1989 Supra Turbo Targa 95k Jdm 7m-gte No Reserve Rare Color Auto Original Miles on 2040-cars

VIN: jt2ma71jxk0107826 Year: 1989
Make: Toyota
Model: Supra
Options: Targa Top, CD Player
Trim: Turbo Hatchback 2-Door
Safety Features: Anti-Lock Brakes, Driver Airbag
Power Options: Air Conditioning, Power Locks, Power Windows, Power Seats
Drive Type: RWD
Mileage: 95,727
Exterior Color: Toyota 167 Gray Mettalic
Disability Equipped: No
Interior Color: Gray
Number of Doors: 2
Number of Cylinders: 6
Warranty: Vehicle does NOT have an existing warranty

Condition: Used: A vehicle is considered used if it has been registered and issued a title. Used vehicles have had at least one previous owner. The condition of the exterior, interior and engine can vary depending on the vehicle's history. See the seller's listing for full details and description of any imperfections. ... 

So I am reading through the stuff left in the glove box and here is the original buyers order which I attached a pic of.  This Supra was $30,696.54 back in 1989, and my favorite part is that this guy traded in a 1987 Chrysler Lebaron for it lol, to which he only got $11,000 trade in value.  I will say that is quite the upgrade to a Turbo Supra from a Lebaron hah.  Oh and don't freak out because it is an Automatic and not a 5-Speed.  Autos have this stigma I get it, but with a Turbo car they are actually faster because you never drop out of boost to shift, and you never have to replace the clutch, and Toyota automatics are bomb-proof reliable, and they launch better etc....  There is a reason they cost more, this isn't a Camry automatic, this is a Supra Turbo automatic, it is a sports transmission for lack of a better explanation.  But I digress.

I bought this car from Georgia back in the beginning of January from the 2nd owner who had aquired it from the original owner's widow a couple years prior.  When he first got the car it was minty mint, but he was an idiot and blew the head gasket.  Then he parked it and let it sit outside for a few months.  Prior to that it was garaged its whole life.  Which really kills me because it is so amazing how fast an idiot can hurt a true collector.  Anyways, the original elderly couple rear ended someone in it back in 2002 and they had the front bumper replaced with an OEM bumper, damage did not reach the impact bar or frame. Then in 2011 someone backed into the passenger door which was professionally repaired by their local body shop under the other party's large insurance check.  Other than those 2 incidents this car is cherry, and you cannot tell one bit, everything is totally straight and 90% of the paint is original (I thoroughly researched before buying, btw I am an I-Car platinum auto damage physical estimator and ASE Master Tech + I have an associates in automotive technology from the Toyota T-Ten program). 

So this is where I come in.  I originally bought this car to fix up for my GF (and I like the color, it is pretty rare) but her mom gave her a car for free, so now I have this fixed up Turbo Supra and nothing to do with it (I work way too many hours).  Instead of bothering to repair the original engine I just swapped in a 32k mile JDM 7M-GTE which has a little more power due to no US emissions and honestly you can't rebuild an engine as good as Toyota did it.  So with out further adieu lets get to the details. 

 

