So, I bought a thing

"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay) 03/07/2019 at 13:05 • Filed to: JDM Yo!, mark II, Toyota, Decay's Beaters, Toyota Mark ii

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For about the last 6 months, I’ve been looking over Japanese auction lists almost daily searching for something to buy and import. After a long dry spell, where either nothing interesting was popping up, or everything was seriously overpriced, I finally pulled the trigger on something!

It’s a 1993 Toyota Camry Mark II! I had a few basic criteria in my search. Car had to be

-RWD

-Relatively Interesting

-Somewhat common drivetrain (for parts availability)

So... Why? Why something that’s basically indistinguishable to non car people from a 90's Camry? Well for one, it’s light. Really light for a 4DR sedan at 3100lbs. Secondly, this one popped up in the exact spec I wanted. The Tourer V trim level. What that means is that it has this.

A 1JZGTE putting out “276" hp. This one is particularly rare because it is also a factory manual.

So this particular car is putting out about the same power as a turbo Supra, while being 4-500lbs lighter and having 4 doors. The 1j has a solid aftermarket and the JZX chassis is well supported by the aftermarket. Throw a couple quick upgrades, and this thing will be a fantastic sleeper platform.

The interior is also in near perfect shape.

Exterior has a few patchy areas of paint, but that’s pretty easily rectified. From here paperwork had been submitted to deregister in Japan, then it gets on a boat and comes over. So hopefully, I should have it in here within the next 2 months!

Tapas > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:09

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Congratulations, dude!

You did your homework and found a unknown (to me at least) sleeper. I had no clue this was a thing.

Arrivederci > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:12

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Sweet!  Great find.  When will you take delivery?

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:13

2

That looks freaking amazing!

HammerheadFistpunch > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:14

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What a cool buy.  Well done.

DucST3-Red-1Liter-Standing-By > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:14

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Awesome! Sleeper to the max!!

Chariotoflove > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:14

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Congrats.  I hope the transfer goes smoothly.

2Fast2Furious: Rotary Powered > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:15

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Definitely wish I were you in this case, awesome car!

vondon302 > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:15

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Neat

That was unknown to me.

HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:15

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Your name is a lie

Congrats on the new whip though, you have achieved max JDM yo

ToyotaFamily > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:15

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Nice ride! What’re your plans for it  when it lands?

Decay buys too many beaters > Arrivederci 03/07/2019 at 13:15

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Well, it’s still in Japan waiting for a boat. I expect it will be stateside  early May

Decay buys too many beaters > Tapas 03/07/2019 at 13:16

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Basically a Japanese M5, stacks up pretty favorably against the E34 that it would have competed with. 

Decay buys too many beaters > HondoyotaE38: A Japanese and German Collab...wait a minute 03/07/2019 at 13:17

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Nah, definitely a beater, it’s just a 90's camry ;) 

gettingoldercarguy > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:19

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I just heard about somebody in Seattle driving a white Toyota truck crashing from having a heart attack.

Decay buys too many beaters > ToyotaFamily 03/07/2019 at 13:21

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Haven’t really decided yet, these are big in the Japanese drift scene so you can pretty much turn them into whatever you want. This one though, I’ll probably keep relatively stock on the outside and use it as a fun sleeper. 

KnowsAboutCars > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:21

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Congrats!

I’ve been mulling over the thought of importing a jdm car for the past months. One of my options would be an X100 Cresta.

Decay buys too many beaters > KnowsAboutCars 03/07/2019 at 13:24

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Thanks!

I really wanted a Cresta or a Chaser variant, but this was literally the ONLY clean manual 1j that popped up in the time i was searching. I bet the cresta, being the lux trim was even rarer in manual!

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:24

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Very nice buy. My brother has a newer Mark X (he lives in Asia) , he loves that thing. These old Mark IIs are very cool.

I’ve been curious about going the Japanese import route at some point too for a fun car. May I ask what kind of budget range you were working with all-in? Expect location plays a role in shipping. I have a local port that has ships coming in from Osaka so assuming that will be slightly beneficial in my case. 

