’86 Camry photo from the Cohort by nifticus392. Author’s referred model was a white over blue.
As New Year’s came this year, I realized that my dad had been gone 32 years. I’m stunned as we only had 29 together. So, I was turning my thoughts towards the last 11 years of his life and the cars that he drove.
As a quick backstory, my dad was a very successful builder (both commercial and residential) and real estate agent. He owned and ran three companies: a building, a real estate, and a remodeling company. He was used to fine cars like the Cadillac I wrote about here some time ago.
The homes he built were of a higher quality. He was proud of his work. This picture is of two buildings he helped design and oversaw the building of in Worthington Ohio. But by the late 1970s, new homes weren’t selling and interest rates were high. In short, he was going broke. When we moved to Fort Myers Florida, he sent back his leased 1978 Buick Electra. It really upset him because he had front-ended the lease so that I could buy it at the 3-year mark for the $2800 I had saved.
After sending the Buick back, he had a different perspective, one that his look-at-me car days were behind him. What he needed going forward was reliable, cheap to own and operate, practical cars. So he bought a 1977 Corolla SR5 similar to the pictured model.
The Toyota dealer said that it had come down from Indiana with no air conditioning, so that plus the 24000 miles on it netted him a real bargain. And a terrific car. By the time he had owned it for three years, he racked up a total of 389,000 miles. Dad once told me: “In the war, I fought these people. Now their quality has me a customer for life.
He sold that car for $450 to a maintenance man who got to enjoy it for just two weeks, then a steel I-beam fell off a semi-trailer going north on 95 and went right straight through the engine. Luckily, the occupants escaped with minor scratches.
’79-’84 Corolla image from the Cohort by William Rubano. No St. Croix package on this one, though.
Dad decided to go for a new car; a 1983 Toyota Corolla with a St. Croix package. Sadly that package was installed while on the docks so the saltwater environment made for constant rust-through repairs; 3 to be exact. With the third repair, my dad shared how much he wanted to own a Toyota Cressida. Friends of ours had one that he’d driven, and he figured that it would be his last car. And he knew where to buy his new dream car…
By then, Dad managed a shopping mall in North Palm Beach (for those from the area) called the Twin City Mall. And the Toyota dealer across US1 and he would make deals to set up display cars. So he called me before work one Wednesday to say he was going to pull the trigger on the Cressida. He said Mom and he would come out to our place and we’d BBQ some steaks.
Cindy and I were out front setting up the grill when he pulled up. A really sharp bronze color with matching tinted windows – and yes that Camry was nice?
“Uh dad, they both start with C but…” – ’86 Camry photo from the Cohort by nifticus392.
He said he looked at the Cressida and decided that after all the Cadillacs and Lincolns, it was time to be sensible. Good for him.
The Camry he was driving was a top tier model, but there was another at the dealer that he was having them run numbers on. Incidentally, someone who knew Dad from the mall told the dealer they wanted to buy the ’83 Corolla he was trading because of how nice he kept his cars.
The next day, Dad proudly pulled up in his base model Camry white over blue cloth. His weekly mileage checks (his commute was 56 miles one way, 5-6 times a week) would cover the payment, fuel, and most of his insurance by going with the lesser car. It was refreshing to see this man, who once “had it all” in his mind, gave customers what they wanted, worked tirelessly only then to lose everything, to be once again on top of his game!
My dad bought that Camry at the age of 62 and sadly only drove it until he was 68, when he volunteered the keys. With a tear he said:
“I’ve driven over 2 million miles safely… I don’t feel safe anymore. Please take the keys but leave the car.”
He passed away at 69, on New Year’s Eve, only 3 months after giving me his keys. Shortly before that, he called and asked me to bring the Camry’s keys over with me so he could go for one more ride. We went to dinner and he had me drive us home. As we both looked at the odometer, we chuckled as it was 150,000!
This is Dad with my second older sister Vicky.
My mom told me Dad had wanted me to keep that car but that she would prefer we sell it. It was simply too painful for her to want to ride in. Our next door neighbor, a divorced lady raising two teenage sons, had mentioned needing a reliable car. She was going to school to become a nurse and doing home health visits. So we sold it to her, and she drove it for another 3 years.
As I’ve said in my previous installment, Dad was someone who worked hard and thought the finer things in life were Cadillacs and Lincoln’s. At the end of it all, he was happier with his Toyota products. Maybe he was humbled?
What I do know for sure, is that I miss my dad every day.
Related CC reading:
Curbside Classic: 1986 Toyota Camry – Toyota Builds a Better Citation; Forever
Curbside Classics: 1980-1983 Toyota Corolla – The Datsun 510 Doppelganger
CC Capsule: 1981 Toyota Corolla (E70) 1.5 GL Saloon – End Of Part One
Fantastic story and a tribute to your dad! It seems many of us get sensible as we get older….
Great reminiscence, Chip, thanks for sharing. 69 is too young, but it sounds like he made an important mark in the world, both at home and outside.
