I Bought A CHEAP Toyota Camry From 1990... 

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It's so therapeutic to watch old cars being restored and given love.

I’m not gonna lie, From retro-tech to vintage cars, I’m starting to develop an interest in cars, thanks to this video!

9:17 switches to the stunt double to get that fast paced corner shot :)

Excellent restore dude! You've definitely "got the touch". It's great that you can branch out into other arenas with your talent and passion.

The melted gauges thing is common across this generation, as are cab blower resister failures. I had an '87 of this, with a 3SGTE MR2 Turbo engine swap with an LSD box. Hilarious car, wouldn't corner or stop but pulled like a freight train

As someone who dalies a '96 Accord with over 250k miles, I really appreciate the dedication to taking care of old cars and keeping them on the road.

The 87 Camry, very similar to this one, was my first car and survived many harsh winters. Seeing this era of the Camry again was awesome: it was a great car! Mine did have the auto/electric seat belts though which as you alluded to, were super annoying. I got pulled over in it once for "not wearing my seatbelt," but the police officer was mistaken. I showed the officer the autobelt and said "I wish" and he laughed and let me go.

I recently bought, about 2 months ago a Peugeot 306 sedan from 1999. The car has 221tkm but it runs still to this day flawlessly. The engine it self sounds like new, steering pump makes some noice while turning, but nothin alarming. It needs a oil change, but because it is at summer cottage, and it's my first car, It currently doesn't get any kilometers as I speak currently. The driver door sounded like bucket of bolts and nuts, I took the door panel off to found some original speaker hardwear, but because the newer ones didn't need them and I don't have any interest to make speaker system back to original. One's I removed the speaker hardwear, the door when was closed sounded good. Not like nuts and bolts. Other than that car doesn't have electric powered windows, what is just a big plus on a french car. Radio unit isn't original, some sort of Livia unit, but it has Bluetooth. I am considering buying&install new speaker system to the car, with a subwoofer into the trunk, not a big subwoofer. Just that there is one, but doesn't take all the space from the trunk. Other than that my Peugeot is pretty much safe and sound, it has Airbags, no flex. And it has a rust free body what is unheard of here at Finland with french cars. And I payed for it 130e. Probably the the whole speaker system will cost well over what I payed for the car, like 150e. Hehe.

This video makes my day and its so fun to see you working on cars

Your passion to restore the car made my day! Love your videos working with cars.

My mum had one of these. It was a FANTASTIC car - economical, light, easy motoring. This is a great daily, and its old so hopefully no one will want to break in or nick it.

You scored a beauty. We had a 91 model from new that ran until about 5 years ago- an old man ran into it and although not much damage, insurance wrote it off. Engine started first go every single time, no leaks or failures- the thing just ran and ran without complaints. Just over 200k. A Toyota salesman in 2010 told me Toyota regretted making these as seldomly did anything go wrong. Your model is the CS-X which was one below the top of the line. Yours has rear disc brakes, a much nicer looking steering wheel, power antenna, velour trim and a few other things like a split compartment center console if I remember correctly. A lot of mechanics said these can cover 500k. Yours is in top condition with 150k. Love your restoration work mate. I was tempted to get one myself and always liked the CS-X. Would like to see more!

Nice restoration - to be honest, I really like these car restoration videos! I also like older cars more than newer ones as they are more serviceable than older cars. P.S. I would have probably replaced the needles on all of the dials, based on how they have bent - I also don't mind the more modern stereo system because older models with AM/FM only (and for a 90's car, possibly cassette) are not very useful any more. I understand that Australia is more reliant on FM and even AM!) however a lot of other countries, including the United Kingdom, are turning off AM transmitters in favor of FM and particularly DAB/Internet.

That was an amazing model. I saw many go 300 to 400,000 miles. The only problem was the auto transmission cases would wear and you had to source another trans rather than rebuild yours. I saw a wagon version of this 15 years ago in the same silver paint that had well over 400,000 miles. The bottom of the front fenders were so rotted away the fenders flapped in the wind like Dumbos ears. But it still ran perfect. Had a 5spd manual trans and the A/C still worked fine. Japan quality!

Absolutely love this series! Keep making these videos along with all the tech stuffs man.

I love your content, it fits my interests at the perfect time. Like in 2019 I loved MacBook restoration and you did most of those in 2019, now you’re doing car restorations when in fact I’m starting to get into cars and modding them. I can’t wait to get my 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi and working on it (currently 15). Keep up the good worl

Love these restoration videos! It'd be cool to see some more in-depth mechanical work like replacing shock absorbers, suspension mounts, bushings etc.