Decay buys too many beaters > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 03/07/2019 at 13:26

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It will be coming in to the Tachoma port, but from what I hear, shipping is about the same to most US ports. Budget was about 15k all told, landed in the US

Rainbow > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:36

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Jealous! I’m currently considering selling my Soul ( heh) for a JDM import, myself. It’s worth like $5 -6k, which is a little more than the total cost for a Nissan Pao/ Figaro/ Gloria/ etc with similar mileage. ( No idea why it’s mostly Nissans in my price range, but I like them at least) If I find a job closer to home, I think I’m gonna do it.

Tristan > Rainbow 03/07/2019 at 13:40

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If I were rich, I’d buy a Soul, then find an Hispanic fella named Jesus and sign the title over to him.

Decay buys too many beaters > Rainbow 03/07/2019 at 13:42

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Man, I love those pike factory cars. I looked really hard at the Figaro but couldn’t bring myself to do it due to the auto. A l ittle 50's retro vert deal sounds lovely.

Khalbali > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:51

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Absolutely awesome! I was looking at GS300's a while back but I'd really love to import something some day, if I ever pay off my student loans....

AestheticsInMotion > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:55

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Wow, that is quite the sleeper. I can’t wait to check this out!

If you hadn't said otherwise and I saw this on the road I probably would have guessed about 135hp..?

JeepJeremy > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 13:59

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woah! that is friggin cool! 

Decay buys too many beaters > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 13:59

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Probably less lol, what was the power on a xv10 camry? Like 100?

I’m super excited, now comes the part where I have to sit and wait for it to ship 

AestheticsInMotion > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 14:04

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I hope you’ve still g ot garage space. I wouldn’t feel safe owning that when I know Zoidberg lives within a 500 mile radius

Decay buys too many beaters > Khalbali 03/07/2019 at 14:08

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I’m super excited, I don’t think I’ve seen a better sleeper platform.

And yeah, that’s tough :( I was fortunate enough to be able to pay mine off not too long ago, but they were also comparatively  less than I know a lot of people owe. 

Decay buys too many beaters > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 14:09

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It’s OK, I got a club and a sticker that says “please do not steal”

But yes, it will be inside with the miat. 

themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 14:20

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HHHHNNNNGGGGHHHHH I think you got the one on japanese classics that I was looking at. 

Decay buys too many beaters > themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles 03/07/2019 at 14:24

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Not sure on that one, unless they did a feeler on cars coming up for auction? I got this straight from the auction houses and went through a different importer. 

Future Heap Owner > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 14:31

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Woah, t hat is one cool Camry. A sleeper for sure. Congrats! I hope the waiting part isn’t too bad.

What’s the ride supposed to be like ? Is it trying to be luxo-barge-esque?

Decay buys too many beaters > Future Heap Owner 03/07/2019 at 14:39

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It’s a Japanese M5. Supposed to be straight up sport saloon. 

Future Heap Owner > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 14:42

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Nice!

ToyotaFamily > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 16:12

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Ooh nice, keep us updated. 

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 16:22

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Very cool! Purchased through Pacific Coast Auto I see! :)

What is your e xperience like with them so far? :)

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 16:29

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Holy shit!!!!!! Awesome!!!!!

feather-throttle-not-hair > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 16:40

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Wow, mega cool IMHO! Way to find a manual, i bet that thing is fun as hell!

feather-throttle-not-hair > AestheticsInMotion 03/07/2019 at 16:42

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To me, they kinda look like a 4 door Paseo and the Paseo had like 115 hp?

feather-throttle-not-hair > ZHP Sparky, the 5th 03/07/2019 at 16:48

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Dont forget about C anada! I have a friend who bought what had to have been the cheapest 2JZGTE powered Aristo from vancouver for under $ 2K (it was in pretty rough shape, engine needed coilpacks but was otherwise good, aesthetically....lets just say my friend is lucky he’s good at body work and painting. )

Canadian law is the same as ours but its 15 years instead of 25, and Vancouver has a big import scene.

Decay buys too many beaters > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars 03/07/2019 at 16:57

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So far pretty good! got loads of photos, but were still early in the process. 

