Description
ISSUE 6 – CELEBRATING 40 Years of MR2 Special Edition
The original Mk 1 MR2 (AW11) launched in 1984, but both other marques celebrate significant milestones; 35 years of the second generation Mk2 (SW20); and 25 years of the final Roadster (ZZW30).
To celebrate 40 years of the MR2, We had a crazy idea. Let’s feature 40 MR2s! – In hindsight it was an ‘impossible mission’, co-ordinating so many individual features. To cut a long story short, we had to be creative.
So, we managed to pull together a great mixture of all 3 generations of MR2. 33 in total, The last 7 to complete the full 40 are our favourites picks from the recent National Day, all MR2s we would love to feature in full in the future!
Our social media post appealing for features, was certainly not short of great potential features. However, communication through social media, co-ordination, sheer time to pull it all together, was indeed a mammoth task. So, rather than keep pushing the print deadline back, and back again, we had to admit a partial defeat.
Rewind to 1984…
Frankie Goes to Hollywood,
Duran Duran, Wham, were the tunes in the charts that may have been blasting from the speakers of an AW11 played on tape from the old cassette deck in a 2-seater sports car, way ahead of its time even back then!
The MR2 reaching the grand old age of 40 years old makes it a modern collectable, and much sought after classic, and still enjoys a strong worldwide enthusiast community.
Despite the hard work, we’ve really enjoyed putting this issue together. There is a diversity of owners, MR2s and purposes.
What is commonly shared across all, is the passion, long-term ownership, and many repeat owners that just come back. There is just something so unique and endearing about the MR2, that newer and more expensive cars don’t have.
We recently attended the UK’s largest MR2 event, the MR2 Drivers Club National Day, with almost 600 attending, it was an emotional and very memorable experience to see a never ending convoy of MR2s rolling in to the Coventry venue. It was an incredible day, and a fitting celebratory tribute to 40 years of ‘Midship Runabout 2-seater’ heritage!
