title: American Graffiti

text: Internet reviewer MaryAnn Johanson acknowledged that "American Graffiti" rekindled public and entertainment interest in the 1950s and early 1960s, and influenced other films such as "The Lords of Flatbush" (1974) and "Cooley High" (1975) and the TV series "Happy Days". Alongside other films from the New Hollywood era, "American Graffiti" is often cited for helping give birth to the summer blockbuster. The film's box-office success made George Lucas an instant millionaire. He gave an amount of the film's profits to Haskell Wexler for his visual consulting help during filming, and to Wolfman Jack for "inspiration". Lucas's net worth was now $4 million, and he set aside a $300,000 independent fund for his long-cherished space opera project, which would eventually become the basis for "Star Wars" (1977).


title: American Graffiti

text: The financial success of "Graffiti" also gave Lucas opportunities to establish more elaborate development for Lucasfilm, Skywalker Sound, and Industrial Light & Magic. Based on the success of the 1978 reissue, Universal began production for the sequel "More American Graffiti" (1979). Lucas and writers Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz later collaborated on "Radioland Murders" (1994), also released by Universal Pictures, for which Lucas acted as executive producer. The film features characters intended to be Curt and Laurie Henderson's parents, Roger and Penny Henderson. In 1995, "American Graffiti" was deemed culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. In 1997 the city of Modesto, California, honored Lucas with a statue dedication of "American Graffiti" at George Lucas Plaza.


title: American Graffiti

text: Director David Fincher credited "American Graffiti" as a visual influence for "Fight Club" (1999). Lucas's "" (2002) features references to the film. The yellow airspeeder that Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi use to pursue bounty hunter Zam Wesell is based on John Milner's yellow deuce coupe, while Dex's Diner is reminiscent of Mel's Drive-In. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman conducted the "rear axle" experiment on the January 11, 2004, episode of "MythBusters".


title: American Graffiti

text: Given the popularity of the film's cars with customizers and hot rodders in the years since its release, their fate immediately after the film is surprising. All were offered for sale in San Francisco newspaper ads; only the '58 Impala (driven by Ron Howard) attracted a buyer, selling for only a few hundred dollars. The yellow Deuce and the white T-bird went unsold, despite being priced as low as $3,000. The registration plate on Milner's yellow deuce coupe is THX 138 on a yellow, California license plate, slightly altered, reflecting Lucas's earlier science-fiction film ("THX 1138").


title: Dust Bowl

text: The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s. The phenomenon was caused by a combination of both natural factors (severe drought) and manmade factors (a failure to apply dryland farming methods to prevent wind erosion, most notably the destruction of the natural topsoil by settlers in the region). The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The Dust Bowl has been the subject of many cultural works, notably the novel "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939) by John Steinbeck, the folk music of Woody Guthrie, and photographs depicting the conditions of migrants by Dorothea Lange, particularly the "Migrant Mother", taken in 1936.


title: Dust Bowl

text: With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. The rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of the combine harvester contributed to farmers' decisions to convert arid grassland (much of which received no more than of precipitation per year) to cultivated cropland. During the drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to dust, which the prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dustnamed "black blizzards" or "black rollers"traveled cross country, reaching as far as the East Coast and striking such cities as New York City and Washington, D.C. On the plains, they often reduced visibility to or less. Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma, to witness the "Black Sunday" black blizzards of April 14, 1935; Edward Stanley, the Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, coined the term "Dust Bowl" while rewriting Geiger's news story.


title: Dust Bowl

text: While the term "the Dust Bowl" was originally a reference to the geographical area affected by the dust, today it usually refers to the event itself (the term "Dirty Thirties" is also sometimes used). The drought and erosion of the Dust Bowl affected that centered on the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma Panhandle and touched adjacent sections of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. The Dust Bowl forced tens of thousands of poverty-stricken families, who were unable to pay mortgages or grow crops, to abandon their farms, and losses reached $25 million per day by 1936 (equivalent to $ million in ). Many of these families, who were often known as "Okies" because so many of them came from Oklahoma, migrated to California and other states to find that the Great Depression had rendered economic conditions there little better than those they had left.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The Dust Bowl area lies principally west of the 100th meridian on the High Plains, characterized by plains which vary from rolling in the north to flat in the Llano Estacado. Elevation ranges from in the east to at the base of the Rocky Mountains. The area is semiarid, receiving less than of rain annually; this rainfall supports the shortgrass prairie biome originally present in the area. The region is also prone to extended drought, alternating with unusual wetness of equivalent duration. During wet years, the rich soil provides bountiful agricultural output, but crops fail during dry years. The region is also subject to high winds.


title: Dust Bowl

text: During early European and American exploration of the Great Plains, this region was thought unsuitable for European-style agriculture; explorers called it the Great American Desert. The lack of surface water and timber made the region less attractive than other areas for pioneer settlement and agriculture.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The federal government encouraged settlement and development of the Plains for agriculture via the Homestead Act of 1862, offering settlers ”quarter section” plots. With the end of the Civil War in 1865 and the completion of the First transcontinental railroad in 1869, waves of new migrants and immigrants reached the Great Plains, and they greatly increased the acreage under cultivation. An unusually wet period in the Great Plains mistakenly led settlers and the federal government to believe that "rain follows the plow" (a popular phrase among real estate promoters) and that the climate of the region had changed permanently. While initial agricultural endeavors were primarily cattle ranching, the adverse effect of harsh winters on the cattle, beginning in 1886, a short drought in 1890, and general overgrazing, led many landowners to increase the amount of land under cultivation.


title: Dust Bowl

text: Recognizing the challenge of cultivating marginal arid land, the United States government expanded on the offered under the Homestead Actgranting to homesteaders in western Nebraska under the Kinkaid Act (1904) and elsewhere in the Great Plains under the Enlarged Homestead Act of 1909. Waves of European settlers arrived in the plains at the beginning of the 20th century. A return of unusually wet weather seemingly confirmed a previously held opinion that the "formerly" semiarid area could support large-scale agriculture. At the same time, technological improvements such as mechanized plowing and mechanized harvesting made it possible to operate larger properties without increasing labor costs.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The combined effects of the disruption of the Russian Revolution, which decreased the supply of wheat and other commodity crops, and World War I increased agricultural prices; this demand encouraged farmers to dramatically increase cultivation. For example, in the Llano Estacado of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas, the area of farmland was doubled between 1900 and 1920, then tripled again between 1925 and 1930. The agricultural methods favored by farmers during this period created the conditions for large-scale erosion under certain environmental conditions. The widespread conversion of the land by deep plowing and other soil preparation methods to enable agriculture eliminated the native grasses which held the soil in place and helped retain moisture during dry periods. Furthermore, cotton farmers left fields bare during winter months, when winds in the High Plains are highest, and burned the stubble as a means to control weeds prior to planting, thereby depriving the soil of organic nutrients and surface vegetation.


title: Dust Bowl

text: After fairly favorable climatic conditions in the 1920s with good rainfall and relatively moderate winters, which permitted increased settlement and cultivation in the Great Plains, the region entered an unusually dry era in the summer of 1930. During the next decade, the northern plains suffered four of their seven driest calendar years since 1895, Kansas four of its twelve driest, and the entire region south to West Texas lacked any period of above-normal rainfall until record rains hit in 1941. When severe drought struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, it resulted in erosion and loss of topsoil because of farming practices at the time. The drought dried the topsoil and over time it became friable, reduced to a powdery consistency in some places. Without the indigenous grasses in place, the high winds that occur on the plains picked up the topsoil and created the massive dust storms that marked the Dust Bowl period. The persistent dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The fine soil of the Great Plains was easily eroded and carried east by strong continental winds.


title: Dust Bowl

text: On November 11, 1933, a very strong dust storm stripped topsoil from desiccated South Dakota farmlands in one of a series of severe dust storms that year. Beginning on May 9, 1934, a strong, two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl. The dust clouds blew all the way to Chicago, where they deposited of dust. Two days later, the same storm reached cities to the east, such as Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston, New York City, and Washington, D.C. That winter (1934–1935), red snow fell on New England.


title: Dust Bowl

text: On April 14, 1935, known as "Black Sunday", 20 of the worst "black blizzards" occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage and appeared to turn the day to night; witnesses reported that they could not see in front of them at certain points. Denver-based Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma, that day. His story about Black Sunday marked the first appearance of the term "Dust Bowl"; it was coined by Edward Stanley, Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, while rewriting Geiger's news story.


title: Dust Bowl

text: Much of the farmland was eroded in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl. In 1941, a Kansas agricultural experiment station released a bulletin that suggested reestablishing native grasses by the "hay method". Developed in 1937 to speed up the process and increase returns from pasture, the "hay method" was originally supposed to occur in Kansas naturally over 25–40 years.


title: Dust Bowl

text: After much data analysis, the causal mechanism for the droughts can be linked to ocean temperature anomalies. Specifically, Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperatures appear to have had an indirect effect on the general atmospheric circulation, while Pacific sea surface temperatures seem to have had the most direct influence.


title: Dust Bowl

text: In 1935, many families were forced to leave their farms and travel to other areas seeking work because of the drought (which at that time had already lasted four years). The abandonment of homesteads and financial ruin resulting from catastrophic topsoil loss led to widespread hunger and poverty. Dust Bowl conditions fomented an exodus of the displaced from the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma Panhandle, and the surrounding Great Plains to adjacent regions. More than 500,000 Americans were left homeless. More than 350 houses had to be torn down after one storm alone. The severe drought and dust storms had left many homeless; others had their mortgages foreclosed by banks, or felt they had no choice but to abandon their farms in search of work. Many Americans migrated west looking for work. Parents packed up "jalopies" with their families and a few personal belongings, and headed west in search of work. Some residents of the Plains, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma, fell ill and died of dust pneumonia or malnutrition.


