Like many others, I tend to consider Toyotas reliable and long-lasting. Many have criticized the products for not being engaging or fun enough, the kind of curious piques automotive types tend to make on cars the average buyer prefers. The Camry rose as such a product, becoming almost too ubiquitous and oftentimes derided by those who want more “fun” in automotive purchases. What such criticism fails to notice is that Toyotas generally create a link beyond passionate feelings: loyalty.
But if Toyotas of this era were long-lasting, no object is eternal. And second-generation Camrys have become rare sights in recent years, the curse of daily drivers. The result of buyers being faithful to the Toyota altar, but not willing to keep an old ride around forever (Elan/Volvo owners, I’m looking at you). But against those odds, here’s a ’90-’91 wagon with Oklahoma plates being hauled in California. A survivor apparently on its way to a pampered life.
So this Camry wagon is a remnant from a period when Toyota had risen in North America and was refining its aim with products like the Camry. If the first generation had established great middle-class credentials for the model, the second one cemented them. The wagon was another step in aiding the model’s suburban intentions, with the body style arriving for the first time along the new for 1987 lineup.
So say goodbye to those Olds Ciera wagons (or Cadillacs and Buicks)! Toyota had arrived, now offering plush middle-class hauling!
Like most Toyota products then, the ’87-’91 Camry styling was pleasant and anodyne. A wholesome space-efficient package, wrapped with vanilla-plain aerodynamic efficiency (0.34 cd on the sedan)… at least in the case of the sedans. The wagon did have a couple of more expressive features, however. First, the boxy rear, with a sheer cut-off brutality on its profile that gave it a distinctive doorstop silhouette. Then, a glassy/plasticky covering on the rear door that provided a curious appliance-like look.
Hey Dad, is that a wagon from the rear, or a rolling microwave?
Still, qualities that other Toyota wagons of the period had (like the Tercel 4WD), and which seemed to be a trademark of theirs at the time.
All wagons sold in the US were of Japanese origin (Camry sedan assembly started stateside in ’88), and today’s find is a mid-trim DX version. Power on this one comes via the optional 2.5L V6 that was first offered in 1988; a distinctive feature for the model in the US market against its Accord nemesis (which carried solely inline 4s). As for power, this 24-valve fuel-injected DOHC V6 provided 153HP in 1988 and was pumped up to 156HP in 1990. Not tuned to fire-storming performance, but reasonable commuter duties.
I often fear I sound like a Toyota fanboy when I type these posts on the brand’s models. I assure you, I’m not. But I can’t deny the effect the company’s models had on the people around me in the Americas (North and South). The Toyota faithful I call them. In the case of the Camry, it was the “wide-body” third-gen. from 1992 that became the true way-over-the-fences home run. I can’t recall the amount of people who looked upon that generation with desire in my Southern California days. And who bought and owned them to much satisfaction.
Now you may ask, what happened to all of them? Well, as far I know most of those owners moved on to newer Camrys, RAV4s, or even Lexuses (Lexii?). The cost the rank and file have to suffer, to go down while holding the Toyota fort. Not that they don’t have their followers, as this survivor clearly shows.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic Review: 1990 Toyota Camry LE V6 – Dripping With Fat
CC Capsule: 1988 Toyota Camry DX – Somehow Beige Is Appropriate
Curbside Capsule: 1991 Toyota Camry All-Trac – A-Brief-Four-By-Foray
It seems that loyalty instilled turned out to be hereditary, the younguns are snapping up vintage Toyotas (and other Japanese marques) at a breakneck speed. I wouldn’t doubt if this was off to some proud 20-year-old.
Wow those got rare suddenly, the widebody showed up in 91 in NZ, kiwis became the beta testers of the new model, then with the data Toyota redesigned the car including a new engine and sold the results to the world, the 2.0 carried on in the Corona which was a best seller in NZ with unique local versions but gen 2 Camrys just evaporated, local assembly Coronas got galvanised bodies so are still around here and there as regular traffic.
My mom drove a new ’88 Camry for a years and still talks about much she loved it. She’s 90 and gave up driving a few years ago.
I myself am guilty of “keeping an old ride around forever” with a ’96 Volvo 850 GLT and a ’92 Honda Accord.
