Junkyard Gem: 1988 Toyota Corolla GT-S

In the United States, a bewildering number of unrelated and semi-related vehicles have been given Corolla badging. In the early 1980s, for example, budget-constrained car shoppers could buy a brand-new Corolla Tercel (not related to the regular Corolla). Then there was the legendary rear-wheel-drive AE86 Corolla, which could be purchased in the same showroom as the front-wheel-drive AE82 Corolla. By 1988, the Corolla was also on the front-wheel-drive AE90 platform, and the hot GT-S version was based on the Japanese-market Sprinter Trueno. Confused? So was the forklift driver who dropped a Honda V6 on the roof of this car, which I spotted in a Northern California self-service wrecking yard not long ago.



There's a big ol' Detroit transmission in the trunk, too.



These cars were pretty quick by 1988 standards, especially given the miserly $10,408 price tag (about 21 grand in inflation-adjusted 2016 dollars). BMW buyers paid $23,750 for a brand-new 325 that year, complete with 127 horsepower, while the AE92 Corolla GT-S made 115 hp and weighed 600 pounds less.



This one has been picked clean inside, but the 4AGE engine is still there. These engines aren't hard to find these days, so most end up getting eaten by the crusher once they get here.



Being front-wheel-drive, these cars have been spared the fate of their rear-wheel-drive AE86 and TE72 predecessors (being destroyed by 19-year-old wannabe drifter kings), but even 1980s Toyotas can't last forever.