly cheap at $19,500. But I’m going to forgive that for the fact that it’s both a 90s Nissan with an SR20DET (thanks, Bring a Trailer) and a bonafide Rally Car. It sounds like at the end of the day there’s some room to wiggle here, being that it’s been listed for a week now. With the rest of the mods the seller lists, I don’t have a ton of doubt that this would be a solid weekend driver.

  • Found on the Feed: Your next NB Miata Project

    We all know NBs are the superior Miata [we don’t -Feed]. It’s been discussed on the Collector Car Feed podcast several times now. However, what we’ve got here is a real project that is (thankfully) OBO so you might be able to scoop it for a reasonable price, considering the low miles it has.

    Almost everyone on this fine website knows about Miatas; it seems like even the most common folk know now. I double-checked this by yelling out the window of the Feed offices “Hey what’s a Miata?” and a nice gentleman on the sidewalk below replied “A great driver’s car!” If you need more convincing, let me tell you this fact: It’s the best selling roadster of all time.

    A nice wet picture to hide how terrible the paint really is.

    This particular NB has just under 29000 actual miles on the car. However, the seller does state that the Arizona sun has taken a toll on the vehicle’s paint and dashboard, as noted by the above and below pictures. The car is an original 5 Speed and does have a hardtop, which is an exceptionally desirable, hard-to-come-by amenity.

    Overall, this car’s a little steep at $8500, but as I said in the beginning, the seller states this is or best offer, so you could potentially scoop it for a decent price. A little Maaco love, some time on the internet finding either some new seats or having an upholstery shop run free and you might (keyword might) have a Bring a Trailer winner on your hands. You can go here to find the listing. Unless it’s slipped away by now, in which case you should have gotten Feed Premium to find this gem and ones just like it, first, when they hit Facebook Marketplace.

  • Big if True: World’s First 10 Second Honda For Sale

    Today’s staff pick is an actual piece of import tuning history. Today we take a look at the Silver Bullet Honda CRX, currently up on Facebook Marketplace for “trades and cash 30k range”.

    This CRX, originally owned by David Shih, has spent the last 22 years untouched as part of a private collection in Monroe, Louisiana. Shih was interviewed by Honda Tuning Magazine about his historic feat in which he piloted the little B18 powered sport compact to the world’s first ten second quarter mile pass in a Honda, posting 10.87 at 136 miles per hour, all the way back in 1996.

    This is truly a piece of automotive history. This car can be credited with kicking off the tuner craze of the late 90s and early 00s, leading into the creation of the Fast and the Furious franchise, American Products Company, Super Street Magazine (which coincidentally also started in 1996), and so many other things we’ve come to love in hindsight here at Collector Car Feed. $30,000 for this historic milestone almost feels like theft.

  • Collector Car Feed Podcast #10: Jalopnik isn’t really my thing/one of us bought a FT86

  • Collector Car Feed Podcast #9: Beer, Food, and Fast and the Furious

  • Collector Car Feed Podcast #8: Japanese Melange

  • Z Odyssey, Part 2: Ship (Doesn’t) Happen(s), A Donkey Show, and Love at First Sight

    I’d found the car I wanted, but, coming from across the country, how would I buy it? With everyone and their uncle leery of wire transfers thanks to the numerous Nigerian princes out there, I had to come up with a way to get my money in the seller’s hands without having him being scared of getting ripped off. Any banker in their right mind would warn him against accepting a wire transfer. I could always mail him a check, but then I’d be vulnerable if he backed out. I considered putting the money into an escrow account, which is common, but that would take time: time I didn’t have, since I was on both the seller and my friend’s schedules.

    Golf, it turns out, would be the Klonopin all three of us would need to ease the anxiety. My friend Pat works for the golf course at Mammoth Lakes, CA, and the seller was a golf pro at his local resort. Once the two of them made the connection, it was smooth sailing from there. I wired the money directly to his bank, but the tellers warned him of the potential scam. He shrugged it off and put faith in me and Pat. He was $7000 richer, and I was $7000 poorer, with the title to a 1972 240Z. I kept in contact with the seller over the next few days, as transfers can take time. I wanted him to be sure that this wasn’t a scam and that the money was transferred.

