1988 Mercury Grand Marquis LS

The downsized Mercury Grand Marquis of 1979 shared its Panther platform with Ford's LTD Crown Victoria and Lincoln's Town Car. It only received minor updates until it was replaced with newer, more aerodynamic version for 1991.

The mid-Eighties Grand Marquis was in a weird place for traditional RWD body-on-frame sedans. FoMoCo and General Motors retained the LTD Crown Victoria and Caprice Classic for the low end fleet vehicle market, as well as the Lincoln Town Car and Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham for the livery and professional car industries. But while GM had downsized all its mid/upscale full-size sedans like the Oldsmobile Ninety-Eight and Buick Electra Park Avenue onto smaller FWD platforms, the Grand Marquis soldiered on using the Panther RWD architecture.

The combination of a third brake light, the slightly aero-blended grille and snout corners, and the taillight lenses mark this Silver Metallic one with a Light Charcoal vinyl top as a 1988 or 1989 model.

The original buyer did not stint with the options menu, as this car's got the optional cornering lamps and the cast aluminum "turbine spoke" wheels. Judging by that sag at the back, it looks like they sprang for the self-leveling air suspension and it's gotten tired after almost forty years.

Under the hood would have been the trusty Ford 5.0L multiport fuel injected small block, making 150 SAE net horsepower, or 160 if the buyer ordered the towing package, which included a dual exhaust setup. It was backed with a four-speed automatic with lockup torque convertor.

This one was photographed using a Canon EOS R and 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS zoom lens in March of 2026. 

1988 Nissan 300ZX 2+2

The Z31 generation of Nissan's 300ZX got a light styling refresh for the 1987 model year, slightly softening the creased lines of the original.

The 300ZX continued the evolution from sports car to grand tourer that the 280ZX had first really leaned into. For 1988 the US version of the 3.0L SOHC VG30E V-6 was rated at 165 SAE net horsepower, but since it was the Turbo version that was expected to carry the performance banner, this was more than enough to compete with the lower-spec V-8s in cars like the Camaro RS.

This immaculate Platinum Mist example was photographed in October of 2025 using an Olympus PEN E-P5 and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-45mm f/4 PRO zoom lens. 

1988 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA

Here's a 1987-1990 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am GTA in Flame Red Metallic.

1985 had seen a mild styling refresh for the 3rd Gen Firebirds, the most notable part of which was that the aero effects became better blended with the car rather than an add-on. Pontiac hadn't yet fully succumbed to the scoops-and-ribbed-cladding virus, so the cars were busier-looking than the sleek original '83-'84 T/A's, but nothing like the swollen grotesqueries that would follow in the Nineties.

The new-for-'87 Trans Am GTA (Gran Turismo Americano, according to Pontiac) came standard with the WS6 suspension package and the 215-horse L98 Tuned-Port Injection 350cid V-8, which was only available with an automatic transmission, since the Borg Warner T-5 manual used in the F-bodies wouldn't handle the torque from the 5.7L motor. (You could get a 205 horsepower TPI 305 and a five-speed as a three hundred dollar credit delete.) 1988 saw the L98's output bumped to 225 horsepower.

Unfortunately the GTA was also larded up with every luxo option in the GM catalog and it needed every one of those ponies...and still got sand kicked in its face by 5.0L Mustang LX's and kids in strippo Firebird Formulas with 5.0 TPI mills and manual transmissions.

Sorry for the potato-quality photo, but I drive by this car frequently and I'd been meaning to get a pic of it for yoinks and the day I finally got around to it in October of 2023 I had the Nikon 1 V2 & 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8, which has the equivalent to a 50mm field of view and I was snapping the pic out the rolled-down window of my Mustang, so the photo has the bejeezus cropped out of it.

1988 Honda Civic DX

The fourth generation of Honda's Civic appeared on the US market as a 1988 model. It was available as a sedan, a five door wagon, or a three door hatchback like the Gothic Gray one in the photo.

While the sedans could be had in plusher EX and LX trim levels, the hatchbacks were only available in base trim or the slightly nicer DX, which is what this example is.

While the base car got a 70 horsepower version of Honda's 1.5L SOHC 16V fuel-injected inline four backed by a 4-speed manual, the DX could be had with either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed auto connected to the hotter D15B2 version of the same four-banger which was rated at 92 SAE net horses.

This wasn't a ton of power but, despite being larger than the previous third generation, the 4th Gen DX hatchback only weighed 1,933 pounds. Contemporary testing gave a zero-to-sixty time of 9.6 seconds and a quarter just a couple ticks over the seventeen second mark.

They're an uncommon enough sight these days that when I spotted this tatty example in a grocery store parking lot, I crossed the street to photograph it.