Decay buys too many beaters > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/07/2019 at 16:59

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Yeah, that was a hard requirement for me. Was really difficult to find a manual that hadn’t been modified to hell and back. Not that I won’t do some light mods, i just don’t want to chase down issues from other people’s mods. 

feather-throttle-not-hair > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 17:16

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That is 100 the way i would go about things as well. A huge part of the allure of JDM performance weirdness is that (almost) everything came with an optional manual (shakes fist at 3 rotor cosmos. )

Finding a nice, unmodded one is crucial too, so you can also experience the thing the other 99.9999 percent of people care about when buying a Toyota: reliability.

Decay buys too many beaters > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/07/2019 at 17:19

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Nissan Figaro too, such a neat little car... auto only :(

Decay buys too many beaters > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/07/2019 at 17:23

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Nissan Figaro too, such a neat little car... auto only :(

Yeah, there were a lot of cars with stuff like aftermarket computers . Last thing I really wanted to do was troubleshoot parts with little information available and none of it in english. Thankfully the english speaking community around these cars is big enough that any issues i run into on a stock cars are well documented at this point.

feather-throttle-not-hair > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 17:39

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Ugh, i can’t imagine having to deal with an aftermarket JDM computer....that sounds like a recipe for me giving up on whatever it was i wanted to do with the car.

I race in Lemons with a guy that owned either a Pao, a Figaro or a BE-1 (can’t remember which but to my knowledge they’re all closely related) he said it was awesome but a real piece of shit mechanically. It ended up having a critical brake failure when he was driving it around in the city. Then again, he races in Lemons so his standards for what constitutes “street worthy” should automatically be suspect.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/07/2019 at 17:42

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Good point. Especially being in the PNW it would also be an easy drive down instead of dealing with the stresses of shipping across an ocean as our oppo friend with the 1502 recently experienced.

Decay buys too many beaters > feather-throttle-not-hair 03/07/2019 at 17:53

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Yeah, was a big nope for me, especially considering it would inevitably need a retune to account for the poor gas quality in the west coast of the US. 

I understand what you mean, I race in lucky dog and the amount of stuff w e have held together with zip ties would probably give a road safety inspection agent heart palpitations

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 18:25

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Oh that is nice!

Im interested in the process and who you bought it through. Maybe you can write up about that after you receive the car.

TheD0k_2many toys 2little time > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 18:27

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Oh that is nice!

Im interested in the process and who you bought it through. Maybe you can write up about that after you receive the car.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Decay buys too many beaters 03/07/2019 at 22:51

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Oh I see! "Camry" 

Nauraushaun > Decay buys too many beaters 03/08/2019 at 01:50

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mmf those side win dows are dope

Decay buys too many beaters > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 03/08/2019 at 02:27

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What? I could park that in any Walmart parking lot, say “ mines the white Camry” and they'd look right at it.

Shakotan13 > Decay buys too many beaters 03/08/2019 at 06:27

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Hey if you have any questions about jzx90's lmk hit me up on my Instagram and business page . I currently building my mark2! 

Ssinistrum_

Shakotan_auto_disco 

Decay buys too many beaters > Shakotan13 03/08/2019 at 09:33

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Sure  thing, gave it a follow! 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Decay buys too many beaters 03/08/2019 at 11:34

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But will it have a Camry dent?

Decay buys too many beaters > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 03/08/2019 at 12:38

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It already does.. on the other side 

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > Decay buys too many beaters 03/08/2019 at 13:58

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I bet that cost extra! Nice upgrade!

Decay buys too many beaters > AMGtech - now with more recalls! 03/08/2019 at 14:03

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lol, it’;s actually the reason I got this one relatively cheap. Have a friend that works at a body shop that should be able to set it right though. 

RT > Decay buys too many beaters 07/04/2019 at 06:02

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Ooh, I love these.

They also hardly share a single part with the Camry.

At the time, it was possibly the fastest four-door to leave Japan ( WRXs and Evos notwithstanding).

Decay buys too many beaters > RT 07/04/2019 at 11:01

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Oh I know, I just call it a Camry to be cheeky. It’s amazing how similar to an xv20 it looks in person, so much so that I could park it next to one in a lot and the average non Japanese car enthusiast wouldn’t even notice.

I’ve been describing it to people as the Japanese e34 M5  we never got.