Toyota MR2 Spyder, Studebaker Champion, Subaru Domingo: The Dopest Cars I Found For Sale Online

Folks, this week I'm doing a bit of travel. I'm not normally the most well-traveled of the Jalops — I work with jet-setters Andy and Daniel for god's sake — but once in a while an invite comes through the Jalopnik mainframe that's simply too Amber to go to anyone else. So, by the time you're reading this, I'll be off to sunny (?) Oregon for a weekend of camping, dirt bikes, and hopefully not running out of water. 

As I travel, though, why not bring Dopest with me? This week, we're taking a look at the cars in and around Oregon — an eclectic mix, I have to say. We've got off-road monsters, future autocross podium-sitters, and some builds of deeply questionable engineering. We even have a seemingly mint old Studebaker, which could be sitting on a 76-year-old showroom floor. Come with me on a little adventure to Cascadia, and let's all take a look at the week's Dopest Cars. 

Something about this 740 Turbo seems weird, right? The proportions, the ride height, the wheels. Doesn't it look like it should be lower? Like those bumpers should be blacked out? Picture this beautiful boxy wagon slammed on Wats, boost cranked to 11, with absolutely no paint repair. It's a beautiful image.

This is no longer just a fun listing I found, actually, this is a full-on pitch. Buy this, drop it to the ground, boost the hell out of it, and send me photos. Send me videos. We've seen a million patina'd Volvo 240s as drift missiles, why not a modded 740? Where's the love for the modern patina? I have plenty, sure, but I don't want to be alone in this. I also don't have 1,400 United States American Dollars to spend on this, plus whatever Wats cost in this bolt pattern. If they even make them. 

The MR-2 Spyder is probably the least-loved variant of the model, at least among enthusiasts. It got the full convertible top, sure, but it didn't get a turbocharged or supercharged variant like the prior generations. It was just a lightweight, mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive, top down sports car. How terrible. 

Maybe in the 2000s, this was some terrible offense for which Toyota couldn't be forgiven. Imagine if we got this same car today — a lightweight two-seat roadster with a simple cloth top and a fun little engine behind the driver. We'd slobber all over it! Remember when car journalists all went out and put their own money down on Fiesta STs? It would be the return of that, a car so good that the car reviewers actually go buy it. I think folks in the early 2000s were just spoiled for options compared to our modern car market. 

It's kind of funny that the KLR here costs twice as much as that Volvo wagon from earlier, because the KLR650 is often traded around for peanuts on Facebook Marketplace. As far as I'm aware, no one has ever successfully and permanently destroyed a KLR, so there are approximately a billion of them out on the used market — all with seemingly enough third party parts support to build entirely new bikes without touching a single Kawasaki part. 

Supply and demand being what they are, KLR prices stay low. There are just so many to choose from, no one can justify charging too much. But, the KLR's reputation for indestructibility being what it is, they'll always command some cash. Everyone wants a bike that will just fire up every time and get you where you need to go, no matter how many miles away that destination may be. Some part of every motorcyclist respects the KLR. 

You really love your off-roaders, don't you, Oregon? Never mind that this Bug is in California, as befitting its Baja name. I had to do so much scrolling of Facebook Marketplace to find any road-focused vehicles for this week. Are there just a ton of trails in Oregon or something? I mean, I guess I'm going there for off-roading, I'll find out for myself soon enough. There are at least the 1,200 acres of trails that I'll be out riding, which is admittedly incomprehensively massive to a lifelong Northeasterner. I'm pretty sure 1,200 acres is the area of Rhode Island. 

Anyway, this Bug. The intro photo here really buries the lede, because out back this Volkswagen has had everything surrounding its engine replaced with what looks like hardware store piping. That may sound like a bad thing until I tell you why — nestled within that custom cradle sits a Subaru EJ25 flat-four. It doesn't appear to be turbocharged, but I have faith you can fix that. Mount a WRX hood scoop to the roof while you're at it. 

Did everyone in the 1950s just have infinite space for vehicle storage? Look at how long this is! The trunk of this Studebaker Champion looks to be about one Smart ForTwo in length, and the illusion isn't helped by the wraparound rear window. It's a gorgeous car, of course, but it's also nearly as long as a Ford Explorer. 