Original price for a Civic DX hatch was $7,985 in 1988 dollars, or $21,730 when adjusted for inflation.

This one was photographed using a Nikon 1 V3 and a 1 Nikkor 10-100mm f/4.5-5.6 zoom lens in February of 2026.

1988 Porsche 928 S4

Building on the original 928, the 928 S4 was the first major update of the design. By the mid 1980s, it was probably becoming apparent that the 911 wasn't, in fact, going anywhere, and so the big front-engine four-seater car with its water-cooled V8 really leaned into its high speed grand tourer role.

Like the final year models of the 928 S it replaced, the S4 packed a 32V 5.0L all-alloy motor, but it was now tweaked to put out 316 SAE net horsepower. This was eye-watering output for the era and more than enough to motivate 3,525 pounds of Porsche with alacrity.

In a test of a 1987 model with a five-speed manual, Road & Track recorded a 5.5 second zero-to-sixty time and a 13.9 second quarter at 101 through the traps. The price as tested was $62, 261, which comes to roughly $178k in current dollars.

The Grand Prix White example in the photos was snapped with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and a Panasonic Leica 12-60mm f/2.8-4 zoom lens in September of 2024.

1988 Isuzu Trooper II

The Isuzu Trooper II had been on the U.S. market since the early Eighties, and got a light styling refresh for the 1987 model year, most notably getting rectangular headlamp assemblies to replace the old round sealed beams.

It was a rugged SUV with all the off-roading credentials you'd expect to find: a full array of skid plates protecting the vitals, nearly ten inches of ground clearance, five-speed manual backed by a dual-ratio transfer case, self-locking hubs allowed shifting into 4WD on the fly... the works.

Although it's bullying that orange Honda Element in the background just by being parked next to it, though, it's worth remembering that the stock powerplant in the Trooper II was a little weedy.

That's right, this butch-looking Isuzu off-roader had to haul around 3,600 pounds of sheet metal using only a 2.3L SOHC 4ZD1 Isuzu inline-4 putting out 96 SAE net horsepower at a thrashy 4,600 RPM. If you want to go slower, there was an optional 80hp 2.2L turbodiesel four.

Base price in 1987 was $12,999, or roughly $36,600 in today's coinage.

This one was photographed in April of 2025 using an Olympus OM-D E-M5 and an M. Zuiko Digital 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens.

1988 Toyota Supra

Here's a Platinum Silver third generation (A70) Toyota Supra, which is maybe my favorite, appearance-wise. It also remains affordable relative to the increasingly-unobtainium 1990s-vintage A80 Supras. The snout and wheels make me think it's an '88 model.

Normally-aspirated ones were reasonably quick for their time, with a DOHC 3-liter straight six putting out 200bhp. When Autoweek tested one back in 1986, it managed a zero-to-sixty time of 7.8 seconds.

The A70s were just a little on the plush side, and just a little too lardy to be considered sports cars, as though they were constantly reminding you of the "+2" part of "2+2". Think of it as a Japanese Camaro RS, with the Turbo version being a Tokyo-edition IROC-Z. (In fact, that was the subtitle for Car and Driver's initial test of the car: "Japan Aims at Corvette, Hits Camaro.")

This one was photographed in June of 2020 using a Nikon D7000 and a 16-80mm f/2.8-4E zoom lens.

1988 BMW 325i Touring

Take the most acclaimed sports sedan of its day, with a zingy-yet-bulletproof inline six and a slick 5-speed manual gearbox, and then make a wagon version... but never officially import it to the USA.

This gray market E30 wagon makes me go weak in the knees every time I see it.

Apparently the origins of the 3 Series Touring came from a BMW engineer making a home-brewed conversion on an existing sedan.

Incidentally, this was the first wagon BMW ever offered for sale. The Black (or Schwarz if you want to sound like a fanboi) one was snapped in the top photo with a Canon EOS 7D and EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS zoom lens in November of 2022, and the bottom photo was also taken in that month, but with an Olympus E-5 wearing a Zuiko Digital 12-60mm f/2.8-4 ED SWD. 

1988 Toyota Camry DX Wagon

The second generation of the Toyota Camry, dubbed the V20 internally, launched in the North American market in autumn of '86 as a 1987 model. Available as either a sedan or a wagon, and in base, DX, and LE trim levels, the Japanese-built sedans were soon joined by ones built at Toyota's new U.S. manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. All Camry wagons sold in the American market were imported from Japan, however.

