For the 1987 model year, Car & Driver said about the freshly redesigned Camry compared to its boxy predecessor, “Not only more aggressive in stance, the new Camry is sleeker, too…” This sedate-yet-aggressive Super White survivor 1987 Toyota Camry is posted here on craigslist in Spokane, Washington, and the seller is asking $7,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Curvette for the tip!
I… uhhh… and I’m a lifelong Toyota fan, my first car was a Toyota, but aggressive in stance? I guess the 80s were different than the 2020s. Can you imagine the horror of this friendly-faced, bone-white Camry bearing down on you as you clog up the left lane sending those all-important texts, all while telling yourself that “Hey, I pay taxes and I’m going the speed limit, I can drive here no matter how many angry, aggressive bone-white Camrys are on my rear bumper!” I get what Car and Driver was saying, though, I’m just poking fun at the language of that article.
As a comparison, here’s a nice, 1986 Toyota Camry in white that sold here on Barn Finds Auctions just a year ago, for a mere $3,500! Half the price of this Camry, and the Barn Finds Auction car had a 5-speed manual! The difference between ’86 and ’87 Camrys is pretty stark, yet a nice, sleek evolution more than the revolution you’d notice now if you can pick out a 2025 Camry among all of the angry, frowning, swoopy, overly-creased new cars with too many exterior details.
The V20 Camry was made from 1986 for the 1987 model year through 1991, and they’re unarguably nice cars. They’re reliable, easy to drive, easy to park, cheap to maintain, get good MPG, and all of those fun things. What isn’t fun is the 4-speed automatic transmission and the era of automatic seatbelts, which this one has. The Barn Finds Auction car didn’t have either of those things. Watch those Barn Finds Auctions, folks! The back seat looks great as expected, and it would have been nice if Toyota had made a two-door version for a little more sporty look.
An engine photo in a craigslist ad is always a treat, and somewhat unusual as most owners don’t care enough to spend 20 seconds popping the hood and taking a quick engine photo. Kudos to this seller for doing that, and for providing nice photos overall. This engine is Toyota’s 2.0-liter, 16-valve, fuel-injected DOHC inline-four with 115 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque going to the front wheels. Backed by an automatic rather than a 5-speed manual, this one won’t be as fun to drive but if you’re looking for a solid car for your teenager or college student, or even a commuter for yourself so you don’t have to worry about door dings on your new SUV, pickup, or car, here you go. For about half of what it would have cost new, you could be daily-driving this aggressive stance Camry!
Nice coupe SG… an 80s Solara.
Are those factory wheels on this Camry?
Thanks, sir! I believe this is a base model Camry (not a DX or LE), so those are most likely the standard wheels, maybe sans wheel covers. I like bare wheels!
Page 8 of this brochure, on the left side under “Styling/Design” lists the standard and optional wheels, and oddly enough, the base (“4-Door Sedan”) doesn’t list any wheels as being standard!
https://xr793.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/1987-Toyota-Camry.pdf
Yep! Base model Camry here. Complete with bare steelies and black bumpers that tended to get “fuzzy” over time, as on this example.
Very clean Camry. You don’t see these hardly ever at all. And yet, back in the 80’s these were everywhere. Like Scotty said, these were good solid reliable cars. This is very nicely appointed, even for a base DX.
The reason you don’t see them anymore is that they rusted away to scrap long ago. They may have been good for the time, dependable, fuel efficient but they weren’t made to last. At least the sheet metal. They were priced really high new also. You can’t compare these to a an Escort, these were mid sizers. A Ford Tempo or a Taurus even. Don’t know much about Tempos but the Taurus was considered to be a good car
My dad had an ’89 5 speed and had to replace the gearbox at only 175k! At the time, I thought it was crazy, but the chassis didn’t stop passing inspection until 309k. He did live in Maine at the time, but the Camry didn’t rust nearly as fast as his ’64 Mercedes did by 1971. Meanwhile, Oregon is swarming with old Japanese cars with no rust.