They are both built like a tank but I know they won’t last forever.
Nice find. I think it should say “1990-1991”, though, right?
Yes. Fixed now; thanks.
This looks like an ’89 or ’90 as it has the new one piece bumpers but retains the TOYOTA badge on the grill.
I have felt that the years from 87-92 were some of the best years for Mazda, Toyota, and Honda sedans. Reliable four cylinder engines and bullet proof interior materials. Now I can’t attest to the Camry from back then as I never drove or worked on one. I have driven an Accord and of course my 86 626 and now my 92 626. In the pecking order I put the Mazda over the Honda as the Mazda is an easier car to work on mechanically. Can’t say were the Camry would be as no experience. Even with 11 cars I still keep an eye out for such a Camry and Volvo 240 both with manual along with a 300 Turbodiesel or another 626. Even in Northern California it is hard to find a worthy example.
I had a silver ’92 wagon with a grey interior, traded up from an ’86 sedan. I wanted to love it, but it wasn’t the sport wagon I thought I was getting, I should have kept the sedan. I do remember a rust issue that a lot of these had around the rub strip on the rear quarter. A rare misstep for Toyota, they fixed it after the warranty expired.
Still a few around here but they are declining in numbers. This one looks to be in excellent condition and quite likely going to someone who might have spent some of his childhood in the back seat of one.
As I wrote, my dad loved his 85 Camry. He had it in his mind that it would be his last car. And, alas, it was.
That car went on to serve a divorced lady who raised her two sons, went to school for nursing and did home health.
She loved it so that the last time I spoke with her some years back, she was driving her 4th Camry.
Here in Tennessee, we see many older cars, but these Toyota Camry models are very thin
I had an acquaintance in high school (probably around 2007) that had one of these as a hand me down. Looked really out of place even then as a Camry wagon totally blended into the background until there are no others, then it sticks out like a sore thumb. He was sort of a rich kid, and a free car meant nothing to him, so he ended up sending it to the junkyard when he was going down the highway and shifted it into reverse (messing around to see what would happen)
I saw a gold one driving north on I-5 a few days ago. It may have even been in the CC epicenter near Eugene, near where I also saw a 4 door Volare and a fuselage Chrysler 300 (not together). Both Mopars passed me at a good clip, and both looked well-used, not restored. But I passed the Camry.
Word was when Mom ended up with a Grand Am LE in 1987 (which I in turn ended up with in 1990) that a Camry was the other option. Earlier in the 80s Dad somehow lucked into a Cressida as a company car after a series of awful Cutlass Supreme sedans and it made an impression. History might’ve played out in a different timeline but with the same inevitability.
In a testimony to eons of GM loyalty, the Grand Am (which had replaced a 1978 Delta 88) was followed by a GM10 Cutlass Supreme sedan, a 1991 Deville, and 1995 Deville. Something happened with the 1995 where it had aged out of warranty, was still within the mileage, and some suspension quirk was going to cost $4000 to make right. Dad immediately traded that Cadillac for an ES300 and before the month was out, his Blazer was gone, replaced with ax RX300. Never again did they buy anything other than newer RXs.
Such a clean design that version of the Camry wagon, but I’d prefer one of those Cressida wagons with the dual read window wipers.
Nice article, Ric.
The quote that really hit home was this:
“it was the “wide-body” third-gen. from 1992 that became the true way-over-the-fences home run.”
I am so thankful for this series because it helped me buy a ’92 Audi 100 in 1995 at a price that I could afford. Was looking to spend less than $15K on a late model used sedan, test drove the Audi (base model, FWD, 5-speed manual), then a ’92 Camry at a nearby Toyota dealer. The Audi dealer wanted something like $17K for the 100 while the Camry was listed at a firm $13.5K, with similar 30K miles. So I called the Audi dealership and told them they had a great car that was worth a $1K premium over the almighty ’92 Camry. Their answer, of course, was a firm no, then goodbye. Five minutes later my phone rang…
Thank you ’92 Camry, once near the top of my list but after looking at you up close, and driving you, became the most boring, non-descript, witness protection depressant that I ever experienced.
And thank you too, ’92 Audi 100. The best car, and only real motor car car that I’ve ever owned.