Jim Grey’s Camry CC must have been on my mind when I saw this wagon last night. Because it’s not the kind of car I would typically stop and shoot, especially on such a warm and balmy almost-summery Friday night, as these are still very common here. But here it is, to remind us of that brief period of time when both Camry and Accord wagons duked it out, along with all the other wagons then so popular at the time.
I am sorry but I love my 93 Buick Century station wagon there is just something uniquely American about a white station wagon with woodgrain trim. Station wagons don’t seem to fit the Japanese m.o. Too especially Hondas always seemed to be designed as afterthoughts as though someone said “oops hurry up we have to come up with something to sell here.”
I did know a guy once that has an 88-89 Camry wagon 5 speed which was unusual. Interestingly he fixed pianos and organs for a living and used it as his “work” car. His other two cars were very nice but older Cadillacs (how I got to know him). I always wanted to ask why he did not just buy a van or a truck for his travels he was a bigger fellow and the car + 5 speed had to be hard.
If I am not mistaken, the Mitsubishi Diamante of all cars offered a wagon option. Never understood that one.
He fixed pianos interestingly? Did he use his toes to tune them?
No, he did it by ear. 🙂
Except the Subaru Legacy Wagon of this era looked well thought out. It was the sedan with the kink in the belt line at the C pillar.
For the most part the Marketing powers that be now longer give us honest wagons. Even Subaru dropped the Legacy Wagon with the 2010 refresh and VW didn’t bother to make a wagon variant when they localized the Passat. You can still get them as platform brothers/cousins as separate models like the Outback or Matrix. Its all about the Marketing Jedi mind trick of making you think you are cool and not in a minivan or wagon.
You can still buy a Jetta wagon.
And well before 2010, Subaru was pushing buyers into the Outback instead of the Legacy Wagon. For example, the H6 was exclusive to the “Outback” cars from the start – yes, even to get a sedan with the H6, you had to opt for an Outback. The consolidation of Legacy=sedan and Outback=wagon actually happened in 2008.
The Diamante probably used an Australian Magna wagon body
The were actually built in Australia and shipped to the US as well as the UK, not sure about anywhere else. The larger US bumpers were used in the Australian market on an upmarket variant.
Woodgrain wagons are definitely uniquely American and I like the GM A body wagons (obviously if you’ve read my stories). Still, up until the 90’s anyhow, the Japanese did wagons were very well designed I think. Honda Toyota, Nissan and Subaru all made very competitive wagons, (usually without the woodgrain) up until some point in the 90’s when sales of wagons in general started to go away in favor of the SUV/CUV. That’s probably why they started becoming an afterthought. As Ian mentioned, Subaru does a very good job up until the current day with the Outback variety.
Some Japanese wagon offered woodgrain version. I don’t know if they come up from the plant with the woodgrain or was dealer installed like this 1978 Toyota Corona wagon http://www.oldparkedcars.com/2011/01/1978-toyota-corona-luxury-edition.html and this 1979 Datsun 210 http://www.oldparkedcars.com/2010/11/1979-datsun-210-woodgrain-wagon.html
I have this crazy idea that someday I’ll come upon a used wagon much like this in decent running order for $500, and I’ll buy it and use it to haul crap home from Lowe’s.
I already have that in my old Toyota Matrix, actually, but as soon as my 16-year-old gets his license he will be driving it and I’ll have an opening in the hauling-crap department.
We had a ’94 Camry LE wagon (bought 1 year used) which surprisingly, attracted interest from strangers, probably due to its rarity. Although it was underpowered with the 5S-FE 2.2L & auto, it had a rare & useful option: a folding 3rd seat. Did the CC-featured generation of Camrys have the 3rd seat option as well?
Was the V6 option (offered in the last year or two of this design) available on wagons? If so, with either transmission?
Don’t know about the trans options, but yes, you could get these with the V6.
That car is in really nice condition. Love the lacy spoke wheels. My favorite Toyota wagon though is the third generation Cressida, the one with the dual rear windshield wipers. I thought those were so cool. The Camry wagon got them too when the wide-body model came along in 92.
People seem to like European wagons well enough, so I’m not sure why the Japanese ones flop. In the specific case of the 2nd-gen Camry, I blame that awkward angle between the C- and D-pillars.
Here’s a fairly clean one I shot in Lancaster, PA last Christmas and posted to the Cohort.