These were nice cars and a harbinger of what was to come. First gen Camries have been thin on the ground for a while now, if I see more than one per year I’m surprised. Durable, but 40 years old now and rust seemed to get them.
Your comment about your dad fighting the Japanese in the War, and later become a customer reminds me of a similar story from my family.
A relative of mine was a WWII vet from the Pacific Theater, and later worked as a unionized production line worker… so staunchly anti-Japanese in the 1980s. Then, in 1990 he bought a Camry. This shocked me, but he said he thought it was far better than GM’s cars (he was always a Chevy man before). At some point, I intend to write an article about his Camry purchase – definitely a moment when I realized how the US manufacturers were losing their most loyal customers.
I knew a few people who owned this generation of Camry, and I’m pretty sure that all of them became loyal Toyota customers.
My dad worked as an engineer for North American Aviation and he was always a GM man. He never said, but NAA was owned by GM and I always wondered if they got any kind of a discount?
I also never got him to talk much about the war. Other than he was in India and that one night he was crossing from the communication tower/office to the mess tent/building. He said they didn’t use the flashlights, but one night he did. He saw two King Cobras fanning just far enough away as to not reach him.
He would have walked right into their paths. He told me he knew God was watching over him.
People like your Dad, who fall and stand up again accepting what comes to them and make the most out of their efforts, are very likable and leave memories. You haven’t had him for 32 years, but you take him with you everyday.
I lost mine when I was 16, 43 years back. That doesn’t go away but good people leave behind strong values.
Thank you. This comment really touched me.
Chip, your father was correct on both accounts. Cadillacs were indeed one of the finer things in life but switching to Toyotas when he did was sensible and smart. Back in the day my father bought a 1967 Calais which was a well-deserved reward to himself. Even though the Pontiacs and Buicks he drove previously were fine cars the Cadillac was palpably superior even to my elementary school-aged self.
My wife and I drove Mercedes-Benz for almost thirty years. They were, in the beginning of our ownership, what I expected them to be; comfortable, road-worthy, reliable, and safe if a bit pricey to maintain. But we had the wherewithal to enjoy them (and good fortune to have great mechanics to maintain them properly).
As retirement approaches we made the decision recently to replace our respective cars with Toyotas. I believe, like your father, we made a good decision. We drive much less than we did in our heyday and we save big money on maintenance. The safety features on contemporary Toyotas are reassuring as well.
I did turn off the lane keeping assist though because it is dangerous in my opinion. There is too much detritus on the roads where I drive to always drive down the center of a traffic lane.
Finally, let’s face it, Mercedes-Benz automobiles have slipped considerably in their quality and execution during this century and the price of routine maintenance on those cars has increased disproportionately.
SORRY FOR YR LOSS. IT ALWAYS SURPRISES ME A BIT WHEN MY OWN DAD’S DATE OF DEATH COMES AROUND AGAIN. ANOTHER FAST YEAR.
TOYOTA NOW HAS THE RELIABILITY REPUTATION THAT CADILLAC USED TO HAVE.
“As I’ve said in my previous installment, Dad was someone who worked hard and thought the finer things in life were Cadillacs and Lincoln’s. At the end of it all, he was happier with his Toyota products. Maybe he was humbled?”
I don’t think he was humbled at all. I think he figured out that having a car that he liked that did not need constant expensive maintenance and repair was a true luxury. And, he had outgrown the need to look impressive.
Very well stated. Just recently I’ve had that revelation. As I’ve written these, and relived the memories, I’ve realized that cars like my 75 Caprice were just too big with a ton of wasted space.
That’s one reason I bought my 78 Cadillac. I always felt that era was when GM started to see the light.
Wonderful and heartwarming story of your dad.
My first car was a hand-me-down 1979 Toyota Corolla Deluxe liftback that looked just like the first picture of the green one. My parents purchased that in 1980 when it was a year old and 12,000 miles. It was a second car to drive for better MPG since their main car was the 1975 Cadillac Deville. That Toyota was reliable, but it was as plain as you could get compared to the Caddy that had every options known to man for that time. When my sister got her license, the Toyota was hers to drive. Then almost two years later is when I got the car as she went off to school. By this time, my parents had purchased another lightly used 1979 Cadillac Deville. We all liked the Toyota, but our luck with the American brands was good and the Toyota fever never really caught on in my family. By early 1985, the Toyota had about 100K and as with all those Japanese brands, the mid-west winters had eaten the car alive. So dad and I began looking at new cars that I could drive but would still be a “family” car for the better MPG. We looked at the Toyota’s, Honda’s, Renault and others. But for some reason, not the Chevy. One day as we were at the Renault/VW dealer and the sales guy had zero desire to include me in the process (I was too young I guess), I decided to walk across the street to the Chevy dealer. It’s where I saw the Cavalier sedan and liked it. I noticed it was less money than the Renault and had nicer interior. So I went back to the other dealer and told Dad we needed to try the Chevy.
We did just that and ordered a new 1985 Cavalier CS sedan. From that point on, we never owned another import brand car (new one) till I purchased a new 2002 VW Passat. That car gave us so many problems that I went back to GM.