title: Dust Bowl

text: Between 1930 and 1940, approximately 3.5 million people moved out of the Plains states. In just over a year, over 86,000 people migrated to California. This number is more than the number of migrants to that area during the 1849 gold rush. Migrants abandoned farms in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico, but were often generally referred to as "Okies", "Arkies", or "Texies". Terms such as "Okies" and "Arkies" came to be known in the 1930s as the standard terms for those who had lost everything and were struggling the most during the Great Depression.


title: Dust Bowl

text: However, not all migrants traveled long distances; most migrants participated in internal state migration moving from counties that the Dust Bowl highly impacted to other less affected counties. So many families left their farms and were on the move that the proportion between migrants and residents was nearly equal in the Great Plains states.


title: Dust Bowl

text: An examination of Census Bureau statistics and other records, and a 1939 survey of occupation by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics of about 116,000 families who arrived in California in the 1930s, showed that only 43 percent of Southwesterners were doing farm work immediately before they migrated. Nearly one-third of all migrants were professional or white-collar workers. Specifically for farmers, while some of them had to take on unskilled labor when they moved, leaving the farming sector commonly led to greater social mobility in the future as there was a far greater likelihood that migrant farmers would later go into semi-skilled or high-skilled fields which paid better. Non-farmers experienced more downward occupational moves than farmers, but in most cases they were not significant enough to bring them into poverty, because high-skilled migrants were most likely to experience a downward shift into semi-skilled work. While semi-skilled work did not pay as well as high-skilled work, most of these workers were not impoverished. For the most part, by the end of the Dust Bowl the migrants generally were better off than those who chose to stay behind according to their occupational changes.


title: Dust Bowl

text: After the Great Depression ended, some migrants moved back to their original states. Many others remained where they had resettled. About one-eighth of California's population is of Okie heritage.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The greatly expanded participation of government in land management and soil conservation was an important outcome from the disaster. Different groups took many different approaches to responding to the disaster. To identify areas that needed attention, groups such as the Soil Conservation Service generated detailed soil maps and took photos of the land from the sky. To create shelterbelts to reduce soil erosion, groups such as the United States Forestry Service's Prairie States Forestry Project planted trees on private lands. Finally, groups like the Resettlement Administration, which later became the Farm Security Administration, encouraged small farm owners to resettle on other lands, if they lived in drier parts of the Plains.


title: Dust Bowl

text: During President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first 100 days in office in 1933, his administration quickly initiated programs to conserve soil and restore the ecological balance of the nation. Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes established the Soil Erosion Service in August 1933 under Hugh Hammond Bennett. In 1935, it was transferred and reorganized under the Department of Agriculture and renamed the Soil Conservation Service. It is now known as the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).


title: Dust Bowl

text: As part of New Deal programs, Congress passed the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act in 1936, requiring landowners to share the allocated government subsidies with the laborers who worked on their farms. Under the law, "benefit payments were continued as measures for production control and income support, but they were now financed by direct Congressional appropriations and justified as soil conservation measures. The Act shifted the parity goal from price equality of agricultural commodities and the articles that farmers buy to income equality of farm and non-farm population." Thus, the parity goal was to re-create the ratio between the purchasing power of the net income per person on farms from agriculture and that of the income of persons not on farms that prevailed during 1909–1914.


title: Dust Bowl

text: To stabilize prices, the government paid farmers and ordered more than six million pigs to be slaughtered, as part of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA). It paid to have the meat packed and distributed to the poor and hungry. The Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC) was established to regulate crop and other surpluses. FDR in an address on May 14, 1935, to the AAA commented,


title: Dust Bowl

text: Let me make one other point clear for the benefit of the millions in cities who have to buy meats. Last year the Nation suffered a drought of unparalleled intensity. If there had been no Government program, if the old order had obtained in 1933 and 1934, that drought on the cattle ranges of America and in the corn belt would have resulted in the marketing of thin cattle, immature hogs and the death of these animals on the range and on the farm, and if the old order had been in effect those years, we would have had a vastly greater shortage than we face today. Our programwe can prove itsaved the lives of millions of head of livestock. They are still on the range, and other millions of heads are today canned and ready for this country to eat.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The FSRC diverted agricultural commodities to relief organizations. Apples, beans, canned beef, flour and pork products were distributed through local relief channels. Cotton goods were later included, to clothe needy.


title: Dust Bowl

text: In 1935, the federal government formed a Drought Relief Service (DRS) to coordinate relief activities. The DRS bought cattle in counties which were designated emergency areas, for $14 to $20 a head. Animals determined unfit for human consumption were killed; at the beginning of the program, more than 50 percent were so designated in emergency areas. The DRS assigned the remaining cattle to the Federal Surplus Relief Corporation (FSRC) to be used in food distribution to families nationwide. Although it was difficult for farmers to give up their herds, the cattle slaughter program helped many of them avoid bankruptcy. "The government cattle buying program was a blessing to many farmers, as they could not afford to keep their cattle, and the government paid a better price than they could obtain in local markets."


title: Dust Bowl

text: President Roosevelt ordered the Civilian Conservation Corps to plant the Great Plains Shelterbelt, a huge belt of more than 200 million trees from Canada to Abilene, Texas to break the wind, hold water in the soil, and hold the soil itself in place. The administration also began to educate farmers on soil conservation and anti-erosion techniques, including crop rotation, strip farming, contour plowing, terracing, and other improved farming practices. In 1937, the federal government began an aggressive campaign to encourage farmers in the Dust Bowl to adopt planting and plowing methods that conserved the soil. The government paid reluctant farmers a dollar an acre () to practice the new methods. By 1938, the massive conservation effort had reduced the amount of blowing soil by 65%. The land still failed to yield a decent living. In the fall of 1939, after nearly a decade of dirt and dust, the drought ended when regular rainfall finally returned to the region. The government still encouraged continuing the use of conservation methods to protect the soil and ecology of the Plains.


title: Dust Bowl

text: At the end of the drought, the programs which were implemented during these tough times helped to sustain a positive relationship between America's farmers and the federal government.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The President's Drought Committee issued a report in 1935 covering the government's assistance to agriculture during 1934 through mid-1935: it discussed conditions, measures of relief, organization, finances, operations, and results of the government's assistance. Numerous exhibits are included in this report.


title: Dust Bowl

text: In many regions, more than 75% of the topsoil was blown away by the end of the 1930s. Land degradation varied widely. Aside from the short-term economic consequences caused by erosion, there were severe long-term economic consequences caused by the Dust Bowl.


title: Dust Bowl

text: By 1940, counties that had experienced the most significant levels of erosion had a greater decline in agricultural land values. The per-acre value of farmland declined by 28% in high-erosion counties and 17% in medium-erosion counties, relative to land value changes in low-erosion counties. Even over the long-term, the agricultural value of the land often failed to recover to pre-Dust Bowl levels. In highly eroded areas, less than 25% of the original agricultural losses were recovered. The economy adjusted predominantly through large relative population declines in more-eroded counties, both during the 1930s and through the 1950s.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The economic effects persisted, in part, because of farmers' failure to switch to more appropriate crops for highly eroded areas. Because the amount of topsoil had been reduced, it would have been more productive to shift from crops and wheat to animals and hay. During the Depression and through at least the 1950s, there was limited relative adjustment of farmland away from activities that became less productive in more-eroded counties.


title: Dust Bowl

text: Some of the failure to shift to more productive agricultural products may be related to ignorance about the benefits of changing land use. A second explanation is a lack of availability of credit, caused by the high rate of failure of banks in the Plains states. Because banks failed in the Dust Bowl region at a higher rate than elsewhere, farmers could not get the credit they needed to obtain capital to shift crop production. In addition, profit margins in either animals or hay were still minimal, and farmers had little incentive in the beginning to change their crops.


title: Dust Bowl

text: Patrick Allitt recounts how fellow historian Donald Worster responded to his return visit to the Dust Bowl in the mid-1970s when he revisited some of the worst afflicted counties:


title: Dust Bowl

text: In contrast with Worster's pessimism, historian Mathew Bonnifield argued that the long-term significance of the Dust Bowl was "the triumph of the human spirit in its capacity to endure and overcome hardships and reverses."


title: Dust Bowl

text: The crisis was documented by photographers, musicians, and authors, many hired during the Great Depression by the federal government. For instance, the Farm Security Administration hired numerous photographers to document the crisis. Artists such as Dorothea Lange were aided by having salaried work during the Depression. She captured what have become classic images of the dust storms and migrant families. Among her most well-known photographs is "Destitute Pea Pickers in California. Mother of Seven Children", which depicted a gaunt-looking woman, Florence Owens Thompson, holding three of her children. This picture expressed the struggles of people caught by the Dust Bowl and raised awareness in other parts of the country of its reach and human cost. Decades later, Thompson disliked the boundless circulation of the photo and resented the fact she did not receive any money from its broadcast. Thompson felt it gave her the perception as a Dust Bowl "Okie."


title: Dust Bowl

text: The work of independent artists was also influenced by the crises of the Dust Bowl and the Depression. Author John Steinbeck, borrowing closely from field notes taken by Farm Security Administration worker and author Sanora Babb, wrote "The Grapes of Wrath" (1939) about migrant workers and farm families displaced by the Dust Bowl. Babb's own novel about the lives of the migrant workers, "Whose Names Are Unknown", was written in 1939 but was eclipsed and shelved in response to the success of Steinbeck's work, and was finally published in 2004. Many of the songs of folk singer Woody Guthrie, such as those on his 1940 album "Dust Bowl Ballads", are about his experiences in the Dust Bowl era during the Great Depression when he traveled with displaced farmers from Oklahoma to California and learned their traditional folk and blues songs, earning him the nickname the "Dust Bowl Troubadour".


title: Dust Bowl

text: Migrants also influenced musical culture wherever they went. Oklahoma migrants, in particular, were rural Southwesterners who carried their traditional country music to California. Today, the "Bakersfield Sound" describes this blend, which developed after the migrants brought country music to the city. Their new music inspired a proliferation of country dance halls as far south as Los Angeles.


