1992 Toyota MR2 Turbo

A 1992 MR2 Turbo that reads deeper and wetter than cars a third its age. Icon Rocklear, our permanent paint protection coating, bonds into the clear coat and pulls this red into a mirror finish, holding the shape of every light overhead instead of scattering it. Under the studio rig the pop up nose and the long rear haunches carry one unbroken reflection.

The SW20 is a genuinely awkward car to shoot and a harder one to finish well. It is mid engined, so the body is broken into short segments: a low stubby nose with pop up headlights, deep side intakes feeding the engine behind the doors, then haunches that rise over the rear wheels. Nothing runs the length of the car, which means the reflection has to pick itself back up cleanly at every one of those breaks. The side intake and vent frames in this set are where that shows.

On a car this age the protection matters as much as the look. Thirty year old red is the paint most people have watched go chalky and pink, and a coated finish resists the UV fade and dulling that cause it. Icon Rocklear does not yellow, it never has to come off, and it needs no waxing and no annual inspection to keep the depth it has in these frames. If it ever does wear, the factory clear coat underneath is untouched.

Eighteen photos, shot in Milpitas: front three quarter, straight on front and rear, side profile, an elevated rear three quarter, and close work on the pop up headlight, the door and mirror, the side intake, and the wheels and fenders. More on our Icon Rocklear page.