Exterior:  Exterior wise this car is a 7.5/10 currently.  It looks SHARP going down the street.  It has Turbo A style Gunmetal saw blade wheels that really suit the rare color of the car.  The body itself is Toyota 167 Gray Mettalic which is pretty darn rare for MK3 Supras, most of them that you see are white red or blue (which is nice and patriotic atleast).  The paint is in excellent shape, it does have some rock chips and scratches but come on, its 25 years old.  The clear coat is in great shape as well and was recently waxed.  There is one small rust bubble at the bottom of the rear window (easy repair) and a small spot on the inside of the back of the passenger door.  Other than that the car is totally rust free as it came with the rare dealer option called the ToyoGuard package.  They totally undercoated the bottom of the car and injected a rust preventitive solution into the quarter panels/fenders etc...  Most people did not opt for this option as they thought hey it will never rust while I own it, and they are right, but thank gosh for the owners 25 years down the line.  The original owner had this car up to 2011 so he was planning on the long run.  There is only one ding behind the drivers door but it is very hard to see, other than that the car is dent free.  The paint is faded on the front nose cone and on top of the rear bumper which is typical for plastic.  If you had those painted the car would look darn near perfect.  All of the glass/lights/wipers etc... work like they should.  The fog lights could use some new bulbs, and the windshield is cracked (I can get you a new windshield for $150 installed if you want).  The targa comes off and stores in the back like it should, and the seals are in ok shape.  The hatch struts work fine, the hood struts not so much (they are $20).  The front bumper lip has a small tear that could be plastic welded and there is a crack in the left tail lamp that does not leak, just superficial.  Included is a center tail lens from another supra to replace it, I just never got around to it.  The muffler still has its original chrome tips and all, the exhaust has no rust.  None of the wheels are bent or damaged.  The power antenna is gone which is a real common failure on any old 80's car but it still has the 2nd rear window mounted factory antenna so it still picks up radio.  The door locks all work and the doors open and close fine.  There is a crack in the passenger mirror housing which could be replaced easily if you wanted but it doesn't affect anything.  All in all it is a unique rare color and a great looking car with darn near 0% body damage.

 

Interior:  Interior wise this car is a 6/10 currently.  I cleaned up the interior as best I could but if you had it professionally detailed with a steamer it would probably be near perfect.  There are still some minor discolored parts of the seats from sitting outside during the 2nd owners tenure.  It also doesn't smell as clean as it could, like I said have it professionally detailed if you want a mint car.  But still it is in pretty good shape.  Dash has zero cracks, seats have zero tears, I put a new ebrake boot and replaced the armrest cover.  Notice I am not an upholstery professional, it just needs to be glued down like stock but I didn't have the right glue on hand, still it is better than the old cover.  Just take the phillips head screws out and glue it down right.  All of the gauges work perfect as do the power windows, locks, seats, and mirrors.  The panasonic cd player works good and doesn't clash too bad, the A/C unit works fine and is the upgraded 89'+ version.  The freon needs to be recharged from the engine swap (I live in the mountains so A/C isn't a big deal, still I hooked everything up for anyone that wants to use it), but the heat works great.  Wipers, lights, defroster etc... all work like they should.  I removed the cruise stuff because it is just dead weight to me, never use it, this isn't a camry.  Zero warning lights on the dash (yes they all work at key on test), airbag system is still in check never been replaced, and this car has the rarer 8 speaker sound system with amplifier under the passenger seat.  The headliner is perfect, the rear carpet not so much (cheap easy to get).  Most importantly the interior is GRAY cloth.  Thank gosh, for those that haven't seen the other colors feel free to look up the blue and maroon (ugly), and the leather cars always get cracks and tears.  Gray cloth is the best mk3 supra interior you can have in my opinion.  The rest of the carpet is in pretty good shape, AND, it also has the rare cup holder option that folds down from the armrest cover, very rare in mk3 supras as you usually end up using the coin tray as a cup holder hah.  I took the auto trans shifter apart and fixed the loose bushing where it connects to the trans lever so it is much tighter now.  Oh and it is missing the passenger window switch trim, easy $10 find at a junk yard.  The car comes with ALL of the original documentation down to the original 80's team toyota brochure with the sexy 80's hair chick on it, they even photo copied the mirror hangtag that talked about the sport roof hah.  Even cooler it still has the original ratcheting targa top tool which makes install and take off 3x as fast as a standard allen key, oh and the glove box opens and closes correctly.  Basicallys its all there, just detail it, oh and the spare tire is there with all the tools.

