Gen 1 Camry owners sign in

[88 LE]

This is for owners of gen 1 (82 - 86) Camrys.

Post your name (optional).
Year
Trim level
Mods
Future/planned mods

[bootch]

hello all

Name: François
Year: 84
Trim Level: 2.0 LE
Major Mods: none, except upgraded audio system
Planned Mods: no planned mods

[bootch]

Well, I guess i'm one of the last GEN1 owner. Anyway, it is my cam's first winter now and its running fine. One sad thing: the salt is deadly for the car!

Its funny beause my cam starts faster in winter than in summer!

[McTimson]

Technically, I'm still a gen1 owner...but it's just sitting in my driveway, the engine died a while ago and I haven't gotten rid of it yet.

[Digger1]

I bought my first Camry on 1985, a new '85 with an I4 engine. It was a silver hatchback.

Great car! We put 195K miles on it and sold it four years ago for about 2500 bucks!

I sorta wish we would have kept it. I feel it was a better car than my '99 Camry CE.

[penguinsrcool]

Year: 1986
Trim: LE 4 door liftback
Mods: None
Planned mods: None

We bought the Camry a few months ago with less than 100,000 miles (now she's over 100,000).

Looks great inside and out, and so far is running good.

[thinkpad]

Brian S.
1985
LE 4-door Sedan
Patches to rust holes in the trunk
To fully restore it to factory condition.

261,951 miles on it. Original engine, water pump, starter. Tranny died just shy of 250,000 miles. Replacement tranny has only 78,000 miles on it.

[kamesama980]

year:1986
model: base sedan
miles: 118k
mods: removed intake tube pre-filter and buffer tank, rear speakers. used spare tire jack and hammer to push out front end after accident (rear ended into the car in front of me), new battery.

i sold this tank last summer and i really wish i hadnt...i got hit from behind jacking up the rear end makign the trunk not seal right, put my grille into the bumper of the guy in front of me smashign the front end, headlight, bending the hood. after pushing out the front end with the jack, removing the crushed air-intake tube, and getting a new battery the thing got me across the state and back with 400 lbs in the trunk/back seat. bent radiator and AC condenser didnt leak, engine purred (aside from broken exhaust from accident). just had to retighten the hood bolts on the hinges once a month since it was bent and vibrated in the wind while driving.

[Husky]

year:1986
model: I dunno
miles: 166k
mods: None


I sold my 1986 Celica the other day because my parents were going to give me this. I miss the celica already. This is a dog slow car, one thing though is it rides absolutely nice vs the stiffness in my celica.

I cannot complain because the car was free. I know pretty much nothing except it was purchased in 1986 by a Toyota Mechanic and kept until 2002 when my parents bought it. It drove 30 miles a day 5 days a week only back and forth to my stepfathers work so he didnt put miles on the other car ie the new one. It has every single service manual as to any work that was done with it and even has the original bill of sale and sales persons business card.

I guess I got a pretty decent car for free. Interiour is perfect. The trunk looks brand new and as if it was never used. Engine is spotless. Doesnt leak. The tranny feels weird though, im not used to automatics and i feel awkward when it shifts.

[1986CamryLE]

Name: Eric
Year: 1986
Trim Level: LE 4-door Sedan 2.0 gas
Major Mods: upgraded to 14" rims/tires and ditched the 13" aluminum mags even though they had their own unique character. lol. No "performance" mods to be made in the future. I bought the car for $72 last spring with 117k on it (limb had fallen on it and rendered the power moon roof useless--I sealed it. lol). Replaced windshield, lower arms (from 88 camry), new struts all around ala eBay, converted a/c to 134a. Runs sweet, 122,700 k. Back and forth to work 30 miles round trip everyday and beat around town. Kind of a novelty and fun to drive

[Gopal]

Name : Gopal
Year : 1990, 133K+ miles
Trim : LE
Mods : None, none planned.

[JetspeedCamry]

Originally Posted by Gopal

Name : Gopal
Year : 1990, 133K+ miles
Trim : LE
Mods : None, none planned.

If its a 1990, you have a Gen 2, not a Gen 1..

[toored]

Tim Smith
'86 LE and '86 Dlx (also '85 4X4 pickup)
Mods: Upgraded sound sys
Future mods: supercharger and lift kit!! (not really)

The LE my grandmother bought in '89 with 30K miles. At the time I thought it was the ugliest car on the road!! When she passed I got it handed down and put another 170K miles on it before I gave it to my mother a couple of years ago. It now has 200k. From a reliability standpoint it is the best car I have ever owned. A starter, alternator, CV axles, fuel pump, and routine wear/tear items are all that's ever been replaced!!

I missed the car so much after my mom got it, within 6 months I was looking for an identical car! It just so happened that a friend of mine had an '86 Dlx that his parents bought new that he had been driving for about 10 years. It took me 6 months to talk him in to parting with it! It now has 220K and is going strong!

If all cars were built with this level of quality there would be hardly no repair shops!!

It's funny how owners of newer generation Camrys scratch their heads when they see the Camry emblem on the trunk and invariably ask, "that's a Camry? I've never seen one that old!"

[aussie_gen1]

Hi, my name is Fred. i live in Brisbane, Australia. i have owned my 1986 Camry hatchback, my first Toyota, for about a month, and am quite happy with it. It is a GLi with automatic transmission and i paid AU$1300, with 254,000 kms on the clock. It doesn't seem to have been serviced lately, but goes, stops and handles well. It has moderate rear end damage, and it looks like the hatch and bumber have been replaced without fixing the dent in the rear body. Am going to try and fix that myself, also the tapping noise in the front end which occurs under light braking, worn brake sliders is my guess. I plan to tidy the interior, find all the missing fiddly trim bits, etc. But overall, it's in reasonable nick for a twenty year old car.
It seems to be standard throughout, except the drivers seat has been replaced with a different coloured one. I'm not planning to heavily modify it, I just want a tidy daily driver.

[akinaspeedstars]

Light blue color, SOHC 4cyl 1.8L engine, 230K miles. Still a fun car to drive. I would like to spend a lot of cash fixing this thing up, but for now primarily use it to get to work, etc. rd. daily driver.

Some mods I would like to make: cold air intake, new exhaust system (a la Meineke), replace windshield, fog lights, replace engine, possibly with a Toyota diesel for a grease conversion, new struts and shocks, paint (original blue), and maybe a drift package: fiberglass trunk, other suspension mods.

Also I would like to find some nice old Toyota racing wheels, of five spoke design, and throw on some Yokohamas and while I'm dreaming, I'll add some fender flares and a spoiler.

This car handles really great, and a very responsive 5spd transmission.