title: Dust Bowl

text: The 2014 science fiction film "Interstellar" features a ravaged 21st-century America which is again scoured by dust storms (caused by a worldwide pathogen affecting all crops). Along with inspiration from the 1930s crisis, director Christopher Nolan features interviews from the 2012 documentary "The Dust Bowl" to draw further parallels.


title: Dust Bowl

text: In 2017, Americana recording artist Grant Maloy Smith released the album "Dust Bowl – American Stories", which was inspired by the history of the Dust Bowl. In a review, the music magazine "No Depression" wrote that the album's lyrics and music are "as potent as Woody Guthrie, as intense as John Trudell and dusted with the trials and tribulations of Tom JoadSteinbeck and "The Grapes of Wrath"."


title: Dust Bowl

text: Agricultural land and revenue boomed during World War I, but fell during the Great Depression and the 1930s. The agricultural land that was worst affected by the Dust Bowl was of land by the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles. These twenty counties that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service identified as the worst wind-eroded region were home to the majority of the Great Plains migrants during the Dust Bowl.


title: Dust Bowl

text: While migration from and between the Southern Great Plain States was greater than migration in other regions in the 1930s, the numbers of migrants from these areas had only slightly increased from the 1920s. Thus, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression did not trigger a mass exodus of southern migrants, it simply encouraged these migrants to keep moving where in other areas the Great Depression limited mobility due to economic issues, decreasing migration. While the population of the Great Plains did fall during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression, the drop was not caused by extreme numbers of migrants leaving the Great Plains but because of a lack of migrants moving from outside of the Great Plains into the region.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ "Toyota Kamuri") is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry has grown since the 1990s to fit the mid-size classification (wide-body)—although the two widths co-existed in that decade. Since the release of the wide-bodied versions, Camry has been extolled by Toyota as the firm's second "world car" after the Corolla. , the Camry is positioned above the Corolla and below the Avalon or Crown in several markets.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In Japan, Camry was once exclusive to "Toyota Corolla Store" retail dealerships. Narrow-body cars also spawned a rebadged sibling in Japan, the Toyota Vista (トヨタ・ビスタ)—also introduced in 1982 and sold at "Toyota Vista Store" locations. Diesel fuel versions have previously retailed at "Toyota Diesel Store". The Vista Ardeo was a wagon version of the Vista V50.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Between 1979 and 1982, the Camry nameplate was delegated to a four-door sedan model in Japan, known as the Celica Camry. When Camry became an independent model line in 1982 with the V10 series, Toyota made it available as a five-door liftback in addition to the sedan. The subsequent Camry V20 series, debuted in 1986 with a station wagon substituting the liftback body variant and Japan-only hardtop sedans making their debut. The company replaced the V20 in 1990 with the V30 sedan and hardtop, but this model series was exclusive to Japan. Automotive tax regulations in that country dictated the retention of a narrower body as used in previous Camry generations. However, overseas demand for a larger Camry resulted in the development of a wide-body XV10 sedan and station wagon that arrived in 1991. Japan also received the wider XV10 as the Toyota Scepter (トヨタ・セプター). The company then issued an XV10-bodied coupé in 1993 that was spun off in 1998 as an independent model line, titled Camry Solara.


title: Toyota Camry

text: When the Japanese market received a new narrow-body V40 series in 1994 to replace V30, the wide-body XV10 continued unchanged. Its replacement, the XV20, arrived in 1996—named Camry Gracia in Japan. It was not until the narrow V40 ended manufacture in 1998 that the Camry in Japan was to again mirror the cars sold internationally. Japanese sedans dropped the Gracia suffix in 1999, although it was retained by the wagon until its 2001 demise. From 1998, the Vista ended its Camry alignment, and instead branched into an independent model line with the V50 series for an extra generation before the nameplate was withdrawn in 2003.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The next wide-body model, the XV30, came in 2001. Now sold only as a sedan, it now offered two different front- and rear-end design treatments. Japan and most global markets received one style; a separate, more conservative version covered markets in East and Southeast Asia. With the XV40 of 2006, the Camry-derived Aurion become the donor model for the more conservative Camry sold in this region. The subsequent XV50 series, sold from 2011 until 2019, has resulted in even more markets adopting the alternative body panels, such as Japan and Eastern Europe. The current generation is called the XV70.


title: Toyota Camry

text: When Toyota launched their luxury Lexus brand in 1989, it offered a close derivative of the Camry/Vista hardtop sedan as the Lexus ES. The relationship continues to this day, but over the generations, the ES—sold as the Toyota Windom in Japan from 1991 through to 2005—gravitated further away from its Camry brethren. Between 2000 and 2010 and since 2012, Daihatsu has offered a badge engineered Camry as the Daihatsu Altis (ダイハツ・アルティス) sold only in Japan. Badge engineering has also occurred in Australia with the Holden Apollo between 1989 and 1996. From 1993, Toyota Australia badged V6-engined versions as Camry Vienta, becoming Toyota Vienta in 1995 until the badge's departure in 2000. Between 2006 and 2017, the Toyota Aurion model from Australia was derived from the V6 Camry, but with revised front-end and rear-end styling treatment and a partially refurbished cabin.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The name "Camry" derives from the Japanese word (, かんむり), meaning "crown". This follows Toyota's naming tradition of using the crown name for primary models starting with the Toyota Crown (1955), continuing with the Toyota Corona (1957) and Corolla (1966); the Latin words for "crown" and "small crown", respectively. Maintaining this theme was the Toyota Tiara (1960) named after the "tiara" form of crown. The Atara trim level name used on the Camry in Australia since 2011 means "crown" in Hebrew. The rebadged Camry variant for Japan, the Toyota Scepter (1991)—took its name from "scepter", a royal accessory to a crown.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The "Camry" nameplate originated on a four-door sedan approximate to the Toyota Celica called the Celica Camry. Toyota designated this initial application of the Camry name as the A40/A50 series. Celica Camry made its sales debut in January 1980 at "Toyota Corolla Store" retail dealerships in Japan. Production had earlier commenced in December 1979 at the Tsutsumi plant at Toyota, Aichi. Despite the marketing position, Celica Camry shares few components with its namesake—but rather the Carina (A40/A50). Toyota modified the Carina by elongating its front-end and incorporating styling cues such as the T-bar grille motif that resembled the Celica XX/Supra (A40). Strictly speaking, Celica Camry is not the first generation of Camry, but rather its predecessor.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Celica Camry uses the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and in A40 guise, a standard four-link rigid axle suspension system with gasoline inline-four engines displacing 1.6 liters for the "12T-U" (TA41) and 1.8 liters with the "13T-U" (TA46). Initial model grades comprised: 1600 LT, 1600 XT, 1800 LT, 1800 XT, and 1800 XT Super Edition. In August 1980, Toyota released high-end models with four-wheel independent suspension, denoted A50 (front MacPherson struts, rear semi-trailing arm setup; four-wheel disc brakes). For the TA57 series 1800 SX, Toyota fitted the 1.8-liter "3T-EU" engine. Toyota designated the new 2.0-liter grades, the "21R-U" powered 2000 SE and "18R-GEU"-based 2000 GT as RA56 and RA55, respectively.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Toyota started production of the first generation series Camry in March 1982 at the Tsutsumi plant. Designated the model code V10, when fitted with S-series gasoline engines it was known as the SV10, SV11, or SV12 depending on the exact version. Likewise, the C-series diesel versions are identified by the CV10 and CV11 codes. Released to the Japanese market on 24 March 1982, Toyota issued the V10 series as a four-door notchback sedan retailing at the "Toyota Corolla Store" dealerships. At the same time, a twinned model—the Toyota Vista—launched as a rebadged Camry sold at separate "Toyota Vista Store" locations. Five-door liftback versions of the Vista came to the market in August 1982, although outside of export markets the Camry remained exclusively a sedan. These cars served above the comparably sized Toyota Carina and Corona in the Toyota hierarchy. Unlike the preceding Celica Camry, exports were achieved with the first generation Camry to Australia, Europe and North America.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Development of the V10 series Camry and Vista began in August 1977 following the 1973 oil crisis and would later cover the 1979 crisis. Automobile manufacturers were making the inexorable move to downsized, lighter, more fuel efficient cars with better aerodynamic performance. The industry also began wide-scale switching from the rear-wheel-drive layout to the lighter and more compact front-wheel-drive in the interest of increased fuel economy. With a development focus on exports, particularly to the US, Toyota designed Camry to replace the Corona T130 in many overseas markets. It needed to compete with the compact, front-drive Honda Accord sedan from Japan. Via one-upmanship, Camry exceeded the Accord's wheelbase by and offered larger engines. The design brief also established the compact front-wheel-drive X platform vehicles by General Motors in the US as competitors. In light of this competition—and a first for Toyota—the V10 adopted front-wheel drive with the engine transversely mounted. Between this layout that reduced the size of the engine compartment, the notchback sedan and liftback bodies with rear quarter windows, and the longer wheelbase of —the V10 series was considered spacious for its time and class. Furthermore, by situating the fuel tank underneath the back seat, luggage space is increased. The styling of the V10 followed the box-shaped trends characteristic of the early 1980s. Wind tunnel testing led to the fitment of drag-reducing flush pillars, a flat roofline to reduce wind buffeting, and one-piece front bumper with air dam to direct air flow. Drag coefficient is quoted at for the sedan and for the liftback.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Coil spring independent suspension features by way of a MacPherson strut type with stabilizer and strut bar up front, and a MacPherson rear setup with parallel lower arms. Steering uses a rack and pinion design; braking hardware is made up of front ventilated discs and rear drums with a double proportioning valve to suppress lock-up. Innovatively, a sensor is fitted to detect worn-out brake pads, alerted by use of an audible chime.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Powertrain design was reassessed for front-wheel-drive and this generated a foundation for which other models were developed. The transaxle is connected inline with the engine, and to create a simple and compact structure, a single rail system that replaces the three shafts normally used for each gear range with a single shaft, was adopted. In addition, automatic transmission fluid was used for the lubricating oil in order to reduce friction. Existing gasoline S- and diesel C-series engines were converted for use in transverse applications. Initially, the V10 featured the 1.8-liter "1S-LU" engine good for and an S50 five-speed manual transmission. From July 1982, four-speed automatic with overdrive became available after starting manufacture the previous month. The 2.0-liter "2S-ELU" engine with an improved S51 five-speed manual transmission and four-speed automatic followed in August. August 1983 saw the 1.8-liter "1C-TL" turbocharged diesel offered () exclusive to Japanese dealerships called "Toyota Diesel Store". June 1984 introduced the twin-cam 2.0-liter "3S-GELU" engine offered on higher trims with depending on the version. For lower trims, the "Ci" 1.8-liter "1S-iLU" arrived. The diesel was upgraded to the 2.0-liter "2C-TL" specification in August 1985 ().


