This recent find uploaded by Matt Wilda to the CC Cohort seems to follow on a subject that Tatra87 touched on a while ago; that of the Toyota X70 Cressida being a favorite for custom jobs, both in its native land, and as it seems, in California. Must be a “Hot Wagon” thing that speaks to either hipsters or fans of old Japanese cars (Both?).
Tatra87’s find was a 1997 model, since the X70 had a long life in Japan. In the US, these Cressidas went just from 1985 to 1988, and have been referred to in these pages as “peak Cressida”; as middle-class posh as a stateside Toyota got in the mid 1980s. Clearly, the Cressida nameplate waned rapidly when Lexus arrived in 1989 (and before the X80 generation arrived, which gained a reputation for head gasket troubles), but before that, a California family with Toyota loyalty used to be well-served by these.
For a custom, this is pretty restrained and it keeps the wagon’s neat original rear window twin wipers. Against the sedans, Cressida wagons sold in lesser numbers, but this one, tricks added regardless, is pretty intact. A nifty custom with 1980s angular styling, sleeper wagon body, RWD format, and likely, a 2.8L inline six that’s been fixed up. I may prefer my curbside classics in stock form, but overall, glad to see this one still around.
Related CC reading:
1986 Toyota Cressida Station Wagon – The Timeless Toyota ‘B-Body’ Wagon
1985 Toyota Cressida – The Proto Lexus
1997 Toyota Mark II (X70) Van – The Emperor’s Old Clothes
1982 Corona and 1986 Cressida Wagons – A Toyota RWD Wagon Lover Lives Here
Custom Station Wagons in California go through cycles .
Many are really well done and works of love in addition to works of art .
I like wagons in general having grown up in their heyday .
This one looks nice to me .
-Nate
We had a sedan (an ’86 as this wagon appears to be according to the license plate and third brake light), and were very fond of it. I would have loved a wagon version, it was pretty much a Volvo 700-series wagon by Toyota with everything that implies and was a wonderful highway cruiser.
Cressida’s biggest problem was probably its own in-house competition, once the Camry sprouted a wagon and then made it available with a V6, that pretty much took care of most of the people looking for a larger Toyota wagon, the people that bought these Cressidas new seemed to usually be decently moneyed and for whatever reason didn’t want to stretch to something like a Mercedes W124 wagon (or the Volvo 740/760). The last Cressida generation then didn’t even have a wagon, and was eventually usurped by Lexus on one end and the Toyota Avalon on the lower end.
That being said, I’d welcome this wagon in my garage, it looks great although I think ALL of the stock wheels looked great on these Cressidas, no real need to swap them out. As far as the bumpers go, Toyota appears to have misread the spec for 5mph bumpers as 50mph bumpers…the rear one is like an bonus exterior cargo shelf, it just needs some tie-downs!
It is probably out live W123 and W124 or any Volvo wagon without much more than just regular maintenance.
Consistent registration from 1997 and on. Does look like it was sold by possibly the original owner, back in 2022, based on CA test history. Never failed smog once.