Doylestown Auto Repair

Junkyard Gem: 1990 Toyota Camry DX with V6 and 5-speed

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American car shoppers had the opportunity to buy new

Toyota

Camrys with manual transmissions all the way

through the 2012 model year

, which pleased the minuscule group of drivers who wanted a reliable and invisible sedan with three pedals but did nothing meaningful for Toyota USA’s bottom line. I look for manual-equipped Camrys every time I

set foot in a wrecking yard

, and

I spot

the occasional stick-shift four-cylinder

V20

model and plenty of 5-speed first-gen

V10

s. The 1988-1991

Camry

with five-speed

and

V6 engine, though,

that’s

a rare find. Here’s a discarded 300,000-mile ’90 Camry DX I spotted last winter near Denver.

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

In fact, this car made it 501 miles past the 300,000-mile mark. Perhaps its final owner had set that mileage goal, at which point the car got

traded in

on a new Camry.

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

With some unsightly rust and a transmission that most 2018 drivers can’t operate, this car wouldn’t have attracted much interest at

auction

. Next stop, junkyard!

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

Stevinson Toyota West

still exists

, 28 years down the road. Sold in Denver, will be crushed in Denver.

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

Even with a five-speed and the big engine, the driving experience with these cars couldn’t be considered

fun

. The U.S.-market Camry has always been about no-nonsense, dependable transportation, and most Camry buyers that opted for the manual transmission did so for cheapness and/or fuel-economy reasons.

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

The optional V6 in 1990 put out just 153 horsepower; the

current Camry

gets 50 more horses than that from the base four-banger. Still, if you’re going to drive 10,732 miles every year for 28 years, you’ll enjoy it more with that third pedal in front of you.

1990 Toyota Camry in Colorado wrecking yard

Ford

wised up about American car buyers’ overwhelming desire for slushboxes much earlier than Toyota, axing

the manual-trans Taurus

after the 1988 model year (except for the

Taurus

SHO, which could be purchased with a five-speed through 1995). Amazingly,

Chrysler

sold

minivans with five-speeds

through 1995, in case you’re looking for a car-trivia question that will stump everyone.

An optional V6 engine powers you home.

Related Video:

from Autoblog https://ift.tt/2QIWH2B