title: Toyota Camry

text: Japanese trims levels initially comprised LT, XT, SE, and ZX for Camry sedan. Lumiere and XE grades came to the market in June 1984, and the GLi TwinCam in May 1985. Vista sedan and liftback specification levels were at first VC (sedan only), VL, VE, and VX. The VF arrived in August 1982, and VR and VS models in June 1984 at the expense of the departing VE. Special edition models comprised: VE Extra (December 1982), VL Extra (January 1983), VL Super Extra (January 1985), VF-II (April 1985 and April 1986), and VL Grand Extra (December 1985 and April 1986). Wing mirrors became door-mounted as opposed to fender-mounted in May 1983. Facelifted models arrived in June 1984 featuring a new grille, redesigned bumpers, revised tail-lamps, updated dashboard, enlarged glovebox, and general trim alterations.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The shift to smaller cars amid the oil crises doubled Japanese automobile market share from 10 to 20 percent in the United States between 1970 and 1980; thus, causing economic tensions between the two nations. Toyota then began investigating the option of building a US production facility, following the announcements in January and April 1980 by Honda and Nissan, respectively, to manufacture automobiles locally. As investigations proceeded, Toyota proposed entering a joint venture with Ford in May 1980 to produce a compact car. Toyota advocated that its Camry be manufactured at a Ford factory and sold through the sales channels of both brands, but Ford deemed Camry to be in competition with a model it was developing, which became the Ford Tempo, leading to an impasse and then the cessation of negotiations in July 1981. Increasing Japan–United States unease culminated with the Japanese government, at the urging of its US counterpart, imposing a voluntary cartel in May 1981 with a threshold for the export of motor vehicles to the US. Toyota would eventually pursue circumvention; firstly by entering into venture by forming NUMMI with General Motors in 1984 to manufacture the Toyota Corolla, and then by setting up its own facility at Georgetown, Kentucky in 1988 for the next generation Camry.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Sales of the V10 Camry in the US began in March 1983 after exports commenced in January, and by 1985 it had sold 128,000 units. Unlike other markets, federalized quad headlamps were fitted for the 1983 and 1984 model years. Buyers could specify sedan or liftback bodies with a five-speed manual transmission or extra-cost four-speed automatic paired to the 2.0-liter gasoline "2S-ELC" motor rated at . Toyota then offered DX (deluxe) and LE (luxury edition) trim levels, the latter adding standard features such as body-colored bumpers, tachometer, tilt steering wheel, upgraded stereo, electric mirrors and variable intermittent windscreen wipers. Updates for the 1984 model year included an overdrive lockout switch for the automatic transmission. Also optional was the manual-only 1.8-liter "1C-TLC" turbo diesel for the DX with , a special gauge cluster, and quieter exhaust system. Changes for 1985 involved the facelift (now with one-piece headlamps), the transfer of the optional cruise control's switchgear from the dashboard to the wiper stalk, and wider LE-type tires for the DX trim (from ). 1985 cars received gas-charged front shock absorbers and stiffer rear springs, an anti-theft alarm system was now optional on both grades, automatic became an option for the diesel, the DX added a standard tilt steering wheel, and the LE models offered an optional electronic instrument cluster. For 1986, a replacement diesel engine, the automatic-only 2.0-liter "2C-TLC" arrived for the DX and LE (), and the gasoline model increased power by around . Other revisions for this model year were a revised powered brake system and new cloth seat and door trim for LEs.


title: Toyota Camry

text: For Australia, the Camry range—based on the Vista front styling—was limited to a single-grade GLi liftback variant between April 1983 and April 1987. Sold as an upmarket alternative to the locally produced Corona T140, the sole powertrain offered was the gasoline 2.0-liter "2S-EL" engine with coupled with the five-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmission. Optional extras included powering steering, air conditioning, electric moonroof, power doors and windows, plus an upgraded stereo. Facelifted models with more standard appointments arrived in August 1984, and the unleaded version from early 1986 reduced power output by .


title: Toyota Camry

text: Europe and the United Kingdom received both body variants when released there in mid 1984—these were available in the gasoline DX trim (1.8- "1S-L") and 2.0-liter GLi ("2S-EL") or the GLD turbo diesel (1.8- "1C-TL" in early models; later models upgraded to the 2.0-liter "2C-TL").


title: Toyota Camry

text: The second generation, V20 series Camry went on sale during August 1986 in Japan. As with the previous series, there was again a parallel Vista model for the home market that Toyota released simultaneously. V20 Camry and Vista sedans continued with the four-door sedan configuration. For overseas markets, Toyota issued a station wagon for the first time. The Vista also launched with a four-door pillared hardtop sedan with unique body panels all-round in lieu of the liftback offered with the previous car—a body extended to the Camry in August 1988. To attain a sportier appearance with lower and wider proportions, Toyota reduced the height of the hardtop by over the sedan. Not intended for export, this hardtop body with few changes would later form the basis of the upscale but hastily conceived Lexus ES 250 produced for North American customers from June 1989 through to 1991. Toyota rushed the ES 250 as a stopgap measure to flesh out the fledgling Lexus lineup so as not to launch the flagship LS 400 as a stand-alone model.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The V20 Camry originated from a time at Toyota when considerable cost and attention to detail was engineered into its cars such as high-quality materials and build quality to transcend the competition. Sedans retained the V10's rear quarter glass with styling less angular than before. To appease export customers, styling lost some of its Japanese legacy in its transition to a more Americanized design, with a softer and sleeker silhouette. Toyota designed the body with aerodynamics in mind, with performance of for the sedan. V20 also features headlamps and a grille that are sculptured into a gently curved hood that partially conceal the windscreen wipers, wind splitters up the ends of the windscreen, near-flush glass, and a third door seal to close the gap between the body and window frames. Body dimensions were largely unchanged from the previous model, including an identical wheelbase, although length increases . Basic sub-skin hardware is also closely related, including the platform and the fully independent suspension with a strut and a coil spring at each corner and an anti-roll bar at each end. Noise isolation is improved by mounting the rear suspension on a subframe akin to the Toyota Celica (T160) that had now switched to Camry-based mechanicals. As before, the braking package encompasses ventilated discs up front, conventional drums in the rear, upgraded to rear discs in some cars. The braking system has a tandem-type booster and diagonally divided hydraulic circuits. Wagons receive a load-sensing proportioning valve that grants greater braking pressure when laden and prevents wheel lockup under light payloads. Entry-level V20 wheel size increases from 13 to 14 inches.


title: Toyota Camry

text: All engines now use fuel injection exclusively and were common to Camry and Vista. Entry-level customers were offered the carry-over "Ci" 1.8-liter "1S-i" (designated "1S-iLU" in the V10) inline-four with five-speed manual or an automatic with four gears. Stepping up from this were the new "3S-FE" and GT high-performance "3S-GE" (designated "3S-GELU" for V10s) 2.0-liter twin-cam four-cylinder cars. Turbo-diesel models were again limited to the "2C-T" motor displacing 2.0 liters (labeled "2C-TL" for V10s). Transmission were either a five-speed manual or an electronically controlled automatic with four gears. When launched in Japan, the V20 series Camry (sedan only) offered the following trim levels: LT, XT, XT Saloon, ZE, ZT, ZX, and GT. For the Vista sedan, Toyota offered: VC, VL, VE, VR, and VX. Hardtop versions comprised: VE, VR, VX, and GT. Flagship models of the Japanese specification Camry sedan, the Camry Prominent and Prominent G arrived in April 1987 with the 2.0-liter "1VZ-FE" V6 engine, a protruding chrome grille, larger North American-type bumpers, wood grain interior highlights, an electric seat function, plus electronic instrument cluster. Full-time four-wheel-drive became an option in October 1987 with select "3S-FE" manual variants (VL Extra, VR); automatics equipped with an electronic front- and rear-wheel torque distribution optimizer followed in August 1988. The Vista was not available with the V6, but in April 1987, the special edition Vista VL Extra sedan and hardtop arrived, followed by the Etoile in August and again in January 1989; limited edition Etoile V cars were offered in September 1989 and January 1990. Toyota discontinued the Vista VC in December 1989 and released a special edition VX Limited in May 1989 and then again for January 1990. When the Camry Prominent hardtop variant arrived in August 1988, it offered base, G, and E-Type levels of trim alongside a new sedan-only Camry Lumière. Also in August 1988, a diesel version of the Vista hardtop made its debut, and the 1.8-liter gasoline engine was upgraded to the twin-cam "4S-Fi" specification. Special editions for the Camry comprised: Lumière S sedan (January 1989), Prominent X hardtop (May 1989), Lumière G sedan (June 1989), and XT Saloon Special sedan (January 1990).