Dude! Im in love with your content! From learning restoration of PC, Phone to all over my favorite subject Cars! I want to see more car and engine restoration in future inshallah 😍☺️

I drove my Dads ‘88 hand me down as a young man. I loved it. I still love the body style and the super reliable engine

Wonderful, congrats on the new ride and thanks for sharing. Your resto work on computers, and cars, is inspiring for those of us who fight planned obcelesence. Next time, don't forget the eucalyptus oil. Cheers!

I think this is a good level of restoration for a car like this! It keeps it on the road and it looks good enough. No need for a serious respray yet! Well done.

Those hubcaps came up really good, nice job. Odd to only have the left front wheel bearing done, usually you'd want to do both at the same time as they go in L/R pairs, might as well when it's up on the hoist / parts are ordered in.

Your channel gives me quite a bit of inspiration… I’ve always loved old tech and cars and you’ve really managed to make it work with both styles of content, please keep doing what you’re doing!!

Honestly this is probably my most favorite generation of Camry. My dad got this as his second car and passed it onto me. Very nice looking car for being so old.

FYI the Camry left the factory with soft family car suspension. You can get an upgrade at Pedders with lower sifter springs and the Pedders VRD variable shocks as a next step handling improvements. Also available is a thicker white line 18mm rear sway bar, I think it is branded as something else now if it is still available or K mac can do a 20mm. And I did manage to get a front strut brace from eBay many moons ago. Not sure if they would still be available. If you want to upgrade the brakes you can get Australian Celica ST185 Front Brakes. They are bigger and a straight bolt on swap but need at least 15inch rims to fit. And for wheels the 15” wheels from a 1999 Celica SX is a bolt on swap and made the car look so much better. Finally you can to a 4-2-1 header and 2inch mandrel bent exhaust. If you want it quite like I did you can fit 2 resonators with a large body straight through muffler.

I had a 1989 Camry, honestly one of the best cars I've had, great on fuel, very comfy and I had the same issue after degreasing the motor, ended up getting water in the distributor cap and got stuck on the side of the road 😅

1990 Toyota Corolla lady here. Yup, we had rear defrost, cruise, power roof and power windows at the time (25th anniversary edition, yeah!). Thank you for honoring this car. It was a lovely bit of nostalgia for me!

Something about that backseat takes me right back to the 90s and makes me wish I could go back there

You didn't buy a car, you bought a piece of the 90's

Great video! Honestly appreciated your commentary around 10:50, one of the only videographers that talks about the safety (or lack there of) of vintage cars.

Great old car Nathan. Well done. Wish I could find one like that here in Canada.

Edd from Modbury, had a couple of these, great cars, I suggest you change the trans axle fluid, an easy drain and fill till it overflows, Dexron 111. Would like to see some clips on Windows 10 vs 11 and your thoughts on both, I know you're great on Tech. Keep up the good work

11:23 wait… which Australian am I watching again???

I remember seeing these for the first time during highschool in '87. I thought the styling looked boxy and a bit old fashioned at the time, but I thing the design has aged well. Camrys have always been solid, good quality transportation. But these old ones probably not safe by modern standards.

This car is such a great find, and so rare especially with that low mileage, and most things working... like A/C, good powertrain,... It's definitely a keeper, and it will last another 30 years if it is taken care of, and maintenance is so cheap, too. I don't know how much you paid for it, but in USA, it will be pretty expensive considering the high demand for older toyota, which are reliable and cheap to maintain and lasts a long time.

Still plenty of these Toyotas driving around today as of 2024.

I have wanted one of these for so long they are just to expensive where I live. Was cool to see one get some love and care.

At only 140,000 KMs it is still brand new. These can get 500,00KMs if looked after without issues. As others have mentioned, CV shafts, Blower resistors and the melting gauge cluster are normal.

What a lovely example! So happy to see you restore it exactly as it should be. This is giving me lots of inspiration for my 1987 Corolla Saloon!

Its crazy to realize that airbags werent mandatory in Australia until 2010 and the US 1998

Happy to have the opportunity of passing this on to you, hope she treats you well mate :)

As a millenial, I cant believe the cars that I grew up with are now considered vintage.

I really enjoyed watching this video! I was having a bad day until I came across this channel

Another Top Quality Video! Psivewri is the RU-vidr That never disappoints

She’s a beauty. More character than anything from the last 15 years.

My dad has an '04 Corolla and it only has 66K miles, still going strong too! 💪💪

My dad had an '89, fantastic little car. Comfy front seats even for a really tall driver (I'm 6'4"). Yours probably needs new shocks, which will fix most of the handling issues you mentioned.

I started watching this channel because of the Macs restoration, and now ma guy is also fixing cars? That is so nice to wtch. I love the vibe of these older cars 70's, 80's and 90's. Great content!

God I love this era of Corolla/Camry. Dead simple and extremely lightweight. You just cannot go wrong. No idea why people still don't buy these as regular cars as you get the best value around and IMO they still look amazing.

holy crap! few cars exhudes so much PURE NOSTALGIA as this Camry. Good job on restoring the little nugget, and I hope it gets some many more kilometers of no-frills, practical happiness.