 

Mechanical:  Mechanically this car is a 8/10 currently.  Some of you might not understand how JDM swaps work, basically the japenese don't put more than 30k-50k miles on there cars before they junk them due to heavy taxes on older vehicles in their country.  So they have all these low mileage engines just hanging out, well 10 years ago we started importing them as easy replacements and more importantly upgrades for our cars (they got the cooler stuff).  I don't care how good of a tech you are, unless you are modifying the engine there is no point to rebuilding it when you can get a low mileage Toyota built unit for a reasonable amount.  There is no way you can build an engine to the same specs and tolerances in your garage as Toyota could with robots, temperature, and humidity controlled factories.  So I bought a 32k mile JDM 7M-GTE from Tiger Jap and installed it.  Everything is a direct swap to our US vehicles minus the fact that there are no EGR etc... emissions components on the JDM engine.  This does not set a check engine light in an OBD1 car or throw any codes, nor will it fail a state inspection unless you are in California.  It does cause a slightly longer cold start but is well worth it for the added power, once it warms up it starts instantly.  It is still running stock boost.  Here is a quick rundown of the new parts I put on.  I did all the work with the 92 TSRM (toyota supra repair manual) which is the OEM manual for the last model year of this car (has all the latest revisions in specs). 

• New timing belt
• New oil filter
• New OEM Toyota Aisin Turbo oil pump
• New water pump
• New fan clutch
• New NGK-R spark plugs
• New spark plug wires
• Synthetic 10w-40 Mobil 1 oil
• Synthetic Mobil 1 ATF in the trans & power steering
• Synthetic Mobil 1 75w-90 rear diff fluid with LSD clutch additive (this car has a limited slip diff)
• New rear CV axles
• New power steering pressure hose
• New power steering return hose
• Brake pads front and rear
• New upper intercooler hose
• New air filter
• New brake master cylinder
• Flushed brake fluid
• Re-Torqued head bolts
• Adjusted valve clearances
• Set ignition timing to factory specs
• Cleaned the entire engine bay with a tooth brush (you can see the diference between the intercooler and engine bay)
• KYB GR2 strut
• New rear main seal
• New intake manifold gaskets
• New throttle body gasket
• New exhaust manifold gaskets
• New oil pan FIPG
• New valve cover gaskets
• 93 Octane ONLY

I think that is about it, if I remember anything else i'll post it up. It does not smoke, it does not burn oil, it does not leak oil or coolant, it does not overheat or even reach half way on the temp gauge with a factory thermostat, it does not knock, it has a solid 40 lb/in+ of oil pressure cruizing, it has zero valve noise.  All in all it runs great.  But just in the interest of full disclosure do your research on the 7M-GTE if you want this car, they do have their special quirks.  Learn about these cars before buying one, it is still a Toyota but the 7M-GTE is not perfect.  This is a gran tourer sports car not a Camry.  The power steering pump does make some noise, but it is consistenly getting better, I think it just sat for awhile.  Either way I will include a basically new power steering pump for free if you want.  The brakes are solid, the transmission shifts butter smooth but firm when you need it, holds the power down no problem.  The limited slip rear diff works perfectly, no noises, driveshaft/cv axles are perfect.  The car was lowered before I got it by the 2nd owner, I would recommend some better lowering springs, I replaced one of the struts because it was leaking fluid.  ECT power mode makes it shift nice and firm, extends the RPM limit.  The engine runs beautifully and smooth all the way to redline and has never overheated on me or made any weird noises.  The exhaust and intake are all stock, still has the catalytic convertor, there is a small exhaust leak where the turbo elbow meets the cat, I didn't take this apart so I think it just needs a standard 3 hole gasket, any exhaust shop like meineke can fix that cheap.  The ABS works perfect as well.   

Which leads me to this, I would not recommend trying to drive this car a long distance due to the crappy tires the 2nd owner put on.  I was going to put 4 new tires on but then my GF got her moms car and I didn't need to .  Will it make it, probably, would it be safe to try, it would be a gamble due to the tires it is on.  They are just old, dry-rotted.  They hold air fine and have new valve stems, but I just want you to be safe.  I would recommend having it towed home first, then put 4 tires and an aligment on the car.  It tracks straight as is, but of course if you want to leave it lowered you should do an alignment.  The car boost strong and pulls strong with zero smoke.  I have put a few hundred miles on the car as is but quit gambling with the tires, didn't want to hurt someone or wreck the beautifully straight body I have, I mean this car has haha.  If you have any questions feel free to give me a call at 704-576-5004 any time.  If you read all of this, props to you, I know I type a lot, but I like people to have the full story which no one else on ebay seems to tell.  Thanks for looking and good luck bidding.