title: Toyota Camry

text: North American market V20 series Camry sedan and wagons came to the market in late 1986 for the 1987 model year. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, the first wholly owned Toyota plant in the US, began producing the Camry in May 1988. The country of manufacture can be found by looking at the first character of the VIN; a Camry manufactured in Japan has a VIN starting with "J", a model made in the US starts with "4" and a model made in Australia starts with "6". All Camry station wagons for the United States originated from Japan, while sedans were a mix of Japanese built and American built, with the ratio of American-built sedans increasing yearly. Three trim levels of the V20 Camry were made: the unbadged base model, the DX, and the LE. The four-wheel-drive Camry, dubbed "All-Trac" was introduced for 1988 and a 2.5-liter V6 engine was also added as an option, though notably not in combination with the All-Trac option. The V6 was fuel-injected with 24 valves, and dual overhead camshafts. The 1989 model year saw the Camry’s mid-life update which included new front and rear bumper covers that were one piece instead of two, new taillight design, along with a few interior styling updates. The 1990 model year saw a slight upgrade in horsepower for V6 models, from 153 to 156. North American 1990 Camrys built from February 1990-August 1990 also saw another refresh that included Toyota’s new logo introduced that year onto the front grille. Color-keyed door handles and grille also appeared on DX and LE models, along with a new ignition chime. In 1989, anti-lock brakes became optional on the LE V6 sedan and wagon, and LE All-Trac.


title: Toyota Camry

text: 1991 model year Camrys began production in August 1990, and can be identified by a newly redesigned front valence panel under the front bumper. In addition, the DX model gains new standard color keyed bumpers, new interior cloth that replaces the older tweed, and new hubcap designs on both DX and LE models.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Toyota Australia released the second generation Camry in April 1987. Local manufacture of the V20 had begun earlier in February at its recently acquired Australian Motor Industries facility at Port Melbourne, Victoria as a replacement for the Corona T140 and the Camry before it. Four-cylinder engine production and panel-stamping was undertaken at Toyota's Altona, Victoria plant, all part of a model localization and factory upgrades investment totaling . In fact, it was the first Camry made outside Japan, and is notable for being the most localized Toyota Australia product thus far with a lead time of less than six months, the shortest yet between start of Japanese and Australian manufacture. Higher levels of specification were fitted with the locally built 2.0-liter "3S-FE" motor, but the imported 1.8-liter "1S-i" unit distinguished base SE and CS cars. Both sedans and wagons were offered and either engine offered standard five-speed manual transmission, upgradeable to the four-speed automatic. Features standard at the base level SE comprised: AM/FM radio, centre console storage compartment, remote fuel filler release, intermittent windscreen wipers, digital clock. CS cars added a tilt steering column to which the CS-X adds a key lock warning system. The CS driver's seat has front height adjustment; the CS-X's front and rear height adjustment. The CS gets a two speaker AM/FM radio cassette player; the CS-X a four-speaker system and automatic electric antenna, plus central locking, variable intermittent wipers and center rear arm rest. The sedan-only Ultima grade gains power windows, cruise control, automatic transmission as standard, velour trim, and a nine-stage graphic equalizer for the audio system. A fleet-focused Executive pack based on the SE arrived in May 1988, adding automatic transmission, power steering, and air conditioning. In June 1988, the 2.5-liter V6 was introduced, being an imported fully optioned model from Japan sold in limited numbers and distinguished from local four-cylinder cars by its unique bumpers and trim. Coinciding with the August 1989 facelift, the 2.0-liter "3S-FC" engine with carburetor superseded the imported 1.8. The updates brought minor adjustments inside and out, including improved suspension, steering, and headlights. In May 1991, Toyota made the fuel-injected "3S-FE" version standard upon the carbureted engine's deletion, and the CS trim level became CSi. Coinciding with this change, power steering became standard fitment and Toyota Australia refreshed badging, including the attachment of the new corporate logo consisting of three overlapping ellipses to form the letter "T". With the May 1991 update, the Ultima models gained a CD player, the first Australian-built car to offer this. Towards the end of the series, special editions were released, starting with the Spirit of February 1991. Then in September 1992, value-added CSi Limited and Olympic Spirit cars came onto the scene. Australian production ended in late November 1992, in time for production of the XV10 to commence on 2 December. The Used Car Safety Ratings, published in 2008 by the Monash University Accident Research Centre, found that V20 Camry models provide an "average" (3/5 stars) level of occupant safety protection in the event of an accident.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Holden Apollo, a rebadged variant to the Toyota Camry, retailed in Australia alongside the facelifted Camry V20 series from August 1989. Production had started in July. This model sharing occurred due to the United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI) joint venture between Toyota Australia and General Motors-Holden's starting in 1987 that resulted in model sharing between both automakers from August 1989. Known as the JK series, the Apollo differentiated itself by way of a redesigned grille, rehashed tail lamps and other minor trim items. This rebranding scheme was the result of the Button car plan, introduced in May 1984 to rationalise and make the Australian automotive industry more competitive on a global scale by means of reducing import tariffs. Offered in sedan and wagon guises, Apollo replaced the Camira.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Powertrains were verbatim of the Camry, with the "3S-FC" for the entry-level SL, and higher-end SLX and SLE models graced with the "3S-FE" engine. An SLX option pack, known as the Executive was also available. The SL opened up the Apollo range with remote exterior mirrors, intermittent windscreen wipers, heated rear screen demister, remote trunk release for sedans and fuel filler door, a two-speaker radio cassette player and tinted side and rear glass. SLX variants were distinguished by their full wheel covers, as opposed to the SL model's steel wheels with centre caps. The Executive variant was not a stand-alone model, but an option pack for the SLX, adding power steering and automatic transmission. SLE equipment included the four-wheel disc brakes, variable intermittent windscreen wipers, a four-speaker stereo, body-coloured bumpers, dual odometers, automatic headlamp cut-off system, velour seat upholstery, centre back-seat armrest, power antenna, central locking with illuminated driver's door lock and front map lamps. As per the Camry, in May 1991, the EFI version of the engine was made standard.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In August 1991, there was a small Apollo facelift, given the designation JL, with an altered model range. The SL and SLX continued, with the SLE now available only as a sedan. The Executive pack was now no longer offered, and a sports version, dubbed GS was introduced in both body variants. Equipment levels mostly mirrored the previous JK, although the SLX was now similar in specification to the discontinued Executive and the GS to the JK SLE, albeit without standard automatic transmission. GS specification cars also added body stripes, red highlights, a tachometer and upgraded audio. Appearance-wise, the JK and JL are very similar, with the JL's grille treated with bolder chrome highlighting and slightly altered tail lamps on sedans. The XV10 Camry-based JM Apollo replaced the JL in March 1993.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Introduced exclusively to Japan in July 1990, the Camry V30 carried forward the four-door sedan and a differently styled hardtop sedan. Like before, either shape could be had in a Vista branded variety with revised styling. Both bodies would also form the basis of enlarged wide-body XV10 versions from September 1991, aimed primarily at international markets. The V30 remained smaller than the XV10 to offer buyers a vehicle within the "five-number" registration category concerning exterior dimensions and engine displacement for Japanese vehicle size regulations. The rules required a body width under , length under , and engines at or below 2,000 cc. Sedans in the wide-body format would sell overseas as the Camry XV10—identical to the smaller V30 in most respects except for the front- and rear-end styling grafted to an otherwise unchanged body and interior. Hardtop sedans would engender the luxury Lexus ES 300 (XV10), which again would couple the existing side profile with rehashed front, rear, and interior designs. The export-oriented ES 300 would sell as the Toyota Windom in Japan.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Dimensions grew slightly with sedan body length extended to , and for the Vista and Camry hardtops to , respectively. Penned by Osamu Shikado, the V30's design is much rounder when compared to the V20 series. Rather than the V20's six-window greenhouse, the V30 sedans have a four-part setup with integrated window sashes. Up front, the sedan's curved headlamps converge with a slimline grille insert; hardtops get a thinner front assembly with narrower lights, and the C-pillar is raked more sharply. Base cars gain full body-colour coding of peripheral exterior components.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The four-wheel strut/coil suspension carried over from the V20, although as option on high-end front-drive trims, Toyota added a wheel-stroke-sensitive Toyota Electronic Modulated Suspension (TEMS) and speed sensitive four-wheel steering. The available powerplants were three twin-cam inline-four engines—the 1.8-liter "4S-FE", plus the "3S-FE" and higher-performance "3S-GE" 2.0-liter units. Toyota also offered the 2.0-liter "2C-T" turbo-diesel inline-four known from the previous generations, and for the flagship Camry Prominent only, the 2.0-liter "1VZ-FE" gasoline V6. In May 1991 a 2.5-liter V6 engine also became available on the Camry Prominent, while the earlier 2-liter V6 became the "Prominent E".


title: Toyota Camry

text: An updated model appeared in July 1992. The scope of changes ranged from a new, larger grille and a revised air conditioning unit. At the same time the ZX Touring package appeared in place of the GT, which Toyota discontinued in conjunction with the sporting "3S-GE" engine option. The 2.0 V6 engine was removed from the lineup at the same time, leaving the 2.5-liter unit as the only offering in the Camry Prominent.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Camry V40 appeared in July 1994 exclusively for the Japanese market. The Toyota Vista twin continued on, although the Camry Prominent hardtop was no longer offered; only the Vista was available as a hardtop. As before in previous generations, the Camry was exclusive to "Toyota Corolla Store", while the Vista was only available at "Toyota Vista Store" locations.


