Junkyard Find: 1992 Toyota Cressida
Everyone knows about the Cressidas of the 1980s, but we often forget that Toyota sold Cressidas in North America through the 1992 model year. That means that the Lexus LS400 and Toyota Cressida were available at the same time for three model years, giving Toyota shoppers the choice of two different rear-drive luxury sedans. I can’t recall ever seeing a ’92 Cressida prior to this one, so here’s a super-rare Junkyard Find from Denver.
I was at the junkyard on this trip to pull the digital cluster out of the ’84 Cressida, which meant I didn’t have a proper camera on me. The affirmations painted on this car’s steering wheel, however, show up just fine on a cellphone camera’s image.
The V8 in the LS was quieter and more powerful than the L6 in the Cressida, but the 7M was still a reasonably luxurious engine.
83,000 miles? How is that even possible for an early-90s Toyota?
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Autoblog, Hagerty, The Truth About Cars and Capital One.
More by Murilee Martin
Comments
Join the conversation
I remember sitting in one of these in a Toyota showroom and wondering why it was still being sold compared to the 92 Camry V6 my folks bought. It did feel old inside and not as much rear seat room due to the RWD. The straight six might have been a good engine, but the 3.0 V6 was 185 hp in 92. And those moto belts, ugh... Might have been a good car, but with the Lexus addition and the 92 Camry (and ES300) being so good, Toyota did the right thing by letting this car go to pasture in the US.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Toyota-Avalon-WAGON-145K-NEAT-CLEAN-CRESSIDA-FACTORY-SUPRA-2-8L-6CYL-RWD-COLD-AC-PWR-PK-CAMRY-BIG-/261066123507?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item3cc8c0e8f3