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Jeep currently offers only two manual models (the Wrangler and its sibling, the Gladiator), but it wasn’t long ago that you could buy regular three-pedal-powered commuter Jeeps. Today’s junkyard gem is one of those machines: a first-generation Liberty with a six-speed manual bolted to the V6 engine, recently found in a Denver junkyard.

When I’m out salvaging, I’m always on the lookout for rare manual vehicles and have found such oddities as a 2007 Toyota Camry manual (and one of the last V6 manual Camrys ever sold in America), a Mercury Mystique manual, a Chrysler PT Cruiser manual, a Volvo C30 manual, a Saturn Vue manual, a Chevrolet HHR manual, and even a manual Olds Alero.

Did the original buyer of this car prefer to drive a vehicle with a manual transmission or was the decision to stick with the basic transmission purely a question of money?

The engine is a 3.7-liter PowerTech V6, a member of a family of engines whose development began under American Motors and continued after Chrysler acquired AMC in 1987. In this application, power was 210 horsepower and 235 pound-feet of torque.

The first generation Liberty was developed as a replacement for the older XJ Cherokee and debuted as a 2002 model.

The original Liberty was built until 2007 and was then replaced by the second generation Liberty, derived from the Dodge Nitro.

This side-mounted radio antenna looks like a JC Whitney addition, but works well for homemade boomboxes made from car parts.

Elegant interior, robust exterior.