ID this vehicle from one feature

[palinurus]

A guy I worked with ages ago had a car in the early 90s, It was Japanese, a station wagon, boxy and long. It was not new, maybe mid-80s.

Anyway- it had this amazing lever, like an aircraft throttle, on the console. More prominent than the gearstick (it may have been an auto).

We loved that lever. Pull it back and the rear quarterlight would creak open (cable-operated). We had to pull over once because we were laughing so much it wasn't safe to continue.

Was this real? or do I have an oddly-specific false memory?

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

Toyota Crown Estate?
A family friend had one in the very late 70s/early 80s

 

[mustang1]

A Subaru (can't recall model name) but those were a tad quirky.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

A Subaru (can't recall model name) but those were a tad quirky.

The earliest Subaru's (1978?) in the country were a 1600cc estate, in most use it was FWD only, but there was a fairly large lever for engaging the rear-drive too
They also imported a pick-up (later known as the 'Brat'), a hatchback & a saloon
All with the same transmission/engine

Both are probably American images(?), but we initially got the singe headlamp set-up

 

[Cavalol]

Would it be an Estima/Lucida? The JDM versions of those had some quite random (to us British buyers) option, some of which included electric curtains.

 

[Conrad_K]

I've seen cars with electrically-operated quarter windows - some late model Toyotas have them - but I never came across one with cable operated windows.

That would have been handy on a few cars I had; twisting and crawling around the front seat backs to open and close the window was always an annoyance.

 

[mistyoptic]

Toyota Crown Estate?
A family friend had one in the very late 70s/early 80s

View attachment 758960

Are you sure that’s not the predecessor of the USS Enterprise?