The XV10 Camry (1991-1996) is referred to as the “fat” Camry due to its maker lavishing it with Lexus-level fit, finish and materials. But this one obviously felt like it needed to go on a diet. And yes, this car gets driven like this. At least for the time being. Here’s a closer look:
Lots of wire holding the lights and stuff together. I’m sure it’s still running well mechanically, so I guess it would be a shame to throw a fat Camry away.
I wonder how all of that exposed electrical stuff will handle the wet Pacific northwest winter. This may be as dissassembled of a car I have ever seen out in normal use. Quite impressive, actually.
I’ve always assumed that all underhood components were mostly weatherproof, given the amount of water that must come in while driving in a heavy run, and from puddles. I suppose the owner is hoping that this will won’t be a long-term arrangement.
“all underhood components were mostly weatherproof”…
I wonder if British Leyland ever heard of that interesting theory! 😉
Shortly before he died in August, my Grandad told me about travelling through Britain in the 70s, in a rental Marina. It was a brand new car and wouldn’t start in the morning if it had rained overnight because water dripped onto essential underbonnet electrics…
That’s exactly what used to happen with my ’84 Jetta GLI. Every time it rained heavily, the fuel pump relay would short out. Everybody used to carry spares just in case. Finally used a cable tie on the engine side of the firewall to allow rainwater to drip off the offending wires.
My parents’ 67 Saab 2 stroke had classic British-car issues too, though it didn’t actually have to rain; cold and damp would do it. ( Yes I know it was Swedish, but the German Bosch electrics of the time seemed to give Lucas a run for their money.) I recall being stranded at a toll plaza on the Connecticut Turnpike on the day before Thanksgiving in 1969 or so. (Back then you still had to toss in a quarter every few miles) I also have memories of my dad turning out the lights in our garage and watching the pretty blue arcs from various electrical components to the body.
Geez, and I thought it was lame when that happened to a 1948 Plymouth with a saggy two-piece hood that would drip rain water into the engine compartment….
Not really many items are fine with occasional splashes or spray but not for the kind of water that could accumulate from extended rain exposure.
In particular on this engine I’d be concerned with the spark plug wells. The boots unless they are brand new and properly installed don’t form a weather tight seal against the valve cover and the way it sets water will pool up and fill up the tubes. If it is driven often enough and for a long enough period then it would likely be fine but with enough rain and too little driving it could fill to the point where it will short out.
Most relays aren’t sealed though most are in power centers that shield them.
The area where the drive belts ride will be raw steel so they will rust if it sits for more than a day, they already do when covered and the belt will slip when it is wet so the belt life will be shortened.
So yeah long term this could lead to problems in the winter in OR.
I’ve seen worse. In about 1998 I was walking out the front door of my dad’s office when I saw a circa-1985 Toyota Corolla sedan with no doors…I repeat, NO DOORS!…drive by on 5th Avenue. I thought I was seeing things. It was burnt orange metallic, as I recall.
This looks like a half-baked idea…you take off a few body panels to shed a few pounds and improve fuel mileage. Not a bad concept. However, he has wreaked total havoc on his aerodynamics. How much has his coefficient of friction increased?
I can understand taking off the bumper cover if it was dragging on the ground and maybe the fender if it was sticking way out or into the tire but the hood? With the missing hold down, cheapo wing nut replacement terminals and a convenient handle it screams free battery to someone walking down the street. I’m not sure about Eugene but in the last year of so it seems that many places have signs out saying they buy batteries including convince stores. 10 seconds and on to the C-store and you’ve got a six pack or a 12 pack of what’s on sale.
That of course applies to all older cars with external hood latches. Like my Ford F100, which had its battery lifted a few years back. I now have a chain wrapped around its replacement!
Yeah but a hood will tend to keep an honest person honest and having a hold down and battery cables that need tools to remove them will slow down the less honest person while this just says take me or free beer if you have the convenience stores/gas stations buying batteries like we have around here.
At the very least, they need to put a hood on that car. Parts for a Camry can’t be that hard to find or that expensive. These are actually some pretty sad pictures. Somebody was able to scrape together enough money to buy a Camry, but can’t afford to fix it properly, so they do this? Just a guess.
Is that a car-alarm siren on the firewall towards the right? (looking at the car front-on, opposite side from the wiper motor) If so perhaps the volume has got quieter over the years to the point it isn’t able to be heard with the bonnet closed. Removing the bonnet would thus be a great way of making the siren audible again! Slightly redundant though…
Its just waiting on another front clip from a wrecker if yer lucky its possible to match colours.
I’m playing that right-colour waiting game at the moment Bryce – a mate’s CB Honda Accord needs a driver’s door. The car is otherwise immaculate so it’s worth replacing the door, but because old Accords are worth nothing nowadays, it’d cost more than the car’s worth to paint an incorrect coloured door to match. I’ve been keeping an eye out on trademe for one in the right colour for several months now – think I just got lucky with one in Kaitaia, fingers crossed!
But I bet your mate isn’t driving it around w/o a door 😉
Lol, no 🙂 Someone did a hit and run while the car was parked, stove the whole door in. I knocked the worst of it back out for him, so that the window would go up and down again, so it looks ok but still mars an otherwise immaculate car. Mind you, he says the a/c has died, so maybe if he took the door off he’d kill two birds with one stone… 😉
I believe that is a Cyborg Camry.
