DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

My 1992 Camry SE v6 5-speed... A bit dirty from the high Sierra winter and snow. Rare not only because of the 5-speed, but also because it was made in Japan.

I traded this when I got my 98 gs400..., should have kept it as a daily.

mmarshall

Yep....nothing to be ashamed of there, at least IMO. When I was your age (admittedly quite some time ago), I had already owned a Plymouth Barracuda Pony-car but........(guess what?)..........a big full-sized Buick, a mid-sized Buick, and full-sized Chrysler. I still remember that big Buick very fondly today.......it was a true pleasure to drive, more so than the Chrysler. .

But that doesn't mean that I shunned the American muscle cars of the period, either (hey, I was a still a normal teen-ager) . Two in general that I really liked were the smartly-styled and well-built 1970 Pontiac GTO and 1968-70 Road Runners with their bird-graphics, Beep-Beep horn, and distinctive pastel colors. I would have loved to have a new GTO or pad Runner, but, back then, ust don't have the money, and by the time I DID have the cash, those cars had been booted out of the market by the increasing regulations of the 1970s.

mmarshall

There you have it, guys.....from our CL leader.

To be honest, I almost bought one myself back in 1995 when i was car-chopping, but I ended up enthralled with the sharp-looking 1995 Celica. I took home an Iris blue one.

SW17LS

I was trying to work out some sort of joke that involved the cows coming home...but it just never materialized for me LOL

DaveGS4

iTrader: (2)

I actually had one of those circular pop out window shades that was patterned like cow spots I used in the car at the time and couldn't pass up the photo op.

I went dumpster diving in a box of 1000+ photos for that picture, remembered the cows were in it lol.

Looking at the wheels, the tires from the time look so massive. Bought brand new when I was working in Nevada, had to drive to a Ogden Utah dealer to get it because they wouldn't trade. I think I still have magazine with the comparo article in Car & Driver between the Camry SE v6, the Maxima and the Taurus SHO that led me to look into buying it (Camry won).

Gen3Camry

Sounds like a great article! Would love to see a scan of it but its entirely at your discretion.

SW17LS

LOL. It is funny about the tires looking so massive isn't it? My aunt bought my old '03 ES and she had new tires put on it about a month ago, so I got it all washed and cleaned up for her. I remember thinking how massive the sidewalls were on the tires while I was dressing them...

Those ol Camrys were great cars...my aunt and uncle had one. He had a 1990 Cressida which was also a great car.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

single then?

FrankReynoldsCPA

At 25 I've only owned 3 cars so far. My Fusion and the LS400 I had before it are both pretty boring. My first car was a 1989 Pontiac Firebird, which I bought with 170,000 miles in 2006. It was a fun car. Even with it's little 2.8 V6 and 5-speed, you could still have some fun, even if you weren't winning any races. But damn it was unreliable. Starters went out once or twice a year, electrical gremlins, random stalling issues, overheating(hey, what GM doesn't?) etc. Thought I'd never miss it, but I do. Lot's of memories in that car. I sold it in 2009 at 199,000 miles when I left the country for a couple years.

Hopefully in a few years I'll get back into something more exciting. I do like my current car. It's boring, but I'm not also stuck trying to figure out how to get it back home at 3 in the morning.

corradoMR2

Growing up, our first Toyota was the G2 '87 Camry. Because of this car for the first time, we experienced quality so I have the utmost respect for the Camry. My favorite gen is G3, built like a Lexus, and G5 my least favorite for its cheap interior. It think we/auto enthusiasts unfairly call the Camry boring because it does virtually everything without fuss. It's also "boring" because it's every other car we see on the road.

GSteg

iTrader: (15)

I use to own a 1993 Camry V6. I actually had quite fun driving the car because I could toss it around knowing it wasn't going to break down. I have an ES330 right now and I rank it on the same level as the G3 Camry. None of the ES following the 2003-2006 model felt good to me in terms of build quality.

mmarshall

You are correct. The 4Gen ES was clearly the best.....the 5Gen and 6Gen were letdowns.

Gen3Camry

I think that's the inherent issue with over sweeping generalizations. I was somewhat guilty of myself starting to get into the thinking that almost all car enthusiasts hate the Toyota Camry. But, with 7 billion people in the world, its damn near impossible to make accurate generalizations about any groups of people. Obviously car enthusiasts vary in taste and opinion, and some enthusiasts with no plans of owning a Camry may still hold nothing against them, as seen here.

But perhaps a main issue with Camry driver generalizations by many enthusiasts are assuming almost all of the millions of Camry drivers in the world don't like cars at all, and just buy and own one as a "Chore". This may be somewhat true, but in my as objective as possible observations, I ocassionally see modified Camries. While these are far fewer in numbers than WRXs or any sports car, I can bet, also being on facebook groups such as Camry Nation, there is certainly an at least notable populus of Camry enthusiasts in the world. I'd say the majority of Camry drivers I've seen in Fort Collins are non-enthusiasts. However, I certainly don't see them despising cars. The fact is, I see many Camries completley stock and driven modestly, but they are well mantained. some are freshly washed, no dents. To be fair, Fort Collins has a population of 160,000 using 10 square miles more than San Francisco, so it isn't too hard to avoid dents. However, there is still quite a rush hour chaos, and I don't exactly see most Camry drivers allowing their cars to get damaged.

I think many Camry drivers may not be die-hard enthusiasts, but even with some other main passion than cars, A Camry driving non-enthusiast can still value and like their vehicle, and also like and appreciate cool cars. It just may not dominate in their life.

And there may be a few Camry drivers who don't like their car or cars at all, but I think if someone really hated cars so some absurd degree, they probably wouldn't own one in the first place.

I'm pretty weary and try to avoid assumptions and generalizations attached to anything. Being a College student, I've witnessed this. Many people always assume more "prestigious" institutions like MIT or Harvard just completely blows public institutions away, yet can't state specific reasons or cite specific data other than inherently subjective rankings. The more actual research and facts I collected, I started realizing many public state schools have competitive research and resources as Ivies but can charge a fraction of the cost because they make up for the tuition loss with government funding. I had a friend who held a summer work study job in facility maintnence of the foothills campus of Colorado State University, where he said there were armed military guards and barbed wire surrounding massive research complexes and the school clearly did not want anybody finding out what was going on in some of those university research facilities. Obviously, I realized people were underestimating the University quite a damn bit LOL.

A bit off topic, but alot of things I've experienced in my life have contradicted commonly held beliefs and assumptions.

mmarshall

In just 14 posts as a brand-new member, Gen3Camry, you've already contributed quite a bit of good automotive insight to CL and CAR CHAT. Keep up the good work.

rxonmymind

Most boring? So he gets into a Camry and expects what?.....BMW? Never understood those comparisons. I find the following exciting about the Camry
Having it start on the first try for 10 years without any major breaks outside of regular maintenance.
Not having a car in the shop every three months.
Keeping my job because I have a reliable vehicle
Getting to & from appointments, vacations, hot dates, without the need for roadside service
Saving money on maintenance, gas, and being able to pass the car of to your kids for college as their first vehicle at 225K and knowing they'll be fine.
Most of all....peace of mind.
All exciting, I'm sure I missed a ton.