On April 13th of 2018 I found a 1986 Toyota MR2 pop up on Craigslist. $4800.00 was the asking price but claimed it was a 74 thousand mile car. The pictures sure did give it credibility. The ad was only up for that day so I called. The gentleman I spoke with said the car was available.
I showed the ad to my girlfriend and she asked if I wanted to go look at it. Of course I did but there was a problem. See, we live in Minnesota, and the weather reports were stating we were going to get hit with a lot of heavy snow. To make matters worse, the car was located in Paynesville MN. About an hours drive from where we lived. But the snow hadn’t started yet and it was creeping ever closer to 5:00 PM.
After a short talk with the girlfriend we decided to let fate let us know if I was going to be able to buy this car. If we could make it to the bank before it closed and withdraw the cash then we might just be able to pull this off. Fate was on our side that night. Snow hadn’t started yet and the bank was open for us to grab the money. Called the seller back and let him know we were heading out there and how long it would take us to get there.
About half way there the snow started to fall lightly. Really no trouble and the roads were still clear if only damp. We arrived to the sellers house in roughly an hour, maybe a little longer, but we made it in one piece. The snow however was now covering the side streets and peoples yards. Still, it wasn’t that bad.
The seller greets us and in we go to this nice warm garage. And there sat the car exactly as pictured in the ad. Forgive the picture but I wanted to photograph this mans garage.
Now the reason the seller is selling is because he and his wife need to move to a facility that can support his wife’s needs. I won’t go into details but needless to say they couldn’t keep both cars and the minivan had to be kept. The gentleman in this story (at the time) was 82 years old and this car was his baby. He was the second owner and the car came from Arizona. He took very good care of the car.
I checked the car over, heard it fire right up, and immediately wanted the car. All while checking the car over people were calling him about his ad on Craigslist for the car. I didn’t haggle with the guy. Even if the reason he was selling was bogus, the car was valued more than what he was selling it for. We handed over the money and did the title work right then and there.
When we finally opened the garage door is when we saw that the snow had rolled in. There was already a few inches on the ground. Fate was now pushing us to get this on the move or have problems. We packed up and started heading out. My girlfriend drove her Honda Fit, the car we arrived in, and I drove the MR2.
Once we hit the highway out of town the roads were pretty clear. We kept to about 50 MPH and took it easy. Slowed down way before any turns, stayed close enough to each other that neither of us would get lost, and just drove with a fair amount of caution. After all, we didn’t want to tempt fate.
When we hit the really deep snow was when we finally got onto I-494. Nothing had been plowed except the far left lane. Snow was easily 8+ inches deep but there were tire tracks to follow. The MR2 really didn’t mind too much. It just kept plowing forward as if nothing was there. The Honda Fit though was giving the girlfriend white knuckles.
We eventually made it home and in one piece. We had zero issues outside of the snow. Parked the car outside of the garage, my old blue MR2 was still in there and wasn’t ready to be moved yet. The next morning we found a storage facility that housed cars so we could have the time to sell my old blue one and give the new silver MR2 its spot in the garage.
This picture is of the next morning. The snow had already melted off of the roads pretty well but more was on the way. You can even see my old blue one sitting in the garage.
Some of you may have figured out that April 13th of 2018 was on a Friday. That’s right, we did something a little bit crazy on a Friday the 13th and fate was on our side the entire time. So, the next time you get superstitious about Friday the 13th, remember, good things can happen.