    Pat made the 4 hour trek back with my new pride and joy while I started contacting shipping companies to get it loaded onto a trailer to ship back east. This turned out to be a nightmare. Transport companies tend to just accept whatever job they can within a reasonable price range, regardless of the location of the vehicle. I had multiple carriers accept the job, wait a few days to a week, call me to arrange pick up, realize the location sucked, and then cancel on me. It was Thanksgiving , and time wasn’t doing me any favors either, as roads and winter storms could disable travel at any time.

    After a few weeks of waiting, I wondered if I should just try and drive it home. I started researching flights and found a few decent fares. I talked with my wife to see what she thought of me embarking on this journey, and she was 100% supportive. I waffled for a couple days on the decision, since I figured I would need a two week lead time to make the flight prices work. As luck would have it, I was finally going to pull a sort of scam on Frontier. Frontier was offering $48 one way flights to Vegas. I could leave the next day for fifty bucks and start the journey. If you aren’t aware of Frontier, they nickel and dime you for everything. You want to choose your seat? That’s an extra fifteen bucks. You want to bring a carry-on item? That’s an extra fifty bucks. You want to use the bathroom, ten bucks. I might be the first person to make that flight for the advertised price. I was planning on packing light anyways, so this was more of an incentive. I shoved everything I would need to bring with me in a “personal item” sized backpack. With 30 hours notice, I was on my way to Vegas with only a backpack and a one-way rental car destined for MMH airport in Mammoth Lakes. 

    I arrived in Vegas at 1 AM on Friday, December 1, 2017. I wasn’t hassled one bit from Frontier, which honestly surprised me, as I figured they would try and nickel and dime me at any opportunity. I got about 4 hours of “plane sleep” on my flight; that kind of sleep where you’re partially awake and partially asleep at the same time. Where you’re constantly entering and leaving consciousness. As I had a long drive ahead of me, any sleep I got was better than none.

    I got to my Enterprise rental car at about 1:30 AM and embarked on the five hour drive to Mammoth. I stopped at the infamous Alien Highway rest stop off of Route 95 north of Vegas, and was bemused to see that they had an alien brothel. If I had more time, was single, and desperate, I might have walked in just to see what it was all about.

    In between Mammoth and Vegas is nothing but highway, a small town, and a few brothels. I made it to the small town of Beatty around 4 AM. I was starting to get a little tired, and thought I saw something in the middle of the road. It wasn’t an alien, but I’ll be damned if it wasn’t two donkeys crossing the street. They didn’t acknowledge or flinch as I came to a quick halt about 10 feet away. I had seen wild horses crossing the road when I previously lived out here, but never wild donkeys. I wasn’t sure if that was an omen, but I pushed on regardless. I made it to Pat’s house in Mammoth at about 6:30 AM.

    I finally got to see her after weeks of waiting. Pat had gotten busy tearing her down a little bit to prep her for the trip. The original radio was long gone and she had been spliced open (Dash Panel had been hacked apart) to store an antiquated aftermarket CD player. I say store, because the head unit wasn’t even connected to power or the speakers. If you’re going to make a trip across country, you have to have music. And it’s sad to say, but if I was going to go from Mammoth to Northern VA, I needed tunes or else I didn’t think I could make it. He had also wired up the cigarette lighter so I could charge my phone for the trip.

    We buttoned her up so I could take her out for a quick test drive and stop by the local NAPA auto parts to get a few needed items. The clutch was slipping under load in 3rd, 4th, and 5th but once you got above 3500 rpm, she would hold and pull all the way to 6k, which is short of redline. I wasn’t ready to push her that high yet. This 240 had a L28 paired with a 5 speed transmission which was perfect for highway cruising. It still had the stock 240Z secondary cylinder adjustment rod, so I was hoping to make some adjustments to get rid of the slipping clutch. Would it work? Tune in next time to find out!