These things were notorious for soft suspension even when new. The needles on the dials that are bent or sometime don't work correctly, is very common with the SV21 series. The engine is reliable despite being a bit slow. If you change the oil, I would suggest putting on a new sump plug washer. Other than that, good video :)

I love how u started this new hoppy of cars, my first car was a 1992 Toyota corolla with 170k miles one owner, still own it and drive it daily had it for over 3 years

I owned a 5 SPD manual one of these, LOVED it ! 👍😆 Mine has the "soft suspension" problem too. The front shocks are expensive to replace 😕

I've go my mom's 91. With the 2L and includes cruise control, electric windows. A great fishbowl type visibility with minimal A&C pillars The electric seatbelts are the best feature, an alternative future feature. The engine and auto trannie are solid , the remainder is slowly dissolving due to Chicago winters.

The cars are great little runabouts and cheap as to drive and repair. Parts are super cheap if you need to get some and if you are a bit handy you can do loads of repairs yourself. This was a fun video.

I just love these kinds of restoration videos of older cars

I was 17 in 2007 and bought a 1988 Toyota Camary for 45 bucks (paid for the title switch to me) The back end had a crazy v shaped body damage from the previous owner hitting a pole I'm guessing really fast lol the brake master cylinder was broken and had to use emergency brake for like a month and the spare tire was floating in water in the trunk. Despite all the problems it ran great and made me a shit ton of memories I ended up destroying the Transmission by accidently knocking it into reverse

Gosh I wish you could detail the Camry I got from my father after he passed. He kept it in prime condition. It’s sitting in the garage. I’d like to keep it that way. Thanks for the advice.

I had an 88 in college. Had cruise control on it too. Loved that car!

Hi, the right rear blinker (indicator) light appears to have some water bubbles in it as I noticed. 04:50

Thanks for sharing this. I used to use a V6 one of these as my work car. It was about 20 years old at the time. It was fully loaded for it's time. 4x electric windows and the sunroof, a/c, cruise, headlamp washers, speed sensitive power steering. The cruise control was great fun, when you hit resume it would drop a couple of gears and utterly floor it back up to the speed you'd got set. I put 100k miles on that car in 3 years and apart from brakes, tyres and servicing, all I had to change was 2 CV joints and the rear drop links and remove an aftermarket immobiliser.

old yet gold. thank for this satisfying and nostalgic blast from the past.

they also came in the very special anti theft edition with a 5 speed manual in v6. great car. remember test driving one when they were new.

Good cars these Camry. I have a couple friends who have this model also. They drive them to work everyday with no issues. Cool video. 😎

Love the car great review love you're work true legendary man never forgotten 💖

Awesome video mate. I did the exact same "refresh" to a low K (~160,000) 1993 Mazda 323 Astina a couple of years ago and has been my daily driver ever since. Hasn't skipped a beat!

I love this video. A man after my own heart as I had a similar project on my hands with a 1995 Toyota Camry, the generation that came after the one in this video. I found mine with very low mileage as well at seventy-three thousand Miles and plan on keeping this car forever. So easy to work on including changing bulbs. On today's cars you need to be a technician and have an entire set of tools to do the simplest repairs. Thanks again

In 1991 my friend had this V6 Camry with a 5 speed manual. It was great fun to drive.

Owned a dark blue '88 model which had rust above the wheels. Fixed all of them with fiberglass and paint. This brought back those memories, thanks mate!

I like to think you're more of a cleaning and restoring channel. No matter what you're restoring you just nail the format. Love the car vids too btw!

as the daily driver of a 95' camry i absolutely adore it. never let me down, and is as reliable as a summer storm.

I drive a Camry myself 1991 and 380k on the clock manual transmission. It is fantastic ! 4 cylinder with a big car feeling.

I bought a 1988 camry here in Australia about 15 years ago as a second backup car. It only had 80,000km on it for $700. I still have it and its now done 156,000km. Its been one of the most reliable cars i have owned. I do my own service's and repairs. The only issues I have with it is a delay on cold start appears to loose its fuel pressure overnight. Stater motor contacts cause intermittent no start i just clean them and its good for year's. The early camry dash needles bend just swap for later orange coloured needles, got a whole dash panel for $60. Definitely more reliable than a lot of these modern cars but maybe safety wise hasn't got all the passive safety features. Just drive more defensively and reduce the risk.

I really like your car restoration videos Psivewri. 😀 also recommend you doing videos on new tech like videos on the latest phones. By the way I've been following your channel for two years and really like your content.

I live in America, and my first car was actually a 1990 Toyota Camry. Although mine was USDM spec, so its super cool to see one specced for the Australian market! Brings back memories!

