Mike Hayes has posted pictures of this multi-hued Camry. At first glance I though it had been in an accident and had some body parts replaced by junkyard pieces. Someone is obviously having fun with it, and had a ready supply of Camry donors. That shouldn’t be hard to come by.
this actually has more curb appeal than the original ‘Harlequin’ Rabbit or GOLF; I would only make one change:
it needs some yellow and a bit lighter shade of turquoise to give it more pop…… how about adding it to the wheel covers ?
I had a (non-original) Harlequin Golf (GTi) after a fender bender at work with my ’86 GTi. The insurance company totalled it out, but I think the adjuster might not have known that the AC condensor normally sloped from one side to the other even on those not in an accident. Mine got hit from the front passenger side; I ended up buying a used hood, fender, bumper cover, and radiator core support, got some friends to help persude the unibody to move back so the bolt holes would line up.
It wasn’t perfect, I never did get it painted one color (silver) but it almost didn’t matter. When I bought my current car in 2000, I sold the GTi myself, and didn’t have any trouble…it was a unique year, the 1985 had (slightly) less power, and the next year they went to digifant, which was considered a bit less desirable than CIS-E that my car had. To be fair, I had some test drivers who lamented that my car lacked power steering; it was a pretty light car but with the then wide 60 series tires could be a handfull steering.
My replacement car was likewise a Golf, it has been in a fender bender or two but is still all one color, it has some bumper scratches and a wound where the jack slipped and dented the rocker panel. The car before the GTi was also a VW (Scirocco) but it was bought up north and had a bit of rust that I had ground away when I had it painted. It was the only car I had painted, and it had to be done several times as it was metallic tan color from the 70’s and after moving it to the sunbelt it seemed to need regular repaint. My current car is also metallic but many years newer, the paint looks pretty good as I wax it 2x/year since new, but the plastic parts (side mirrors, door handles) are starting to burn, but still look OK such that I don’t bother (plus it is a 21 year old car, living with the foilbles of an older vehicle.
… or maybe… perhaps, they’re just big fans of Johnny Cash’s classic, “One Piece at a Time”. 🙂
Nicely done I think .
-Nate
Nice combination. Luminous prismatic colors, similar to the iridescence on peacocks or beetles.
I was about to suggest replacing the rear bumper cover with something more colorful, but this one doesn’t have the infamous “Camry Dent”, and I’m sure most others available for donation probably did. Also, you’ve got to applaud the absence of any panels in that ubiquitous Old Man Beige color that so many of this generation came in. Good job all around.
We had one of these, a ’97 LE in “Blue Dusk Pearl.” Despite the name, it simply appeared as dark gray.
There are scads of this generation Camry still on the road in central VA, but the population of the prior generation, the “fat” Camry, is starting to decline.
Wondered if the owner was a Patridge Family fan.
When did junkyard fodder, like old Toyotas, became classic?
Probably when the domestic competition of the same age all actually went to the junkyard years before while the old also built in the US Toyota stayed on the road. I can’t offhand recall the last 1998 Lumina, Taurus, or Cirrus I saw on the road but the 1998 Camry? Daily. And this was the supposedly crappy decontented built to a budget one!
Speaking of cost cutting (or rather lack thereof in the case of this generation Camry), is this one of the last cars to have steel in the lower quarter panel, between the wheels and rear bumper cover?
It seems every car and crossover built after this generation has bumper covers that wrap all the way around to the wheel openings.
I still ocassionally see old Camrys from this era, though not often. There are old oval Tauruses still on the road too, though most of them have been relegated to beater status long ago. I think the Malibu would be a better comparison than the Lumina to the Camry. The late 90’s Luminas were never that common even when new, other than in rental car lots.The Cirrus even less so. I don’t see many Passats, Accords, Altimas, Sonatas, Legacys or 626s from the era either.
Is it possible the reason Camrys and Tauruses are still around not because they are that much better than their competitors, but simply because so many of them were sold? I think the reason old Accords are not as common as old Camrys is because of their timing belts and interference engines. Either that or rust got them. Accords seem to rust more than Camrys.
On old Camrys, only the V-6s had timing belts. I had one a generation newer than this, it was not a bad car by any means, but towards the end it leaked oil from pretty much everywhere and the cost of a timing belts change exceeded the value of the car. Luckily, I never got hit with the infamous sludge problem. I’m willing to bet the surviving Camrys are mostly the timing chain equipped 4 cylinder models.
I found this car across the street from the local CarStar Auto Body Repair shop, just down the street from where I live. Maybe this was partly done just as a way to use up leftover paint? I like the paint job, but I’m even more impressed by the lack of a rear bumper dent and the fact that only one wheelcover is missing. It’s a Camry, after all. The last time I saw this car, they still hadn’t re-installed the Toyota badges. Maybe they could badge-engineer it into something else that has an oval badge?
“Fun with a Camry” That’s a phrase you don’t hear often!
Certain states in OZ wouldnt let this on the road it wouldnt pass a pink slip in NSW frinstance, mate of mine bought an old Holden that had been a RSL taxi as such had blue,black and red panels ne replaced the worst ones and primered a couple of others and was told too many colours, fail, he primered the whole thing and passed.
That’s weird! But then, over that side of the Murray……. 🙂
Imitation chameleon paint job wanna be?
This brings back vague memories of when Volkswagen did this, in the ‘90s.
Alas, I’ve never seen one in the metal.
I was sooo obsessed with keeping the paint consistent on my ’97 Camry after a front end accident.
Looks like I missed an opportunity to express myself.