Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles

The XJ Jeep Cherokee was such a sales hit for the American Motors Corporation that Chrysler kept it in production for nearly 15 years after buying AMC (in fact, the XJ was near the top of Lee Iacocca's Kenosha wish list when the deal happened). Since I live in XJ-centric Colorado, I find many of these trucks during my junkyard travels. Most of them retire around the 200,000-mile mark, but today's Jeep covered better than 350,000 miles during its career.

This isn't the best-traveled XJ I've found in a car graveyard, but its 352,943-mile final odometer reading comes close to that of the 355,892-mile Cherokee I spotted in California last fall. Both of these trucks are 1992 models, so it must have been a good year for Jeeps at Toledo Assembly.

The all-time highest-mile junkyard vehicle I've documented was built in the United States as well, though by a Japanese company: a one-owner 1996 Toyota Avalon with  949,863 miles. For vehicles built in the United States by a company headquartered in the United States, today's Junkyard Gem is in third place, after the 355k-mile Cherokee and a 1986 Oldsmobile Calais with 363,033 miles. Then there are the cars built in Canada by American companies: a 1994 Dodge Caravan with 434,475 miles and a 2002 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor with 412,013 miles (both born in the Province of Ontario).

If you are shopping for an engine likely to survive intergalactic distances, this one should be near the top of the list: the AMC pushrod straight-six, with its lineage going back to the 1965 Ramblers. If this one is original equipment, then it's a 4.0-liter rated at 190 horsepower and 225 pound-feet.

The transmission is the base five-speed Aisin manual.

The final year for the XJ Cherokee in the United States was 2001, though production of XJs and XJ copies continued in China until very recently.

Values for nice examples of the XJ have been strong in recent years, though this one is too rough and has too many miles (plus too many pedals) to have stood much chance of restoration.

Keeps you safe and sound … or safe and no sound.

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles

Junkyard Gem: 1992 Jeep Cherokee with 350K miles