Fun fact: despite using a mixture of metric and imperial units, the UK also uses miles as well! So it's the UK and USA...

I had a 1991 Holden Apollo wagon. LOVED that car. I also had 5 wrecks I used for spares that I got for free. Working on it was easy, it was a lot more solid than it looked and was very reliable. I took it off the road a few years ago at 493000kms, purely due to rust. Also, mine (and the wrecks) all had the bendy dials in the dash.

Absolutely love the car videos Psivewri! Keep it up!! I find them educational and knowledgeable.

Still drive a U.S. spec ‘87 Camry with manual gearbox. Love this car so much. The interior glass gets greasy from the plastics off-gassing. It requires a lot more cleaning than a newer car. Absolutely critical to keep the air conditioning in working order because the cabin can get very hot in the summertime.

I bought a 1991 USDM SV21 a couple of years ago. Mine has the electric windows and cruise control you mentioned. Cruise control had been around for over 10 years by the time the second generation Camry came out; it works pretty well, though I had to replace a couple of components that failed randomly. The electric windows work, though the rear ones do not; I believe it is due to a broken wire in the driver door, as seems common from my research, I just have not investigated it. It also has an electric sunroof that works, but needs some TLC; as I understand it, the tracks may be bad. I have also noticed that the suspension is quite soft. I'm not sure if the shocks are just worn or not as despite its softness it doesn't handle like garbage when compared to my 95 Corolla which does have bad shocks. My car also has the electric seatbelts, which function perfectly fine; though I don't particularly want to find out how effective they are in a crash.... You mentioned the V6 engine option, which set a precedent that carries on into the current generation of the Camry; but there was also an all wheel drive system that could be optioned on the 4 cylinder models, at least in the US. Very neat. Old Toyotas are just good cars. My Camry has almost 300k US miles and still runs fantastic. All of my Toyotas run great despite their age, and for most of them miles as well. Can't beat it.

Love those old Toyotas. You can watch the tires and change the oil and it'll run forever.

I still keep my 1997 Nissan Primera GT, still running fast and makes me smile.

10:22 Gotta love that grab for the stick looking for first gear, Happens everytime you start driving a auto after driving a manual for a while XD

This is one of the best videos I've seen in a while...it was just therapeutic, with everything done right.

I owned a 88 SV21 Camry still to this day one of the best cars I've owned on fuel and had decent power for a 2Litre

I'm really enjoying the car content, so glad RU-vid recommended your channel to me when you were starting out!

My first car was a 1990 Honda Accord. I bought it in the summer of 2013, at the time I bought it paint was in near perfect condition, some minor scraps and marks towards the bottom seats and everything inside was perfect condition. I I found out it had an oil leak when I bought it. It needed some work over the years but it was a good car overall. Sold it in 2018 for a newer Honda.

I actually picked one up yesterday. Also a 1990, manual, and it's bullet proof!

My mom bought a beautiful, fully loaded 1989 Camry LE in 1994 and drove it for 25 years. I grew up fixing it (on the rare occasions it needed it), it’s the reason I became a career mechanic. In 2019 a large rock fell off a quarry truck in front of her on the highway, she ran it over which exploded the front tire, cracked the wheel, and the shreds of the tire flailing around at 65 mph ruined the front fender (mom was fine, just a little scared). The insurance company totaled it and took it away. It was like losing a family member 😢.

Brake dust buildup isn't really gonna do much when being attacked by a degreaser. An iron remover however, works wonders, and also abrasive textures.

Take it on the onbarn for a real test

My mum had one of these in the 90s. Never skipped a beat. I miss it.

That rust around the front or back windshield is *never* just "surface rust". It's best to take it to a glass shop to remove the glass and fix it up properly if you care about the car.

I had this model when I was a student in Australua in 2009,.reqly reliable, parts easy to replace or fabricate

Gen2 camrys are my fav, along with gen4s. I have a 2001 Touring V6 manual. But watching this makes me want a gen2 again. Saving to import a gen2 awd from Japan.

Nice work! I have an XV10 with 82,000KMs on it, which was my late grandfather’s. Plenty of sentimental memories and I drive it very sparingly. So glad to see you giving this SV21 plenty of love!

Truly professional content quality. Really hope you continue posting these vintage car restoration videos, as they are rather interesting. Would love to see a 90s rally legend (Subaru) in one of your videos. Cheers!

Older sedans just look so much more practical than sedans made today. The roofs arent sloping as much, and more importantly the body isnt slammed to the ground like every new sedan released today. Its stylish but widely impractical if you dont live in a area with pristine flat roads. I really think this is one reason why crossovers are booming. Sedans have slowly gotten to be more style over substance. Just like how coupes use to be popular before the style over substance struck and moved people to 4 foor cars.

Just recently bought a Toyota 1999 Camry, super clean engine bay runs like a dream, some paint fading but no flaking.