title: Toyota Camry

text: V40 continued to be built around the x length-width bracket, legacy of a Japanese taxation law. The car is taller than its predecessor.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Engines for the V40 were a 1.8-liter (4S-FE type) and 2.0-liter (3S-FE type), and a 2.2-liter turbo-diesel (3C-T type). At launch only the 2.0-liter model was available in all-wheel drive mode, although afterwards the 2.2-liter turbodiesel could be optioned with this system.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Toyota updated the V40 in June 1996. In the update anti-lock brakes and dual air bags became standard equipment. After 1998, the Japanese market Camry and international Camry became in-line with each other, with the Vista taking over the V30 and V40 Camry roles.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The V50 generation was not available as a Camry—only as a Vista—as a sedan, plus a station wagon called Vista Ardeo. 1.8 L and 2.0 L engines were available. The interior features a center instrument panel/navigation display.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Vista V50 is significant because it's one of the first fruits of Toyota's company-wide platform renewal efforts known as the MC. Studies for new front-wheel drive (FWD) platform and packaging layout began in 1993 and appeared on market in December 1997 in the Toyota Prius, but the Vista is the first mass-production, FWD Toyota with a new platform. Toyota claims this is the first true redesign and rethink of its FWD platforms since the 1982 Camry/Vista. With this platform, Toyota trades the rear MacPherson struts for a torsion beam axle setup. A double-wishbone setup is available for all-wheel drive. Toyota also flipped the engine orientation so that the intake manifold is in front, improving space efficiency.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Production for the Vista ended in September 2003, as Toyota prepared to rename the Vista dealers as the Toyota Netz dealership network. The move to simplify Toyota's dealership came in light of the pending Lexus launch in Japan, planned for August 2005. In April 2005 the process was complete and all Vista dealers became Netz dealers. In October 2003, the Vista was replaced by the second generation Avensis.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Toyota replaced the compact V20 Camry with the Japanese market-only V30 series in 1990. However, international markets such as Australia and North America received a widened version of the V30, known as the XV10 series. While marginally larger than the V20, the V30 had to comply with Japanese dimension regulations, which restricted the car's width to and length to for a lower tax obligation. Particularly in the United States, this narrower model was seen as compromised, thus limiting its sales potential. As a result, the "wide-body" mid-size Camry (XV10) released to North America in 1991 was developed from early 1988 and the final design frozen later that year. It was with the XV10 that Toyota upgraded the Camry's status to its second "world car" after the Corolla, with exports starting from Australia to Southeast Asia. Japan also received the wider XV10 model, although it was sold under the Toyota Scepter name there. Toyota chose the name "Scepter" as a reference to the Camry/Crown naming tradition, as a "scepter" is a symbolic ornamental staff held by a ruling monarch, a prominent item of royal regalia.


title: Toyota Camry

text: A notable point of the "Wide body" SXV10 Camry is the influence of engineering developed from the launch of Lexus and the LS400, which came to market just a few years prior to its public debut. The kinship to Lexus models in engineering standards (such as CMM and GD&T development standards) and tolerances on the SXV10 is often perceived to be closer than any prior or latter iterations of the Camry. In an interview with Automotive News, Chris Hostetter, group vice president for Toyota NA, admitted that the 1992 Camry was considered by many company insiders to be more of a "Lexus product" than most Toyota badge cars, going on to mention that it borrowed technologies such as hydraulically powered cooling fans directly developed from the ES300. However, the Lexus standards of the SXV10 created a division in product development philosophies in the company. Also according to Automotive News, some company insiders considered it too upscale for its price point and the market segment it was set to compete within (mid-sized, mid-segment).


title: Toyota Camry

text: It was Robert McCurry in conjunction with Dave Illingworth and Jim Press, who, with great initial opposition from the Japanese executives, convinced the Japanese company that the 1992 Camry be re-designed, enlarged, and shaped to resemble a scaled-down LS400 with a more affordable FWD format, to help establish the reputation of Lexus, which at the time was still in its infancy and lacked brand heritage. The intensive platform and component sharing with the 1992 ES300 allowed Toyota to leverage costs better to allow the SXV10 Camry's high level of specification at a reasonable price. The 1992 Camry also took more resemblance to the LS400 in the sloped roofline, wide C pillar and framed windows, where as the ES300 featured a hardtop design with an upgraded/stiffened suspension. However, the LS400 and the SXV10 Camry featured no sharing of powertrain layout nor design. Many insiders of Toyota argued even after critical acclaim that the SXV10 Camry overlapped too greatly with Lexus, even though Chris Hostetter, current vice president of advanced technology research at Toyota, believed the model had to be developed to develop buyers who would become interested in Lexus. This division as well as cost-cutting led to the Camry and Lexus line to become more distinctive, as the Camry became a more economical, affordable, spacious sedan typical of the segment.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The smaller V30 Camry varied in other areas besides the size. Although the underpinnings, doors and fenders, and overall basic design cues were common between the two cars, the smaller Camry sported harder, more angular front- and rear-end styling treatment, with the wide-body model presenting a more curvaceous silhouette. This was a departure from the V20 generation Camry which, although had many more rounded panels than the V10 series, was nevertheless generally slab-sided in shape. A two-door Camry coupé was added to compete with the Honda Accord coupé. However, the Camry Coupé was never popular and was dropped in 1996. A two-door Camry would not be reintroduced until 1999, with the Toyota Camry Solara.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Japanese V30 model was replaced by the Camry V40 in 1994, however, this was also a Japan-only model. International markets instead retained the wider XV10 until it was replaced by the XV20 in 1996. The V40 and XV20 models were sold alongside one another in the Japanese market until 1998. At this time, the Vista V50 took the place of the V40, ending the period of separate Camrys for the Japanese and international markets.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The XV10, at its most basic level, offered a 2.2-liter "5S-FE" four-cylinder engine, up from 2.0 liters in the V20 and V30 Camrys. This unit produced of power and of torque, although the exact figures varied slightly depending on the market. Power and displacement increases were also received for the V6 engine. The 3.0-liter "3VZ-FE" unit was rated at and . An all-new aluminium "1MZ-FE" V6 debuted in North American models from 1993 for the 1994 model year, with other markets retaining the "3VZ-FE" V6. Power and torque rose to and , respectively.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In Australia, the V6 engine Camry was badged "Camry Vienta" when launched in 1993, later becoming the Toyota Vienta in 1995. In South Africa, the XV10 Camry was manufactured by Toyota SA in Durban from 1992 to 2001, offering both the 2.2-liter and 3.0-liter engines, as well as a 2.0-liter engine derived from the Celica. Only a sedan configuration was available. These were also marketed and sold into Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.


title: Toyota Camry

text: A variant of the UK market V6 model - detuned to run on 91 rather than 95 octane unleaded petrol - was launched in New Zealand in 1991. These Japanese-built models were replaced with an Australian-made line, with unique New Zealand specification, in 1993 at which point the 2.2-liter I4 was offered as well.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In late 1991, development on the XV20 commenced after launch of the XV10 under the 415T program. Design work was frozen in early 1994 and later launched in the United States in September 1996 and Japan in December 1996. It continued as a sedan and station wagon (called the Camry Gracia in Japan), though the wagon was not sold in the United States. This was the first generation where it was sold in Japan as the Daihatsu Altis, replacing the Daihatsu Applause.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In August 1999 for the 2000 model year, the sedan models received a mid-model upgrade to the front and rear fascias, but remained otherwise similar to the 1997 to 1999 models.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In the United States, the Camry SE was dropped and the base model was renamed the "CE" for the 1997 model year. Both the "LE" and the "XLE" trims were carried over from the previous series. All trim levels were available with either the 2.2-liter I4 or the 3.0-liter V6 engine except the Solara SLE, which was only available with the V6. TRD offered a supercharger kit for 1997 through to 2000 V6 models raising power to and of torque. A coupe was added in 1999, and then a convertible form in 2000. In contrast to the coupe from the XV10 generation Camrys, the new two-door cars were given a separate nameplate Camry Solara, or simply Solara. They were also a significant styling departure from the sedan. The Solara was available in "SE" and "SLE" trims, corresponding roughly to the sedan's LE and XLE trims.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Power was increased slightly to SAE for the 5S-FE 2.2 L I4 and SAE for the 1MZ-FE V6. Manual transmissions (model: S51) were only available on the CE trim level, LE V6, and any Solara model. Camrys and Solaras equipped with the 5S-FE 4 cylinder engine and appropriate trim package received the S51 manual transmission, while those equipped with the 1MZ-FE 6 cylinder engine received the E153 manual transmission.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Released in September 2001 for the 2002 model year, Toyota released the Camry XV30 series as a larger sedan, but without a station wagon for the first time. The wagon's demise occurred due to its sales erosion to minivans and crossover SUVs.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Compared to the international version with a less conservative design (styled by Hiroyuki Metsugi, approved 1999), the Asian "prestige" Camry had a different distinctive design with more chrome, larger head lamps and tail lamps and a general greater emphasis on its width.


title: Toyota Camry

text: This generation of Camry saw even greater differentiation between "regular" model sold internationally (including Japan) and the "prestige" Camry sold in the rest of Asia. The regular Camry, fitted with four-cylinder engines sold alongside the V6-engined prestige Camry in Oceania and the Middle East as the Toyota Aurion. Between 2006 and 2010, the regular Camry was also rebadged as the Daihatsu Altis model, which sold alongside the Camry in Japan. The Daihatsu differed only in badging, with no cosmetic changes.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Asian market Camry features different front and rear styling, plus a revised interior. In Asia, the Camry occupied a higher end of the market, priced just below entry-level German luxury models. The Asian Camry lineup includes a 3.5-liter V6 model and is sold as the Toyota Aurion (XV40) in Australia, competing against large Australian sedans like the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The XV50 Camry was produced from 21 August 2011, introduced on 23 August 2011, and began U.S. sales in September 2011. The interior received a major restyling, while the exterior received all-new sheet metal and more angular styling.


