Yahoo Autos Junkyard Gem: 1992 Subaru SVX
The first new Subarus sold in the United States were microscopic kei cars brought over by Malcolm Bricklin in 1968, and they were followed by slightly larger (but still comically tiny) Leones a few years later. Bigger and better-equipped Leones followed during the 1980s, along with the sleek XT sports car. When the XT's successor appeared here for the 1992 model year, it was named the SVX and it looked wild! Today's Junkyard Gem is one of those first-year SVXs, found in a Colorado car graveyard.
In Japan, the XT and SVX were known as the Alcyone XT and Alcyone SVX, named after the brightest star in the constellation Subaru uses in its logo.
The 1988 XT6 was the first Subaru sold here to get a six-cylinder engine, and its SVX successor also had boxer-six power. Some junkyard shopper bought this car's engine before I arrived, but it was a 3.3-liter DOHC unit rated at 230 horsepower and 228 pound-feet.
At the time the SVX was designed, Subaru didn't have a manual transmission that could handle the 3.3's output, so every one of these cars came from the factory with a four-speed automatic transmission.
These transmissions proved troublesome in the real world, though Subaru eventually made automatics survive reasonably well behind its H6 engines.
For 1992 and 1993, all U.S.-market SVXs were equipped with all-wheel-drive; front-wheel-drive versions were available for the 1994 and 1995 model years (after which all Subarus sold here had AWD as standard equipment).