You’d either have to have been living in a cave ,,,or be my old man, not to realize what an important car this was. It changed even the most stout diehard US car fans, except the old man. Let’s see, what US options did we have in 1987? Dodge Aries? Ford Escort? Chevy Cavalier? Clearly, one test drive in this, and that was it. They weren’t cheap, though. I read, a base 4 door Camry like this was just over $11K. That was almost $2grand more than the Escort, but that extra money got you the best, and most refined econobox to date. You won’t find many manuals here, it wasn’t Toyotas intended audience. Many old ladies traded in their Harveys Olds on one of these, thanks to the grandkids advice.
So, does that mean the world has gone topsy turvy, and I like Asian cars? Good heavens no, but one can’t ignore the impact the Camry made in the US, and still today.
I had 5 Camry’s in the day (87 to 91), and they were such a great car, and my wife had an accident from a drunk driver that ran a stop light and totaled the car and recovered after a month or so thank God see was in this car!!!! I still wish i had these models around yet because I would own one again.
Agree with your assessment Howard, but to be fair wouldn’t the Corrolla be a more apple’s to apple’s comparison w the American choices you mention.
The Camry was a notch above into the middleweight class..the contenders were the Century/6000/Celebrity/Ciera,
Ford Taurus, Chrysler LeBaron.
That’s true and it showed America, while Toyota focused on economy early on, this showed they were capable of making a decent car, and changed many minds thinking the Corolla was the best they had.
They would come to build a better Buick than Buick.
They would come to build a better Buick than Buick.
I was a Honda Accord guy but there were a ton of both Accords and Camrys on the road back then. Few have survived especially in this condition.
Have a 91 Corolla as a backup & grocery car – this thing won’t die! If I had the room, I buy these Camry & drive it as everyday car as long A/C is working. won’t have to worry all those new computer gadgets on newer vehicles which I hate Lol.
My dad bought an ‘88 new with the optional DOHC V6. Probably no more than 150-160bhp, but in a car that light it really felt quick. It was a very comfortable and reliable daily driver and family car.
Makes me miss my ’88 Camry with V6! 👍🏻
Just remembered..The Camry wagons were really cool 😎 👍
Road clogging appliances. Generally operated by the worst ‘drivers’ out there.
Maybe in Australia, but not here in the U.S., Chris. That distinction would go to SUVs and pickups clogging the left lane, texting as if it weren’t illegal. Luckily, there are no rules or laws here anymore, and any rules or laws that are left aren’t enforced, so it’s the wild west on freeways now. Just do what you want, who cares?
It’s a shame that other SUVs and pickups (the majority of vehicles here, “appliances” are few and far between) are clogging the left lane texting, so then some feel they have to ride up on you in the right lane, expecting you to go faster. I see it every single day, every single day, without fail, all over the country in every state.
And there’s the innocent, law-abiding “appliance” driver minding his or her own business in the right lane being tailgated by some clown in a black pickup or SUV who thinks he/she is such a great and skilled driver and it’s everyone else who is wrong for going the speed limit, or 5-7 mph over in the right lane. The left lane is for texters now; that’s just how it is here. I don’t know what Australia is like.
Totally agree Scotty. Anybody can go lease a new Silverado today for $299 and many idiots do and drive them like weapons.
As we are well aware it’s easy to paint with a broad brush. Trouble is you can mess up the details. There’s also two sides to a coin. I don’t take much offense to being the guy in a crew cab pickup because that doesn’t prevent me from taking driving seriously. Driving a small car or truck doesn’t make one a responsible driver. In fact I can cite four brands of vehicle, only only one of them US domestic, that consistently have the worst drivers. FWIW none are European either. Mostly the violations are sniping in and out of lanes or left lane camping. I’ve even seen organized lane blocking which I can only imagine comes from a sense of superiority from being more “responsible”.
I’ll continue to drive defensively and responsibly as I was instructed fifty five years ago. As the man once said, we only have a short time together the least we can do is get along.