Today’s topic is the tail lights on the 2007-2009 Toyota Camry. You know these tail lights well, because you’ve been stuck behind them, for hours on end, going the speed limit in the left lane of your major local interstate highways.

Toyota had three different powertrains for this Camry: a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder, a 268-hp V6, and a 4-cylinder hybrid. Interestingly, it also had two tail light designs.

The design above was used on all non-hybrid Camry models. Meanwhile, the design below was used on all hybrids.

Now, you might think these look pretty similar, and you’re right. But they have two crucial differences. One is obvious: the piece on the trunk is clear on the Camry Hybrid, while it’s half red on the gasoline-powered cars. Note to Camry Hybrid buyers: if your car has red trunk tail light pieces, it’s had bodywork.

The other difference is less obvious: while the Camry Hybrid has LED brake lights, the standard Camry does not. I have no possible explanation for why the did this, especially because the turn signals in both cars are non-LED.

Interestingly, most of these changes carried over when Toyota facelifted the Camry for the 2010 model year – but that’s a whoooole different article.

But I care, and so does an alert reader who contacted me to tell me about the swing vents. But I already knew, as did four or five others out there, none of whom have a life either.

Here’s how it worked: you got in your early 1990s Mazda 626, put on the air conditioning or heat, and voila! The air pushed out of the vents as they moved back and forth. The result was your cabin was wafted with air, much like you’re royalty from thousands of years ago – you know, the ones that are always sitting in a throne-like chair while servants spread air back and forth using giant leaves.

I know this feature made it on the Mazda 626, and I think it was on the 929 as well. Supposedly, the first-generation Lexus LS400 also had it, though I’m unable to confirm that as first-gen LS400 owners are all currently asleep in their retirement communities. The LS430 may have also used it.

The Volkswagen Phaeton did not have oscillating vents, as many people think, but rather wood vent covers that electronically went up or down when you activated the climate control. If you have a Phaeton now, at least two of these probably still work.

Unfortunately, oscillating vents seemingly have gone the way of the carburetor – probably because they made absolutely no sense in the first place. Maybe Mazda could’ve made a competitive minivan if they hadn’t spent so much money on the damn oscillating vents.

(BONUS: this piece uses the word “oscillating” more times than anything else in Internet history. Just to be safe, oscillating oscillating oscillating.)

Here’s a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWCxw7xKjko

Of course, it’s no surprise a V6/stick combo was available in the “sporty” Accord coupe. But here’s an interesting fact: for two short years – 2006 and 2007 – you could also get an Accord sedan with a V6 and a stick shift. I consider this the high-water mark of the entire Accord run, although LaneWatch comes damn close.

Anyway: for those of you minutiae-obsessed enthusiasts out there, here’s an even cooler fact: you can tell apart the V6 manual sedans from the V6 automatics. Here’s how:

Wheels

The easiest way to tell the two cars apart is the wheels. Every single V6 manual Accord sedan used these:

This was very different from other Accord wheels. The closest wheel was this one, which was used in 2003 and 2004 on the four-cylinder Accord EX-L:

But if you ever get confused – or if the owner has changed the wheels, there’s always…

Badging

This is the best part about the V6 manual Accord sedan. On all the Accord V6 sedans with an automatic transmission, Honda included a boring ol’ badge that printed “V6” in black lettering. But the manual got it in red letters, like so:

Compared to the normal badge…

It’s hard to get any more minute than this. But remember: if you see an Accord V6 manual sedan, you’re looking at the rarest version of the ’03-’07 Accord in existence. That makes it interesting. To some of us.

-@DougDeMuro

Let’s start with what the Jimmy Diamond is: ugly. But also a luxurious special edition version of the Jimmy sold late in its model run to try and earn a few sales from shoppers who thought the Oldsmobile Bravada was a little too retirement village.

There were a few major updates that distinguished the Jimmy Diamond from the standard Jimmy. The wheels were one. The chrome running boards were another. But most importantly, there was the odd strip of silver trim on both doors. All Jimmy Diamonds had that, while no regular Jimmys did (fortunately), so it’s a good way to distinguish between the two. Also: many, but not all, Jimmy Diamonds had a “grille guard” in front, for reasons totally unknown.

Now that we’ve covered the exterior, we must move on to the interior, which is the actual ugly part. That’s because the entire thing is covered with – truly – a diamond pattern. Diamond seats, diamond door panels, and – in case you forgot what you were sitting in – the Jimmy Diamond’s logo slapped on all four headrests. The logo was, of course, some diamonds.

Obviously, the Diamond Edition didn’t last long, and you rarely see them on the roads anymore. But if you ever visit the junkyard, at least you’ll know what you’re looking at. Then you’ll cover your eyes.

-@DougDeMuro

But there was one impressive detail about my W124. In fact, it was an impressive detail of all W124 models, which – by the way – is the chassis code for the E-Class made from 1985 to 1995. And that one impressive detail is the mirrors.

You see, all W124 models had two different mirror sizes. The driver side mirror was upright and narrow, while the passenger mirror was flat and wide. The theory was that W124 drivers would be in the left lane so often that they’d need a larger mirror to see right lane traffic. Obviously, the people who came up with this idea never drove a 200E.

Unfortunately, the advent of cost-cutting (which really had never before been undertaken at Mercedes-Benz) killed the dual-mirror setup when the W210 came out in 1996. And although I was happy to own both a W210 E-Class and its predecessor, the W211, nothing ever felt as stately as the 500E. Of course, my passengers would disagree.

Note that I didn’t say “vents.” That’s because the LR3 has only one fender vent, located on its passenger side. Interestingly, the vent is actually functional: when you’re fording a stream of up to some ungodly amount of inches known only to the person who wrote the press guide, it allows the engine to breathe. In fact, this is where LR3 off-roaders (both of them) stick their snorkels.

It actually gets slightly more interesting: the LR4 – which replaced the LR3 in the same way the 2012 Civic replaced the 2011 model – has vents on both sides. Presumably, these are also functional, though no one knows because the LR4 hasn’t depreciated to the point where people are off-roading them. Give it another 30 days.

I’m not precisely sure what purpose this knowledge serves, except possibly that – if you were ever confused – you can now ascertain precisely which side of a Land Rover LR3 you’re looking at. Also, if you’re on the driver’s side, you can distinguish between an LR3 and an LR4.

And how else can you tell apart an LR4? Well, that’s probably a subject for a later minutiae column.

There are, however, a few unique touches that set apart today’s crop of new cars. And the very best is Hyundai’s “atomic” tail lights.

The atomic tail lights are only included on the Sonata Hybrid, which should probably the subject of its own minutiae column for the insane number of tiny details it has over the regular Sonata. But of all the details, these tail lights are the coolest.

Let’s start with the obvious: these things look like atoms. Just like you learned about in high school, with the electrons orbiting the nucleus, and of course, a large degree of other highly complicated things whose names I have completely forgotten thanks to automotive knowledge.

I believe this is, therefore, the coolest tail light in the history of the car industry. It’s far cooler than the tail light in my Range Rover, which – like all Land Rover tail lights – is now full of condensation. And let’s be clear: condensation isn’t anywhere near as cool as atoms.

The only problem with the Sonata Hybrid’s tail light is that they’re rather difficult to see. When the lights are off or the brake lights are on, they’re very faint. You can really only see them when the tail lights alone are illuminated – and you have to be looking at them from the right angle. This very much makes them automotive minutiae. But also a totally justifiable reason for purchasing a Sonata Hybrid.

Anyway, the Altima Hybrid got 33 mpg city and 33 mpg highway, which is actually better than the Camry Hybrid from the same period. I know what you’re thinking: I want to buy an Altima Hybrid! Or possibly: get to the point, dammit, I’m sick of reading about front-wheel drive Japanese cars!

The point is that many of you can’t buy an Altima Hybrid, even if you wanted to, because Nissan only offered it in 10 states. They were California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, Rhode Island and Vermont. These states share two things: one is that they all follow California’s strict emissions laws, which require that cars emit only vapors that calm baby seals.

The other thing these states share is that they all require two license plates. You can probably guess where I’m going with this.

The result of Nissan’s decision to sell the Altima Hybrid in California emissions states and only in California emissions states is that every single Altima Hybrid has a front license plate bracket. (Except, of course, for the press cars, which is why it’s so damn hard to find a photo of one.) This, folks, is minutiae at its very most minute. But did you expect anything else from me?

Of course, Land Rover knows the wealthy like subtle displays of wealth because Land Rover is well-versed in the psychology of rich people. They must be, since they still have strong brand loyalty no matter how many times customer cars come in on a flatbed.

The differences between the 2006-2009 Range Rover and its more powerful Range Rover Supercharged twin are great examples of the slight distinctions adored by the wealthy. On the outside, there are four major ways to tell them apart.

One is the front grille. While the regular 2006-2009 Range Rover (which made do with a paltry 305 horsepower) retained Land Rover’s horizontal slats, the Supercharged added the chain-link fence look. Apparently, this is the Land Rover equivalent to an OBX sticker.

Number two: side grilles. Each 2006-2009 Range Rover has a rather tall vertical grille right behind the front wheels that’s almost certainly non-functional. In Supercharged models, it retains the chain-link look of the front grille – apparently a vast step up from the naturally-aspirated Rover’s vertical slats.

Of course, the Range Rover Supercharged also wore distinct wheels. But those are easy to change, not unlike slapping an Aspen sticker on your car when your mountain home is actually in Vail.

The best way to tell the 2006-2009 Supercharged apart from its rawther pedestrian naturally-aspirated stablemate is the taillights. You see, wheels can be swapped. So can grilles. But nearly all the posers forget the taillights.

All 2006-2009 Range Rovers had two circular taillights stacked on top of one another. But while the non-supercharged models had one clear light above one red light, only the Range Rover Supercharged had two clear lights. At night, when the lights are illuminated, you can still tell them apart: the lower light in Supercharged models shows as pink, while it’s red in the base model.

Now that you’ve learned the differences, you may forget them. Owners of base models certainly hope you will.

But today, it’s the subject of some minutiae near and dear to PlaysWithCars: tail lights.  You see, despite being offered for just five years, the Accord used three different tail light designs.  And so, for those of you who are as pedantic and detail-obsessed as me, here they are.

2003-2004

The 2003 and 2004 models used a narrow horizontal strip of tail light.  The top half was red, and the bottom half – which housed the reverse lights and turn signals – was clear.  There’s nothing exceptionally interesting about this, except that they were a bit … odd looking.

2005

The 2005 Accord sedan shared its taillight design with the ’03-’04 models with one exception: the lower half of the lights was red.  This included the turn signals, which previously lit up amber.  So, you can wow your passengers when you see all-red tail lights on an Accord, since it can only be a 2005 model.  From experience, they won’t be very impressed.

2006-2007

Apparently receptive to my “odd looking” remark above, Honda completely changed the rear of its seventh-generation Accord in 2006.  The old tail lights were gone, replaced instead by oddly-shaped triangles and a trunk that no longer housed a bunch of reflectors.

And thus, the minutiae of the 2003-2007 Honda Accord.   Admit it: with this in mind, your commute home just got slightly more interesting.