Good morning! On this Friday edition of Shitbox Showdown, I’m going to make you feel old. We’re looking at two cars from 1995, which was like fifteen years ago, right? Not quite. Whether the cars have aged better or worse than we have, I’ll leave up to you to decide.
Yesterday we looked a couple of scruffy little trucks, and the vote was pretty close. In the end, the Courier won by a small margin, despite being a little more expensive. I think the non-drivable aspect of the Datsun scared off some of you. I have to agree; the Courier looks almost like my beloved and sorely missed Mazda B2000 Sundowner.
None of you gave the correct answer for this one, however. The correct answer is to buy both, swap the Datsun’s turbine wheels over to the Courier, then trailer the Datsun to the Midwest and sell it for enough to probably recoup the cost of both. The stripes on the Courier and the wheels on the Datsun go together like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and pinot noir (trust me), and they deserve to exist on the same truck.
1995 was not a great year for me. I had dropped out of college a couple years earlier, and was working at a mom-and-pop gas station/service station in St. Paul, Minnesota. I drove a string of absolute garbage beaters, bought for anywhere from $175 to $600, and spent my days taking care of other people’s much newer cars. These two were common sights. It’s strange to think that they’re not only the cheap beaters now, but are much older, and much nicer, than any of my crappy old rides back then. Let’s check them out.
1995 Toyota Camry – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Yacolt, WA
Odometer reading: 273,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well
A lot of us complain about how much we miss base models, but it’s easy to forget just how basic a car with no options used to be. Witness this XV10-chassis Toyota Camry, which has the lowest level of equipment I have ever seen on one of these.
It’s powered by the standard 2.2-liter 5S-FE four-cylinder engine and a five-speed manual transmission, which isn’t all that uncommon, but it’s what isn’t attached to that engine that makes this car unusual. It has neither air conditioning nor power steering. At first I thought the seller meant the power steering just didn’t work, but I know where the fluid reservoir is on these, and – yep – it ain’t there. I guess I’m not surprised to find out that power steering was an option as late as 1995, but to actually find a car that doesn’t have it is wild. It runs and drives fine, as you’d expect, and there is a long list of recent maintenance in the ad if you care to peruse it.
It doesn’t have a stereo either, just a big gaping hole in the dash. That’s not a hard problem to solve, though. It looks surprisingly nice inside for the mileage; in fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d think there was a ’95 Camry brochure in an attic somewhere aging in its place. It does have one minor issue: the previous owner popped the ignition cylinder lock out, so you have to start it with a screwdriver. Don’t worry – it does come with keys so you can lock it.
Outside, it’s Default Toyota Beige, but clean, and it doesn’t even have a Camry Dent, though there is a small blemish on the rear bumper. All four original hubcaps are in place, too. Someone took good care of this car, or at least didn’t abuse it.
1995 Dodge Neon Sport – $1,500
Engine/drivetrain: 2.0-liter dual overhead cam inline 4, five-speed manual, FWD
Location: Redmond, WA
Odometer reading: 192,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives well, but runs hot in traffic
My first exposure to the Dodge Neon was witnessing its infamous leaking head gasket issue first-hand. Someone brought one in for its very first oil change, and oil was simply pouring out of the head gasket around the number 4 cylinder. Not a great first impression, but about a year after that, I got a chance to drive one, and I was immediately smitten. These are incredibly fun cars to drive, and Chrysler did eventually fix the head gasket problems.
This is the drivetrain you want, too: the 150 horsepower twin-cam engine and the five-speed manual gearbox. This one has obviously had the head gasket problem fixed, or it wouldn’t be closing in on 200,000 miles. It runs and drives well, and has had a few suspension upgrades to improve its handling even further, but it does need a little work. It tends to get hot in traffic, but it’s fine on the open road, which points to an issue with the electric fans.
We don’t get a great look at the interior, but what we can see looks all right. I had a Neon similar to this (but sadly an automatic) a decade or so ago, and I remember the seats being reasonably comfortable, but road noise being pretty bad. A Lincoln Town Car, this isn’t. But that’s not really the point of it.
The paint is pretty faded and sun-scorched, but we’re used to seeing that on cars this old. It’s not rusty, and it doesn’t look like it has ever been hit, so for fifteen hundred bucks, some faded paint isn’t really a big deal. I never did like the weird-shaped spoiler on the back of the Sport models, though. They’re not as ugly as Ford Escort ZX2 spoilers, but they’re pretty bad.
I’m really enjoying getting back to basics around here, and looking at some nice cheap beaters again. In fact, I think next week will be a return to the old format: four pairs of cars, and a runoff vote on Friday. I’ll try to find some fun stuff for you to check out, but it will all be nice and cheap. For now, your choice is between the most basic of base-model Toyotas, and the best configuration of Dodge Neon ever made.
99% certain the Camry came from the factory with power steering. Which means the guy ripped it out. If you have ever driven a power assist car with no power steering it is downright dangerous because the steering is so heavy. Its not like an old car or truck designed with manual steering, where yes its heavy in a parking lot but just fine once the car is rolling. Also those old cars/trucks had very slow ratios and steering wheels as big as a city bus so you had some leverage.
So no to the Camry because what else did this tweaker fuck up???
As for the Neon, I’ll give him $5 more than the junkyard, cause thats what that car is worth. Overheating in traffic=bad headgasket=warped cylinder head, possibly new engine time. If it was something simple like a bad electric fan dude would have fixed it.
These are both cars with appeal, albeit for different reasons. And I have no doubt that the Neon would be MUCH more fun to drive. However, the almost-unkillable nature of this generation of Camry makes it weirdly irresistible… like picking off a scab or some other ill-advised urge. I know of their absolute appetite for use and abuse personally, since my mom had one of these and tortured it mercilessly for YEARS, as did my sister after she inherited it. And the car just kept going, with just the most minimal expenses.
And this one? Not having an automatic transmission, air conditioning, or power steering? That means it’ll be even MORE reliable, given that all those component aren’t even there! 😉 A part not present can not, and will not ever fail. 😀
So, I won’t drive it when it’s too hot out, but otherwise, I’d have a basic transportation appliance that I’d be unafraid to park in even the sketchiest of neighborhoods.
So, I vote Camry. So say we all? Probably not, since Autopians value driving entertainment too.
PS: I’m a bit surprised the Courier beat that adorable Datsun minitruck, even if not by much.
Neon, normally I would go Camry all the way since my wife used to have one like this in that dark green that everyone knows and it was a good car; I also used to have a light blue 87 Camry as my 1st car and that was awesome- fun to drive and had a bulletproof engine. This Camry though, has high miles (it’s a Camry, so not too big a deal) is missing power steering (wow!) and A/C; also it’s still a boring color, etc. I went Neon even though I used to think they were bad due to the issues as mentioned but they have grown on me some. This looks fun to drive especially w/ stick…plus lower miles and Mopar! I’d fix it up good and paint it blue
Neon all the way. I’d toss it around any autocross, canyon road, or dirt road I could find. I miss cheap fun cars with no equipment, don’t you?