It also looks a bit... backwards. Doesn't that rear window look like the front end of a train? It feels like this Champion should be sitting backwards at the front of an Acela or Shinkansen, not on the back of a 1950s four-seat coupe. Well, actually, there aren't any interior photos. Are those bench seats? Is this a six-seat coupe? If so, I take back all my ragging on this length. Six-seat coupes are hilarious, and we should bring them back. I will genuinely put money down towards one, if only because it's so incredibly unlikely and I so love a bit. 

The Ford Ranchero is a ute. A ute is built on a car platform, but with the added utility of a small truck bed in place of the trunk. This Ranchero has been jacked up to the height of a truck, so I have to ask: Why even start with the Ranchero here? Why not make this out of a Ranger or somthing? 

Because it's cool, that's why! People lift Legacies and slam Outbacks, we drop pickups to the ground and now we jack up utes. When modifying your own car, don't feel limited by what the manufacturer wants it to be — if it serves your purpose, or even simply your aesthetic sensibilities, follow your heart. Or, if you don't have the time or money for a project, just pick up this Ranger. It's already absurd as it sits, and you can revel in that to your heart's content. 

I had to do some digging on this one, because the Adventure Ace doesn't appear to be a Toyota model all its own. Instead, an Oregon importer called Yota Imports used to bring in HiAces and do them up in this adventure spec, branding them as Adventure Aces down to the rear badging. The company seems to be gone now, which likely has nothing to do with its mixed reviews on places like Ih8mud. 

The company may be gone, but this Adventure Ace is for sale by Yota Imports' old leader Duke Rasmusen. Does that mean it's an old build left laying around from the Yota Imports days, or is Duke still building these even after the closure of his company? Who knows! No matter what the state of the builder is, though, the build itself looks solid. Head out to Bend, inspect it for yourself, and have the road trip of your life on the way back. 

The seller of this Stryker is offloading it after a drop, because he doesn't want to put the work into repairs. This ad may be the only time I've ever seen a seller say "my loss is your gain" and mean it, though, because this Stryker looks perfectly rideable as is. It needs turn signals on one side, there are some scuffs and scrapes on the fairing and the rear gender, but that really seems to be the extend of the issues. 

The seller even says there's an issue with the rear brake, and I genuinely cannot see it. Is the caliper broken? That would have to be a pretty severe drop. Is this just a warped rotor, or even a bent brake lever? Whatever it is, I'm sure it's an easy fix, and if I had four grand I'd be deeply tempted to ride this back home from Oregon myself. I don't, though, so you should live my dream for me. 

Longtime readers of Dopest, and the rest of my oeuvre, will know I'm no fan of replacing perfectly bad rotary engines with uninterestingly functional LS V8s. Builds like that just take such unique cars, the Mazda RX series, and remove the biggest thing that makes them unique — I don't like it. This RX-8, though, is simply too funny not to put a smile on my face. Look at it!

This is a 2007 Mazda, an extremely modern car by any metric (though especially exterior design). and here it is with a blower sicking out the hood atop a 383 stroker. That's hilarious! It still has a full interior, even! This isn't "I wanted a mroe reliable RX-8," it's "I had this V8 laying around so I grabbed a random RWD chassis to stick it into." That's fun. I like that. I'll always support people mashing together entirely incongruent chassis and drivetrains. 

Look at this little guy! This is my favorite car this week, and a genuine contender for one of my all-time favorite cars to ever grace Dopest. I don't even care that there are no photos that show the inside of the pop-top roof, or that the Facebook ad location is fully in the water off of Washington. I don't care about these things, because this Subaru Domingo is my friend, and I love him. 

The exterior has yellow fog lights! The interior has curtains! The whole car is weirdly immaculate tip to tail. It's for sale from friends of the blog The Import Guys, which makes this a very dangerous ad for me to find immediately before leaving for a press trip where I'll be hanging out with Mercedes Streeter. Maybe she can talk them into cutting me a 90% off deal. Niche enthusiast-focused car importers tend to offer those kinds of discounts, right?