In recent days, CC Cohort contributor canadiancatgreen has uploaded a batch of junkyard finds to our Flickr group. It’s been a while since our last visit to this yard, so let’s take another look, this time focusing mostly on cars from the 1990s. Fortunately, canadiancatgreen’s photos often include model years provided by the yard’s staff, which helps pin down the dates of vehicles that sometimes had remarkably long production runs. Those dates aren’t necessarily always right, but they’re a useful starting point.
Whether any of these cars qualify as truly emblematic is open to debate. Most, however, were everyday sights on the roads back then, and three decades later, some are becoming quite scarce. We’ll open the gallery with a somewhat controversial offering from the era: a Chevrolet Caprice in its original 1991–1992 form.
Another “let’s catch up with the Aero looks” GM offering, a 1994 Cadillac DeVille.
On a very different spectrum, a 2000 Integra.
A 1980s package still available in the 1990s; a 1993 Mercury Topaz.
Staying with another 1980s offering that went into a very looong life; a 1994 Buick Century.
The variety of body styles back in the 1990s seems a bit crazy, seen from today’s CUV/SUV crazy world; here a 1993 Ford Festiva (aka Kia Pride).
Another design that went back to the Eighties; a 2000 GMC Safari (aka Chevy Astro).
Staying in the 1980s theme, one of that decade’s poster children; a 1991 Mercedes 300E.
A 1994 Cutlass, from Oldsmobile’s plummeting years.
The elegantly aero-styled Town Cars of the 1990s; here a 1996 model.
Moving on to basic cars of the era, a 1999 Mazda Protegé.
Pathfinders were some of Nissan’s most popular things in those days; here’s a 2000 model.
Let’s move to Pentastar offerings; a 1991 Dodge Dakota Sport.
And a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus that had clearly just arrived.
On the opposite spectrum of a junkyard find, this 1998 Honda Prelude had already been seriously scavenged.
A bit of 1990s teal on a 1993 GMC Sierra.
For the Subbie lovers, a 1998 Subary Legacy wagon, with enough cladding to join the “wish I was a CUV” feel of those days.
We started with a GM bathtub, and we’ll end with one, too: a Buick Roadmaster wagon, complete with faux woodgrain and colors that hark back to an earlier era. A fitting bookend for this gallery, and a reminder of the contrasting trends that shaped the automotive landscape of the 1990s.
Wow ;
As I enter my 8th decade I really begin to grasp what those old codgers were on about when I were a sprout .
Those early Chevy ‘whales’ were so popular, now mostly all gone .
-Nate
BTW : Anyone heard from Jack Baruth at ACF ? .
He went silent and I hope he’s okay .
-Nate
I googled him and found that he (well, I think it is him) writes a monthly pop culture piece at “The Washington Examiner.” There were several automotive pieces, but also pop music album reviews among other things. There was story from him posted there just yesterday (October 24, 2026) at: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/jack-baruth/
He had written some auto-related stories at “The Free Press,” the most recent of which was posted in July of 2026 at: https://www.thefp.com/w/jack-baruth.
That Chevy at the top brings back memories. My first big-boy job involved frequently traveling on business with a group of people. One of my earlier trips was to Texas and the rental on that trip was a 1994 Caprice in that color maroon and the 4.3-liter V8. After we finished our business in Houston, we drove it to San Antonio. We figured we’d stop for dinner just outside of Houston to make it easier to get off and on the highway. The problem was that in 1994 there was NOTHING between Houston and San Antonio, and we pulled into San Antonio very tired and hungry (and a little seasick from the wallowing ride).
After dropping them off at the airport on Friday, I drove it up to Dallas to visit my old friend Paul for the weekend. Our mutual friend Steve also happened to be visiting from Florida, where we all grew up. I met them at Hooters and they both broke down laughing when they saw what I was driving.
In a fit of truly bad taste and in honor of the Caprice’s obscene length, we drove it past the Texas Schoolbook Depository, Paul waving out the back window, then pretending to be hit by a bullet, where I then floored the accelerator and sped away. I’m not proud of this.
What a shame! That’s my dream car! It’s got some rust, but I’ve always wanted one of those bubble caprices, especially the early ones with the low wheel wells in the back, although I bet they make changing tires a pain. They always reminded me of the step-down hudsons, and that shade of maroon paint over gm’s maroon interiors was one of the best looking then in my opinion. I don’t know if they had chrome on the window winders like 1500 scottsdales from about the same time did, but it would look gorgeous. I wonder why it was junked? Fix the rust, redo the paint, find a crack free dash, give it a rear disk conversion and the handling package and I would be in heaven.
How can you focus on the ’90s and not include a Saturn?? You are proud of that. You just won’t admit it in public. 🙂
The 4th pic of what you call a 1993 Mercury Topaz, ain’t a Topaz. I’d say it’s a Grand Marquis.
Though they do have similar rooflines and taillight designs, the tell from that angle is that the Grand Marquis does not have a side windows behind the rear doors and the rear-door windows in the Topaz are one piece instead of split like the GM.
That is absolutely unequivocally a Topaz. The sedans got a formal roofline change for 88 to distinguish it from the Tempo and that’s what you see with this one
The Topaz is a small car. This isn’t.
I think the camera perspective could give that impression but I suspect that door in the trunk of a grand Marquis might not take up the whole opening like it does here. And the formal styling is intended to give the illusion of bigness itself, in fact it’s very similar in its rear styling as the Taurus based Continental that came out the same year.
Nevertheless it is a Topaz, here’s its twin
Thanks for this article. Hopefully, the memory of it will keep me from wasting money on any vehicle.
All the nineties Toyota’s are still on the roads lol
I drive a 90 Caprice daily. Different from the later models, but the same in many ways. I don’t see a more viable means of transportation built today. Comfortable, economical, dependable. When the engine wears out, it gets another engine.