I’d never buy one…but I do kinda mourn the death of the family wagon. I know; I know…a shooting-brake it’s not. Not even a Pinto Squire. Still and all, it was good to know there was an option between an econobox hatch and a pricey, thirsty SUV that you could haul lumber in and yet afford to drive, too.
Be nice if someone resurrected the idea…the Scion comes close but doesn’t quite cut it. Needs more luggage space…even the Matrix crossover, the first one, was too short and too given over to style.
We shopped small and medium wagons in 1993. The Camry and Accord were not available with 5 speeds. The Jetta was not then available as a wagon, so that left Saturn, Escort, Corolla, Subaru, and various 3 and 5-door Mitsubishi tall wagons. We looked at them all but my wife rejected the Saturn and Escort without even driving them, the 3 door Mitsu was too small and the 5 door too big, and she saw no need for AWD. If the GM A body wagon was still available, it was completely off our radar. We ended up with a Corolla which served us well for almost 100K miles (replaced by a 5-speed Subaru Turbo Forester, which is another car no longer available in the US with a manual transmission. I think the next version of the Accord wagon was offered here with the 5 speed, but I think with the introduction of the RAV4, there were no more Camry wagons after the 3rd gen. The Prius V is the closest thing to a Toyota wagon today.
Dman, I personally owned a 5-speed 1993 Accord EX wagon for almost 10 years. The 5-speed Accord wagon was certainly available in 1993, at least here in the U.S. It was one of the best cars I have ever owned. I sold it a few years back due to rust issues. Even my Honda mechanic said it was a rare car with the 5-speed. I still remember the name of the color – Seattle Silver – with Red interior. I miss that car so much.
Maybe not in California? Also, we bought our Corolla when the ’94 Toyotas were already on the lots, I think November, so perhaps all the ’93 5 speed Accord wagons were gone. I am positive we could not get a 5 speed Accord wagon here, we tried. Our Corolla was sitting there unloved well past the sell-by date … 5 speed, no passenger airbag, roll-up windows and no A/C. Everyone was buying Camrys and SUV’s, or at least ’94 Corollas.
Nineties Subaru wagons are everywhere on PNW roads, so much they’ve become a stereotype. Lily’s been driving a ’94 Legacy wagon for about ten years now, and it’s been a solid all purpose wagon and road car.
Over sixty listed at Portland Craigslist on today’s date alone! Mostly between $4K and $6K.
The SAAB 900 4 door on the left makes up for the presence of the bland, grey, abomination that is the main subject of this very photograph.
Love those. Can into the thread to make this very comment. I ocassionally troll CL and eBay in the futile search for one of these!
I last drove one of these a little over ten years ago when I worked at a Honda dealer. Certainly competent, but given the choice, I would have loved an early nineties Accord wagon. Back in the fall I found one at the Honda dealer in Bay City. I had to stop and look at it…and look at it….and look at it some more. Sadly, the rust was getting to it, and it was priced like it wasn’t, so I passed.
As luck would have it I see two early 90s Honda Accord wagons in my work parking lot. Still going quite strong down here in Tallahassee where rust isn’t an issue whatsoever. the other thing they have in common is that the clearcoat paint has been baked off courtesy of the panhandle sun.
I love the Accord wagons, Always really wanted a gen 3 Camry wagon, but ended up with a 1992 V6 LE Sedan (Still a very exceptional car), but my favorite Wagon body style would have to be the 1986-95 Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable wagons. I also have a soft spot for 1977-90 GM Full sized wagons. Had a 1983 and a 1988 Caprice in the family growing up. Loved the rear tailgate dual function where you could open it flat out or swing it out like a door. Oodles of space in those cars. My grandmother also had a circa 1988 Subaru DL Wagon. That was a very nice car too, ‘specially with the AWD. I still mourn the loss of the mainstream wagon. They always appealed to me.
I have a one owner 2001 Focus wagon with a rare-in-the-US 5 speed manual and Euro-spec suspension that came with the Street Edition package. I love it as much now as when I bought it 12 years ago. One of my friends has driven his late ’90’s Accord wagon almost 300K mi without a rebuild.
I’d like to have another wagon a size up from my Focus but there aren’t any to choose from, save for over-priced Europeans. Honda Crosstours and Toyota Venzas don’t count as one is an ugly turd and the other is a Camry with platform shoes. Maybe I’ll squeeze another decade of pleasure and utility out of the Focus.