title: Toyota Camry

text: In this generation, the Camry line-up for the Japanese domestic market was reduced to being just a single variant (hybrid only). The Japanese market will now share the same Camry model as the Asian market "prestige" Camry—a design also adopted by the Toyota Aurion (XV50), albeit with minor visual changes. The Brazilian market also carries the Prestige variant instead of the one sold in North America (only in the 3.5L V6 configuration). Prior to the XV50, the Japanese and Brazilian markets wide-body Camry were similar to the US models. The "prestige" Camry was discontinued in Southeast Asia and India in late 2018, but continued to be sold in Vietnam until April 2019.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The latest Camry, which is the eighth generation of the global Camry model, and known as the XV70, was introduced at the January 2017 North American International Auto Show. It was launched in Japan on 10 July 2017, and in Australia on 21 November 2017. North American production started in June 2017, and sales began in late July 2017. It is built on GA-K platform.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Engine choices include a base 2.5 L inline four-cylinder (I4) that now produces in base form ( when equipped with the optional quad exhaust), the same 2.5 L inline four-cylinder (I4) engine with an electric motor (Hybrid) that produces , or the top-of-the-line 3.5 L V6 that produces . In some markets the old 2.5 L 2AR-FE engine is carried over from the previous generation which produces .


title: Toyota Camry

text: The only major components shared with the previous generation are the Toyota emblem on the front grille and rear trunk lid.


title: Toyota Camry

text: Competing with mainstream and more affordable models in Western markets, for other export markets in Asia and Latin America, the Camry is seen as a luxury car where it sells strongly (and serves as Toyota's flagship vehicle along with the Land Cruiser). In the United States, except for 2001, the Camry was the best-selling passenger car from 1997 through 2020. Despite international success, and early success in Japan, the later wide-body models have been a low-volume model in its home market. However, since the introduction of the XV50 Camry in 2011, sales of the wide-body models in Japan have resurged, thanks, in large part, to the inclusion of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive system.


title: Toyota Camry

text: The Camry is also a prolific seller within Australia. The Camry has profited within its medium-sized class, where it has been its best selling since 1993, beating traditional competitors including the Mazda 6, as well as contemporary ones in that of the Ford Mondeo and Skoda Superb. The Middle East, as well as Eastern Europe, each have seen the Camry sell well, with Western Europe previously having small amounts exported.


title: Francis II of France

text: Francis II (; 19 January 1544 – 5 December 1560) was King of France from 1559 to 1560. He was also King consort of Scotland as a result of his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, from 1558 until his death in 1560.


title: Francis II of France

text: He ascended the throne of France at age 15 after the accidental death of his father, Henry II, in 1559. His short reign was dominated by the first stirrings of the French Wars of Religion.


title: Francis II of France

text: Although the royal age of majority was 14, his mother, Catherine de' Medici, entrusted the reins of government to his wife Mary's uncles from the House of Guise, staunch supporters of the Catholic cause. They were unable to help Catholics in Scotland against the progressing Scottish Reformation, however, and the Auld Alliance was dissolved.


title: Francis II of France

text: Francis was succeeded by two of his brothers in turn, both of whom were also unable to reduce tensions between Protestants and Catholics.


title: Francis II of France

text: Francis was born 11 years after his parents' wedding. The long delay in producing an heir may have been due to his father's repudiation of his mother in favour of his mistress Diane de Poitiers, but this repudiation was mitigated by Diane's insistence that Henry spend his nights with Catherine. Francis was at first raised at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He was baptised on 10 February 1544 at the Chapelle des Trinitaires in Fontainebleau. His godparents were Francis I (who knighted him during the ceremony), Pope Paul III, and his great-aunt Marguerite de Navarre. He became governor of Languedoc in 1546 and Dauphin of France in 1547, when his grandfather Francis I died.


title: Francis II of France

text: Francis's governor and governess were Jean d'Humières and Françoise d'Humières, and his tutor was Pierre Danès, a Greek scholar originally from Naples. He learned dancing from Virgilio Bracesco and fencing from Hector of Mantua.


title: Francis II of France

text: King Henry II, his father, arranged a remarkable betrothal for his son to the five year old Mary, Queen of Scots, in the Châtillon agreement of 27 January 1548, when Francis was only four years old. Mary had been crowned Queen of Scotland in Stirling Castle on 9 September 1543 at the age of nine months, following the death of her father James V. Mary was a granddaughter of Claude, Duke of Guise, a very influential figure at the court of France. Once the marriage agreement was formally ratified, the five-year-old Mary was sent to France to be raised at court until the marriage. She was tall for her age and eloquent, and Francis was unusually short and stuttered. Henry II said, "from the very first day they met, my son and she got on as well together as if they had known each other for a long time".


title: Francis II of France

text: On 24 April 1558, Francis and Mary married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It was a union that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary's great-grandfather, King Henry VII of England. As a result of the marriage, Francis became king consort in Scotland until his death. The marriage produced no children, and may never even have been consummated, possibly due to Francis's illnesses or undescended testicles.


title: Francis II of France

text: A little over a year after his marriage, on 10 July 1559, Francis became king at age 15 upon the death of Henry II, who had been killed in a jousting accident. On 21 September 1559, Francis II was crowned king in Reims by his uncle Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. The crown was so heavy that nobles had to hold it in place for him. The court then moved to the Loire Valley, where the Château de Blois and the surrounding forests were the new king's home. Francis II took the sun for his emblem and for his mottoes "Spectanda fides" (This is how faith should be respected) and "Lumen rectis" (Light for the righteous).


title: Francis II of France

text: According to French law, Francis was an adult who did not need a regent but since he was young, inexperienced, and in fragile health, he delegated his power to his wife's uncles from the noble House of Guise: Francis, Duke of Guise, and Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine. His mother, Catherine de' Medici, agreed to this delegation. On the first day of his reign, Francis II instructed his four ministers to take orders from his mother, but since she was still in mourning for her husband, she directed them to the House of Guise.


title: Francis II of France

text: The two eldest brothers of the House of Guise had already had major roles in the reign of Henry II. Francis, Duke of Guise, was one of the most famous military commanders in the royal army, and the Cardinal of Lorraine had participated in the most important negotiations and matters of the kingdom. After Francis II ascended the throne, the two brothers split the custody of the kingdom: Duke Francis became head of the army and Charles the head of finance, justice, and diplomacy.


title: Francis II of France

text: The rise of the House of Guise worked to the detriment of its old rival, Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France. At the new king's suggestion, he left the court for his estates to get some rest. Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of the previous king, was asked not to appear at court. Her protégé Jean Bertrand had to surrender his title Keeper of the Seals of France to chancellor François Olivier, whom Diane had removed from this position a few years earlier. It was a palace revolution.


title: Francis II of France

text: The transition has been described as brutal, but while it no doubt caused the Constable considerable frustration, there were no confrontations or reprisals. Montmorency remained tied to power. As soon as the day after the death of the king, he was present at the council meeting and was also at the coronation. Later he supported the repression of the Amboise conspiracy of 1560, notably by going to the Parlement to communicate to its members the measures taken by the king. In July 1560 he came back to court and to the council, although in a much less flamboyant manner than before. The Guises were now the new masters of the court. The king granted them numerous favours and privileges, one of the most significant being the title of Grand Master of France, a title until then held by the son of the Constable, François de Montmorency.


title: Francis II of France

text: With the peace of Cateau Cambresis in 1559, the crown had been left on the cusp of bankruptcy. The public deficit stood at 40 million livres, of which 19 million was owed immediately. The interest rates on these loans were not insignificant, as lenders had grown wary of the crowns inability to pay over the years and this lack of confidence would only be furthered with Henry II's death. Henri's religious policy had also proved ineffective, his persecutory edicts failing to stop the growth of Calvinism in France. Religious violence was increasing, with attacks in Paris, first in response to the loss at the Battle of Saint-Quentin (1557) and then around the trial of the heretic "parlementaire" Anne du Bourg.


title: Francis II of France

text: From the beginning of their assumption of government, the Guises faced opposition from several factions. Their rise to dominance had come at the expense of Anne de Montmorency and the House of Bourbon who resented their total ascendency to varying degrees.


title: Francis II of France

text: The political decisions of the government were also contested. To try and set about fixing the realms finances, they embarked upon an aggressive campaign of cost cutting, scaling down the size of the army from its height in the wars, and deferring payments to the troops, who angrily protested against the Guises. This would not however be enough, so they were moved to raise forced loans from the provinces, such as 800,000 livres from Normandy, to cover shortfalls. They further suppressed Venal office.


title: Francis II of France

text: Forced loans would continue into 1560, with 100,000 crowns being demanded of the Parlement and merchants of Paris in October 1560, shortly after the convoking of the estates had taken place.


title: Francis II of France

text: In religion, the Guises initially continued the repression of Protestantism started by King Henry II. From July 1559 to February 1560 they would pass four more persecutory edicts, including such provisions as the razing of any house which a Protestant meeting occurred in, and the prosecution of landlords who knowingly harboured heretics as tenants.


title: Francis II of France

text: Opposition to the Guise administration which had been bubbling under the surface during Francis II's reign, coalesced around two primary axes. Firstly there was religious opposition from Protestants such as La Roche Chandieu, secondly there was opposition from military men of the minor gentry, such as Castlenau; these groups came together under the leadership of the seigneur de la Renaudie to form a conspiracy to seize the king and arrest or kill the Cardinal de Lorraine and the Duke de Guise. The group planned to push for Antoine of Navarre to lead them, and become a 'regent' for Francis II. When he proved uninterested in their plot, they moved to the more dubious claim of his brother Condé. He was more receptive to the plan.


title: Francis II of France

text: As details of the conspiracy were finalised and arms raised for the day, rumours began to leak out to the court of what was happening. Finally on 12 February while the court was travelling to Amboise, the Duke's secretary arrived, bringing a lawyer who had got cold feet about the direction of the conspiracy. The secretary revealed all the details to the Guise and Francis, including the name of the leader, La Renaudie.


title: Francis II of France

text: With this knowledge to hand, and suspecting the involvement of Condé, the Guise summoned much of the high nobility to Amboise, and began fortifying the castle in preparation. In March the court struck, arresting a band of the conspirators who had assembled to discuss the delivery of money for the operation. Several days later a larger host of soldiers were bloodily repulsed from Amboise. On 17 March, Francis II made the duke of Guise the Lieutenant General of the kingdom, giving him final authority for all military matters. Realising the motley nature of the conspiracy, a mixture of fairly harmless heretics and hardened military men, an amnesty was declared on 17 March for those who laid down their arms and went home within 48 hours. Operations would continue as the court began to fan out troops into the countryside to mop up stragglers.


