I saw this while I was reading through the April 1997 issue of Motor Trend at the library and though it was pretty interesting, so I had to had to snap a picture (of a picture). The article wasn’t about the navigation system or anything, just a review of some of the changes to the Camry for the 1998 model year. The weird part is that I’m having trouble finding any references anywhere to a navigation system ever being installed in an XV20 Camry. From what I’ve been reading, the 2000 Avalon was the first Toyota vehicle to feature a navigation system, so I’m guessing that this was a one-off example Toyota sent to the magazine for the review to wow them. I think it’s pretty cool, but I’m a sucker for weird things like this. I like how it’s a factory installation but it still interferes with the flow from the center AC vents when it’s out.

Maybe the unit itself gets really hot and it all just worked out perfectly?