Or perhaps a Transformer in the middle of changing its clothes?
It probably is just waiting for a new front clip. As there does not look like too much damage to the part of the frame the radiator is bolted onto, it would seem this car met a furry woodland creature in combat and that the front end needed replacing
Well, Camry owners are characterized as people who don’t like cars and merely want transportation appliances . . . . . . .
I couldn’t do it. I have too much pride.
The 91 to 96 Camry is the only Camry that I can summon any kind of lust for. Lately, I only see ones that are close to the end of their lives. I find that very sad as they must be judged as one of the best cars of the past 30 years.
Either that, or the driver did a rear ender as the bumper, grill, right fender, and hood are all missing, but suspiciously, the headlight assemblies look very fresh and non discolored for a 15-22 YO car. Heck, even the right side cornering lamp bezel looks like it might have been replaced too.
And he/she uses duct tape to hold some of the parts in place too, along with the bailing wire.
Either way, quite sad for a car that still looked halfway decent in recent years.
This Camry was made from model years 1992-1996 and they still look modern 20 years later except they are kind of look like a 4/5th scale car due to Toyota’s model bloat. I bet this car hit something and is either being fixed by its owner, a used car dealership that bought it from an insurance auction, or someone stole parts off of it because they are so hard to find. That last scenario was a joke, but something similar happened to my Aunt’s 1st generation Sable back when those cars were brand spanking used. She parked it on some Philly street and all the front body panels were stolen overnight.
Oddly enough in 1992 the Camry branched off to two different cars. The Narrow Body (of which the 87-91 version was) was redesigned in 1992 and kept in japan and the Wide Body which was sold from 92-96 in the USA(called XV10). After a few years the narrow body version was phased out.
So ironically when that car was in production it was known as a wide body car but against today’s Camry it looks like a compact car
Two friends had mid-90s narrow-body Camrys (we got them as used imports, not new). Oddly they felt completely different to the wide-bodied ones we got new. I’m sure the materials were similar quality, but the narrows just felt insubstantial.
I’d say the lights are cheap Chinese knock offs from E-bay or the local Sortafit dealer. Typically they are as cheap or cheaper than what many traditional wrecking yards charge and they aren’t yellowed and scratched so they aren’t a bad option for a car like this that isn’t worth fixing with new OE parts.
Oops that was directed at ciddyguy, I’ve put those cheapo lights on a couple of cars over the years. When it is $300 for a new OE and the wrecking yard wants $100 for a yellowed scratched up OE that new knock off for $50 is a good solution.
Yeah, I believe I’ve noted others already mentioning the Chinese knockoffs.
Either way, not a bad idea for cars like ours where the headlights are beginning to yellow, and/or crack from age.
I’ve always believed that the ‘ES’ and Camry were more than ‘kissing cousins’ and shared quite a bit… as do ‘LS’ and Avalon.
The original ES and Camry do share a lot. The Camry and Avalon also share a lot. The LS on the other hand is RWD so while it may share some smaller components like latches, hinges, switches and the like the structure is very different.
The Avalon – like my ’99 XLS Platinum in black/black – my baby limo – was much closer to the GS 3.0, just a few $$$$ less for a near clone.
I think it got wrecked, probably a rear-ender. The crumpled sheet metal got torn off and either thrown out or recycled. Then to keep the car legal to drive, the cheap Chinese headlights got put on it.
But winter’s coming. It had better get fixed soon. Or parked in a garage.
Ricky finally dumped his old gas guzzler for something more modern and efficient.
Easier to cook Randy’s burgers this way.
This reminds me of the (one) trip I made in my ’82 Cavalier up to Marietta, GA from where I was then living on the South side of Atlanta. I had completely stripped the car – interior, all trim and glass (except windshield), front grill and fenders, as well as the rear hatch. I was working with a racecar builder on a college project (The Universal Car that I wrote about earlier this year), and he offered to show me how to butt weld where I had shaved the roof drip channels off the Cav.
I made it up fine, and the welding went well, but on the return trip home down I-75, it started up a downpour. Did I mention the car also had a sunroof, which was also removed at the time?
I got absolutely drenched (sitting in typical bumper-to-bumper rush-hour traffic). I got a lot of *strange* looks, too…
All he needs to do is get a fiberglass shop to work with him and he’d have cheap bodywork using dzus fasteners.
This reminds me of an idea I had after building my Monogram visible P-51 Mustang (for the uninitiated, clear plastic panels here and there using the same plastic they use for the canopy) when I was a kid…why not a visible 1965 Mustang? It’s nice to see someone follow my dream in 1:1 scale.
I’m pretty sure his/her main problem would be if the alternator gets wet. I’ve heard many a story of people washing the engine in a car and busting the alternator. Happened to my dad once I’m pretty sure.
Either way, it’s just a bad idea to leave your engine open like that. Not only could someone steal something, someone could also mess with the engine, just for kicks.
I saw an a late 80s Accord the other day without a hood and had those same thoughts. Flash forward a couple of days, it’s been pouring rain. Wonder if they ever put the hood on it.