title: Francis II of France

text: The court was left with a tricky situation as to how to deal with those captured alive. Interrogations began, attempting to prove a connection between Condé and the conspiracy. Condé denounced accusations thrown at him as the work of 'scum' and more pressingly for honour in aristocratic circles, propagated by 'liars.' The Queen mother assured him that no one doubted his innocence. However on 18 April his chambers were raided while he was attending the kings levée. Unable to find proof however, he was allowed to leave court. Condé hurried south, uniting with his brother Antoine in the south-west.


title: Francis II of France

text: For the military conspirators who had remained under arms there would be little mercy, many would be executed in the following days, and hanged from the battlements as a warning. To the shock of members of the court, this included men of 'good birth' such as the baron de Castlenau. Nevertheless the court was conscious its religious policy had been a failure, and as early as 8 March, the Edict of Amboise was propagated, offering a retroactive amnesty for those convicted of heresy, on the condition they live as good Catholics. This began the distinction between the crimes of heresy and the crime of sedition, which had during the reign of Henri II been treated as a unified crime.


title: Francis II of France

text: Whilst the rebellion outside the castle of Amboise may have been crushed, the situation was deteriorating in the provinces. Troops raised for the conspiracy in Dauphine, Provence, and the Lyonnais were left without central direction, creating the nucleus of guerrilla armies that caused chaos in their localities. Beyond the planned regional elements of Amboise, many Protestants began seizing churches independently, and engaging in acts of unauthorised iconoclasm, as in Rouen and Provence. During the summer, this rebellious movement gained intensity; several cities in southern France were by now engulfed in revolt.


title: Francis II of France

text: The climax of the regional disorder came in the early Autumn, where on 4 September in Lyon, a large stockpile of weapons was discovered in the city of Lyon by the authorities, after a brief firefight with a group of Protestants the weapons were seized, narrowly foiling a planned coup in the city by several days. The narrow foiling of this conspiracy only further enraged the king and his administration who suspected the involvement of Condé in this affair. This was confirmed when an agent of his carrying papers that implicated him was intercepted.


title: Francis II of France

text: The king's reaction was fierce and determined: he mobilised his troops, sent the army to the rebellious areas to quell the sedition, and ordered governors to return to their positions. To isolate the renegade prince's of the blood further the administration created two super-governorships giving one to Charles, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon and the other to Louis, Duke of Montpensier, thus divorcing their interests from those of their cousins. Heavily outnumbered Condé and Navarre decided making a stand and fighting would be pointless, and they departed their southern regional powerbase at the kings request to attend the forthcoming Estates General.


title: Francis II of France

text: This distinction between heresy and sedition, represented a new religious policy for the monarchy of France. While there was to be no allowance for heretical worship, it was hoped this would avoid needless bloodshed, and reunify the kingdom around the crown. This changing of the political winds was furthered when in April the former Guise client Michel de l'Hôpital became Lord Chancellor of France replacing the ailing François Olivier. Hôpital was a humanist Catholic, little interested in the persecution that had defined the administration in the 1550s. In conjunction with Charles Cardinal of Lorraine, Catherine de Medici and Admiral Coligny, he began pushing this new religious policy further.


title: Francis II of France

text: In May 1560 a further edict was passed, the Edict of Romorantin. This edict denounced the spread of heresy in the kingdom, but also noted the failure of the policies on the 1550s. The edict proposed that going forth trial for heresy would be handled by the ecclesiastical courts instead of the Parlement. This was significant as the ecclesiastical courts lacked the ability to provide death sentences, and while they could technically still refer cases to the Parlements for sentencing, this acted as a de facto abolition of the death penalty for heresy. For more 'seditious' offences, such as heretical preaching, pamphlet producing and services, the "Présidaux" courts would have jurisdiction.


title: Francis II of France

text: Conscious that the financial and religious problems of the crown had not yet gone away, and desiring to create a more definitive solution, the Guise oversaw the calling of an Assembly of Notables. Conscious that they were liable to be arrested, Condé and Navarre were not among the leading nobility who attended. Lorraine intended to guide the assembly towards his proposed idea of a national religious council, to reunify the two faiths peacefully, this was however taken off course by Coligny, who presented a petition from the Norman church seeking the right to establish temples. The duke of Guise was infuriated by this proposal, suggesting if two religions were tolerated 'his sword would not remain sheathed for long.' The assembly drew up a reform package of tax ideas, and closed by convening the Estates General to whom this package would be presented. It was initially intended to host this at Meaux before a location change to Orléans due to religious troubles at the former city.


title: Francis II of France

text: Afraid the proposed council might be highly Gallican , the Pope decided to reopen the general council of Trent, but rejected the attendance of any Protestant, the demands of the French crown to scrap their proposed national council.


title: Francis II of France

text: The calling of the Estates General presented an opportunity to bring Condé into line, and in October he was summoned to present himself at the Estates General. Upon arrival he and several associates were promptly arrested and put on trial. After filibustering the proceedings Condé would eventually be found guilty, and given an indeterminate sentence, likely imprisonment at Loches.


title: Francis II of France

text: In foreign policy, Francis II continued peace efforts Henry II had begun with the signing of the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in April 1559, which ended 40 years of war between France and the Habsburg empire. At the expense of its influence in Europe, France continued to restore lands conquered over the previous 40 years. In this sense, Francis II's reign began the decline of French influence throughout Europe, to the benefit of Spain.


title: Francis II of France

text: When Henry II died, the restitution of these territories was well under way. Francis II, aware of the kingdom's weaknesses, reassured Spain of its intention to fulfill the treaty just signed. The Maréchal de Brissac, who displayed some unwillingness to evacuate Piedmont, was asked to change his behaviour and accelerate the withdrawal. By the autumn of 1559, France had completely left Savoy, and Piedmont, except for the five locations agreed upon in the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis. If these were returned to the Duke of Savoy Emmanuel Philibert, Montferrat would be returned to Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Both were allies of Spain. Finally, Valenza, which Brissac was grumbling about releasing, was to be returned to the Spanish Duchy of Milan. On the Spanish side, King Philip II showed some unwillingness to return four locations in the northeast of the kingdom as required by the treaty. Border disputes renewed tensions between the two nations, but after months of protests Francis II finally obtained these territories.


title: Francis II of France

text: Along with restitution of territories, the government of Francis II had to negotiate, pay, or claim compensations for people whose properties were taken or destroyed during the war. It also had to reach an agreement with Spain about the prisoners of war held by both sides. Many noblemen were still prisoners and unable to pay their ransom. Common soldiers were consigned to use as rowers on the royal galleys. Even after a reciprocal release compromise was signed, Spain was not eager to lose its prisoners.


title: Francis II of France

text: When Francis II died, France withdrew from Scotland, Brazil, Corsica, Tuscany, Savoy and most of Piedmont.


title: Francis II of France

text: With the marriage of Francis II and Mary Stuart, the future of Scotland was linked to that of France. A secret clause signed by the queen provided that Scotland would become part of France if the royal couple did not have children. The queen's mother, Marie of Guise, was already regent for Scotland.


title: Francis II of France

text: Because of French control over their country, a congregation of Scottish lords organised an uprising and made the regent and her French councils leave the capital, Edinburgh, in May 1559. Having taken refuge at the fortress of Dunbar, Marie of Guise asked France for help. Francis II and Mary Stuart sent troops right away. By the end of 1559, France had regained control of Scotland.


title: Francis II of France

text: Nothing seemed to stand in the way of French control of Scotland apart from English support for the Scottish nobles. Queen Elizabeth I of England was still offended that Francis II and Mary Stuart had put on their coat of arms those of England, thus proclaiming Mary's claims on the throne of England. In January 1560, the English fleet blockaded the port of Leith, which French troops had turned into a military base. They were supported by the arrival in April of 6000 soldiers and 3000 horsemen, which began the siege of the city.


title: Francis II of France

text: Just as English troops were not particularly successful, the French troops found themselves in a better strategic position. But the French government's poor financial situation and internal turmoil in the French kingdom prevented any military reinforcements from being sent. When the Bishop of Valence and Charles de La Rochefoucault, sieur of Randan, sent by the king to negotiate, arrived in Scotland, they were treated almost like prisoners. With Marie of Guise shut up in an Edinburgh fortress, the two men were forced to negotiate a peace that was disadvantageous to France. On 6 July 1560, they signed the Treaty of Edinburgh, which ended French occupation of Scotland. Francis II and Mary Stuart had to withdraw French troops and stop displaying England's arms.


title: Francis II of France

text: A few weeks later, Scotland's parliament established Protestantism as the state religion. When Francis II and Mary Stuart were presented with the Treaty of Edinburgh, they were outraged and refused to sign it; they also challenged the legitimacy of the Scottish parliament's decision.


title: Francis II of France

text: The king's health deteriorated in November 1560. On 16 November he fainted. After only 17 months on the throne, Francis II died on 5 December 1560 in Orléans, Loiret, from an ear condition. Multiple diseases have been suggested, such as mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis exacerbated into an abscess. Ambroise Paré, the royal surgeon, considered performing a trepanation. Some suspected Protestants of having poisoned the king, a view held by Catholics as the tensions between them and Protestants were on the rise, but this has not been proven.


title: Francis II of France

text: Francis II died childless, so his younger brother Charles, then ten years old, succeeded him. On 21 December, the council named Catherine de Médici Regent of France. The Guises left the court, while Mary Stuart, Francis II's widow, returned to Scotland. Louis, Prince of Condé, who was jailed and awaiting execution, was freed after some negotiations with Catherine de Médici.


title: Francis II of France

text: On 23 December 1560, Francis II's body was interred in the Basilica of St Denis by the Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon.