Between the boxy Toyota Van of the middle 1980s and the competent-but-unexciting Sienna of our current century, Toyota spent much of the 1990s trying to sell Americans the oddball Previa minivan. A masterpiece of engineering wrapped in a goofy-yet-futuristic-looking egg-shaped body, the Previa boasted a mid-mounted engine flipped on its side and located beneath the front seats. Later versions had an intercooled supercharger, and Previa shoppers wishing for better grip in mud and snow could get Toyota's innovative All-Trac all-wheel-drive system. All-Trac Previas are slightly easier to find in Colorado junkyards than their Camry brethren — yes, there was a Camry All-Trac in the late 1980s and early 1990s — but a Previa with All-Trac and a manual transmission? That super-rare combination is exactly what we've got for today's Junkyard Gem!

Back in the early 1990s, American car shoppers could choose from an extravaganza of sporty-looking front-wheel-drive coupes. The Geo Storm GSi may have offered the most performance per dollar, but the early Mazda MX-3 made a lot of sense as a reasonably fun commuter car. The MX-3, based on the 323/Protegé chassis (and thus a close cousin to the Ford Escort of the same era) could be purchased in the United States for the 1992 through 1996 model years, and junkyard examples have become very hard to find. Here's a '92 in a Colorado Springs yard.