Hello from Chicago!

[Acolytus]

Hello everyone! I recently bought a 1986 MR2 six days ago which I am pretty happy I came across. I never planned on getting an MR2 anytime soon, but this one was too good to pass up for the price I got it at. I bought it at this gas station 30 minutes away from my house and drove it home in the rain without working windshield wipers, properly working brakes and a broken E-brake- I relied on what brakes I had left and downshifting. Anyway, I got her home safe and now I am going to start working on her within the next week or so since school and work are consuming my time. It is not the prettiest MR2 around and it does need a bit of work here and there, but overall I think I did well. I am new to the MR2s and only know a few things about these cars, so I will be asking a lot of questions! Thank you guys again for letting me join the MR2 MK1 club!

Here are some pictures:

https://gyazo.com/44666c9d1156269e3273d488457b760e

https://gyazo.com/ab81fb3d2b9564ad932afad529e3297b

https://gyazo.com/3fb81bb63466bc7ee3c2255683667994

https://gyazo.com/925e62e8ffaf2993c1c1485dfbb572ab

[Gilles27]

Wow! It's got half a forest in the engine bay! I like the colour. Hope you make it safe soon so you can properly enjoy it. Welcome to the club!!

[Vistalite]

Greetings from across the pond, the Windy City eh? That looks like a very fine example indeed and rare colour.

I suspect that the seats are not the ones that would have originally been fitted though, they would have been black/grey velour if I'm correct.

Questions? Ask away. There are plenty of old hands here to assist.

EDIT: Given that the car was originally red, the original seats would have been black/red velour.

[Acolytus]

Thank you everyone! I am initially from Detroit, Michigan, but I moved here to Chicago about 7 years ago. From what I have seen, the car was repainted- some spots of the car show that it was once red. The person who repainted it did an okay job, but some parts are very noticeable. I know of a few other people with MR2s around the Chicagoland area, and I am happy to be a part of the MR2 crew! I am still going through the car and I have to figure out if I have a MK1a or MK1b (it can't be too hard to tell, but I just want to make sure I know what I have). It just started snowing here today, so now I am a little more delayed on working on the car unfortunately.

[coverco]

It looks like a 1a to me, welcome.

[Acolytus]

I was also thinking it was a MK1a as well.

https://gyazo.com/f3084585b9054599cf91805a07fedce8

[Sillyhatday]

Going by the wheels and the air filter setup by the engine, I'd also confirm it is a MK1a

[Martin42006]

Welcome to the club.
There are several ways to tell between a 1a and 1b the most obvious ones are the split side vent, triangle alloys, intake in the engine bay rather than in the boot, the dials such as fuel gauge and temp only have 3-4 markings rather than lots of little ones, and the front end which doesn't have the Mk1b lower lip and stops a little higher off the ground.
So going off this you have a mk1a