This Dark Blue '88 DX wagon could have been equipped with either Toyota's 3S-FE 2.0L inline four, rated at 115 SAE net horsepower, or the 156hp 2VZ-FE 2.5L DOHC 24V V-6. While a five speed manual was theoretically available, manual wagons were already vanishingly rare by '88, so this one's likely sporting a 4-speed automatic, but one never knows. I'd do bad, wrong things for a longroof Camry with a stick.

Despite being dull as dishwater, these things were phenomenons of reliability, doing as much as any other model to help establish Toyota's reputation in the US for boring longevity. The fact that this 36-year-old car is still out there tooling around as a daily driver attests to that fact with a positively Camry-esque blend of blandness and eloquence.

This one was photographed with an Olympus OM-D E-M1X and Panasonic 12-60mm f/2.8-4 in August of 2024.

1988 Honda Prelude Si

Honda's Prelude began life in the late Seventies as a sporty coupe using mechanicals that were largely borrowed from the Accord.

This 1988 Honda Prelude Si in Granada Black represents the third generation of the Prelude, a foot longer and four hundred-ish pounds heavier than the diminutive original.

Performance was well along the comeback trail by the late Eighties. The '88 Prelude Si featured a 2.0L DOHC fuel-injected four cylinder putting out 135bhp, which isn't a lot by today's standards, but compare that to the dark days of 1980, when 135 was what you could expect from a smog motor carbureted V8 in a Camaro. A 1980 Prelude only had 75 horsepower.

The "4WS" badge on the B-pillar proclaims that this Prelude had Honda's new four wheel steering system. This was an active steering system that employed a rear steering box that steered the rear wheels based on the amount of angle input at the steering wheel. Effectively this meant at low speeds, in parking lots where the driver was really cranking on the wheel, the rear wheels turned the opposite direction as the front, decreasing the turning radius. At high speeds, where inputs were less dramatic, the rears steered the same direction as the fronts, sharpening response in lane changes and high-speed sweepers.

Car and Driver clocked a 0-60 sprint of 8.6 seconds from their 2.0Si test car, which also ran a 16.5 second quarter at 83 mph through the traps. It managed 0.77g on the skidpad with the stock tires.

I do miss the low hoods, chiseled noses, and pop-up headlights of this era, but they were not at all pedestrian-friendly.

This one even has a proper 1988 year-of-manufacture license plate!

These pics were snapped in August of 2023 using a Nikon 1 V1 and a 1 Nikkor 18.5mm f/1.8 lens.

1988 Volvo 780

Volvo is a company historically known for sober-sided, serious sedans and station wagons. Every now and again, though, they let their Scandinavian hair down and offer something a little...coupe-ier, putting a little Italian marinara sauce on the ol' Swedish meatballs.

There was the Ghia-influenced P1800 through the Sixties and early Seventies. Then from 1977 to 1981, they sold the 262C, which was assembled by Bertone in Italy. While most of the body panels were shipped from suburban Göteborg, straight off the 200-series sedan assembly line, the oddly squooshed roofline was all Italian. People were doing a lot of drugs at the time, I suppose. It would explain disco, too. Anyway, they built 6,622 over the five year run, and most went to America.

When the hangover wore off, Volvo teamed up with Bertone again in the late Eighties to offer another luxury coupe, the 780, like the one seen in the photo.

Unlike the earlier coupe, the 780's body panels were all unique to it, and it featured a lower hood and faster windshield than the regular sedans, as well as that very un-Volvo-ly raked B-pillar.

Power was initially supplied by the B280F 2.8L version of the Peugeot-Renault-Volvo V-6. (The same engine as the DeLorean, for those keeping score.) Installed in a 780 in American trim, the PRV motor motor put out 145 SAE net bhp and 173 lb-ft of torque. The price tag was over thirty-five grand, which was seven g's over the sticker on an optioned-out 760 Turbo Wagon.

This was ten grand more than an Eldorado Touring Coupe with a similarly-potent 155bhp HT-4500 V-8. It was also ten grand more than a Lincoln Mark VII LSC, which could be had with the 225bhp H.O. Ford 5.0L. However it was well under the price for a BMW 635 or SEC Benz.

By 1988, you could get a 780 Turbo, with a 175bhp turbo four-cylinder. The rear suspension had been upgraded, too, from a live axle to a modern multilink independent suspension, but these increased the price on the top model to $37,790. That's the equivalent of $102,500 in 2025 dollars.

In the end, 8,518 Volvo 780s of all versions were built by Bertone over its six-year model run, and 5,700 of those were sold in the US, making the Champagne Metallic one in the picture a decidedly uncommon sight.

The top photograph was taken in April of 2023 with a Nikon D3 and 24-120mm f/3.5-5.6 AF-D zoom lens, while the lower one is from June of 2025 and was snapped with a Nikon D3000 and an 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G zoom lens.