Toyota sold new Camry station wagons in North America from the 1987 through 1996 model years. I've found a couple of examples of the first-year longroof Camry during my junkyard travels, but the final-year cars remained elusive… until I spotted this one in a Silicon Valley car graveyard in April.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12211/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
Car shoppers on our continent had been steadily losing interest in wagons since the year of Peak Wagon (1977), with de-wagon-ification really accelerating when minivan sales took off in the 1980s and the SUV craze took full effect in the 1990s.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12351/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
By 1996, Toyota showrooms had the RAV4 and the Previa to lure away potential Camry Wagon buyers, with the increasingly macho 4Runner standing by to snare those who didn't mind driving a truck with a jouncy truck ride.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12441/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
Still, someone was willing to buy this car, and it stayed on the road for 27 years.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12481/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
As a member of Generation X with a decidedly 1970s childhood, I'm expected to be a fanatical supporter of station wagons. However, my own family had a full-sized Chevy Beauville 3/4-ton van and no wagons during the 1970s and all of my personal wagon-owning experience derives from an assortment of cop-auction-obtained Toyota Tercels and a Subaru Outback that I married into. I don't feel much passion one way or the other for the station wagon.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12551/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
That said, I think the station wagon makes more sense for most real-world applications than nearly all SUVs and most minivans, and I'm disappointed that we have shunned them so thoroughly.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/12471/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
This car racked up a respectable final mile count, though 226k isn't noteworthy by Camry standards. I've found several used-up Camrys with better than 300,000 miles on their odometers, including an '87 wagon with 322,110 miles.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/22501/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
You could get the 1996 Camry with a 188-horse V6, but this car has the base 2.2-liter four-cylinder and 125 horsepower.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/22521/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
New Camry sedans were still available in the United States with manual transmissions in 1996 (in fact, new manual-equipped Camry sedans could be bought here through the 2011 model year), but the last year for a three-pedal Camry wagon was 1991.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/22561/junkyard-find-1996-toyota-camry-wagon.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
The 1992-1996 Camry wagons got these cool-looking dual rear wipers.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/23032/post.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
Room for all the accolades.
![junkyard find 1996 toyota camry wagon](https://cdn-fastly.thetruthaboutcars.com/media/2023/05/20/23011/post.jpg?size=720x845&nocrop=1)
In Japan, this car was called the Scepter, and it was an American import.
[Images: The Author]
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