This was a great story, and I really enjoyed learning a little about your dad. The first Camry I ever saw was purchased by a guy much like your dad, a longtime GM customer who gave in and never regretted it.
My own father’s story was similar in some ways, but in the end Dad couldn’t shake free of the mystique that Lincoln had for him. He bought Toyotas for my step-mom, but his last car was a 97 fwd Continental.
Fell into Toyotas good landing honestly, my dad GM products forever because he worked at a dealer found Toyotas from hiring cars in Fiji and driving them on the muddy tracks that passed for roads there in the early 70s, he was impressed and when he retired clean swapped his 18month old VL Holden Commodore 3.0 for a ex demonstrator 90 Toyota Corona and never looked back,
Unfortunately we have Toyotas from 3 different sources here NZ new Aussie and of course Japan either new or used and simple things like headlights and their mountings are all different, Why Toyota? I struggle with Citroen parts Toyotas should be easier, but no.
Your Dad was clearly a great guy, and 365,000 in 3 years….that’s going some!
That was a really a really great car! It was the first car I’d ever seen with an oil temp gauge. No idiot lights on the dash at all.
“going some” rather understates it! I’m very curious as to how (and perhaps why) it is he did such incredible mileage in so short a time?
Hey Chip,
The building your dad designed, 6827 N High Street, was only 6 blocks from my childhood house. I grew up in Worthington, OH and passed by that building almost every day. And I lived on Downs St. – any relation to your Dad or just coincidence?
Your dad was a great man, left a legacy in yourself and the buildings he designed.
Gene
YES!!!
So allow me to elaborate…the company that built that housing development, those buildings, the building that sat just north of the Bill Knapp’s and the KinderCare building around the corner on Wilson Bridge was called Landco. They went under in 74 I believe, so dad got in touch with Kentucky Mortgage who financed those two hired him to finish them, lease the space and manage the property. I could tell you so much more about those two buildings….
As far as the street, yes, it is named from our family. As is the street named Caren Ave(the wife of an employee),and Bowerman Street to name a few. The story is that the city had rejected all the submitted names and they needed names by a Friday at 3pm.
He called the house and I answered. He said that he needed to talk to mom, that they wanted legal permission to use our name for a street. He was over the moon proud of that fact!
At one time they looked at a home on that street by couldn’t find one. So we lived on Farrington Drive across from the high school.
What a small world! Let me know if you have interest in more info on those buildings.
And thank you for the kind words. I cried my eyes out writting this piece.
You have always been a great story teller . Now others can enjoy it too. But I’m your wife I maybe bias!!!!
Yes you may be at that! At least you were there to help me through this period in my life. I love you
Wow it’s a very touching story
The passion you both had for vehicles shows very much
Fond memories and nice tribute to Dad, Chip. I remember driving that stick shift like it was a Ferrari all the way to Key West! Great little car!
Great story Chip, and your dad sounds like quite the guy.
Those mid-1970s Corollas were tough cars, many racking up miles just like your dad’s. If not for the rust, we’d probably still see them around.
One question…what was the “St. Croix package”?
Great question. I tried to look up some info but it is sparse.
Basically it added things like K-mart wire wheel covers, a very small vinyl top with opera lights (thus the rust through as these were added with glue and the lights and molding were pop riveted in place by drilling through the fresh paint while in the salt air environment), an after market cruise control and a luggage rack (also drilled and riveted).
The part I didn’t get was that they didn’t use a mid or higher trim level – it was a basic Corolla 4 door with an automatic and A/C.
Also, his was a unique burnt orange color with a darker brown top and tan interior. This wasn’t a color I’d seen on other Toyota cars.
Thank you for all these kind words. At 61 I suppose I thought New Year’s Eve would eventually go back to what it had been for me before his death. I was wrong.
I’ve said before how much I really do enjoy this writing, and I will admit that I cried my eyes out writing this one. Truth is that my dad was 40 when I was born – a by product of the then new pill! I have to admit that it was not always easy to have a relationship with him and I give him credit having to raise one last child that late in life.
But I was and am proud of my dad. He and I were exact opposites for sure like I don’t know the difference between the kick away or quarter down in foot ball! But I would happily recite to him that his new 1973 Caprice had a 400 2 barrel that put out 150 horsepower at 3200rpm! This really made me a hard kid, especially a boy, to raise I am sure!
Already looking forward to my next installment!
Chip, you became one of my all-time favorite COAL contributors ever thanks to stories like this. A very moving tribute to your father.
What makes your stories so powerful is that you are able to convey the human experience of failure, adversity, bad luck, and placing emotional qualities ahead of financial/practical ones and yet always overcoming them and moving forward. It’s easy to talk about one’s brilliant accomplishments and how great one’s life is; it’s a lot harder to be vulnerable and share the very real challenges most of us face and then keep going. I have the utmost respect and admiration for you. Thank you for sharing so much of yourself on these pages.
+1
What a moving story, elegantly told. Here’s to your dad, and to you.