No doubt about it-the Toyota MR2 Spyder is an enthusiast's vehicle. Like the Mazda Miata, Honda S2000 and every other two-seat, rear-drive "roadster" on the market today, the new MR2 hearkens to a day when the world was simpler, before we all went out and got into a big damn hurry, when people still went out and drove around just for the simple, visceral pleasure of it. A car like the MR2 Spyder is designed and built with this concept-fun infused into the act of driving-in mind. You buy a car like the MR2 Spyder so you can put the top down, feel the wind in your hair, and fling it sideways through the twisties on long, winding mountain roads.
When word first began to circulate that the MR2 would be reborn as a third-generation, open-topped model, MR2 enthusiasts from all over waited impatiently for its debut. Eddie Teixeira, from Hillside, N.J., was one of these people. In fact, he spent the three or so years between the axing of the second-gen MR2 and the release of the new Spyder hoping and praying that Toyota would see fit to put a suitable replacement back into the company's lineup of car offerings. When he found out that they were planning to do just that, he ran (literally) down to his local dealership, Route 22 Toyota in Hillside, and purchased a brand new 2000 MR2 Spyder. His was the very first to roll off the dealership floor and out into the mean streets of New Jersey.
He drove it as-is for a while, until he started noticing that a lot of other people in the area were driving them too. This got him to thinking about the aftermarket, and he began to snoop around the Internet, looking for ways to make his Spyder stand out from the rest. One site posted pictures from the 2001 Tokyo Auto Salon and among the snapshots Teixeira caught a glimpse of the new VeilSide body kit designed for the new MR2. Like all of Hironao Yokomaku's panel-augmenting body treatments, the VeilSide MR2 kit is designed with a fairly prominent aggression factor. The front bumper is a little more closed off than most VeilSide treatments, however, making it far more palatable to whiny, traditional old fucks like me. Probably the most aggressive piece in the kit is the hood, with its depressed center channel and the vented, gill-like openings to either side. The kit also includes widebody flares that add strong lateral elements along the top and bottom of the doors; Teixeira states that it incorporates no less than 11 pieces in all.
Late in 2000, Eddie from New Jersey got in touch with Ray Fong from VeilSide USA and told him he wanted the kit. Fong told him that the kit still would not make it over to the United States for months, and that when it did it would be expensive. Teixeira didn't care, and kept pestering, kept harassing, kept threatening, until one day VeilSide finally allowed him to place an order. His Spyder widebody kit, and the special VeilSide exhaust to go with it, arrived about three months later.