What happened to all the Dodge and Plymouth Neons?

I was wondering about this very subject just a week or two ago...

About 5 or so years ago, I could get a replacement transmission any day of the week within a 2 hour radius from craigslist for $75.  Yeah, it'd be the 3.55, but that was okay.  If I ate up a transmission, it wasn't worth keeping around to rebuild or anything, I just took them to the scrapper. 

I could also go to my local junkyard and have 4-6 from which to choose if I needed anything else, although they were usually ATX.

A couple months ago, when the first 1gn Neon showed up in a yard since forever ago, I basically dropped everything I was doing to run out there as quickly as possible to pull the transmission to have a spare.  I'm hoarding dash pads like a dragon, and I even have a set of Koni blacks that are blown and I won't really ever need.  But I keep them just because you can't get them.

Wow, our Neon during its transitional phase from D Stock to CSP trim. 

Also, see that SCCA SOLO EVENTS sticker on the rear bumper? Anyone have some? I’m on the hunt for them. 

Thanks. 

Around here, they all returned back to the Errff.

Sadly, I think we've hit the point of "How far can a neon go on one timing belt?" and that is why they've all disappeared rather quickly.

From the article: "I won a regional Showroom Stock road race championship in it, and I drove it to and from every race that season."

A bit of a tangent, but are there any cars/classes in which I could reasonably do that today? Sounds like a great budget setup to have a streetable car that can compete in autocross and road racing. 

I think circle track and Lemons/Chump claimed a lot of the Neons that did survive.

To be fair, around here most cars from that era have pretty much started disappearing from the road anyway.

I remember thinking when the Neon came out that Dodge had finally gotten it's sh-t together.  They were fast at the time!

I was thinking about this a couple of days ago.  I sold my 1972 911 (20 years ago before the prices went bonkers) to be able to buy another Neon.  The Neon was faster and actually more fun to drive than the 911.  Fast forward to today.  Neons are much more rare than long hood 911s but if you can find one they're $3000 or less vs. $60k and up.  I did a search on AutoTempest and found 14 Neons for sale in the entire country.  The first site on AutoTempest had 25+ long hood 911s.

I had 2 '95s.  I loved them to the point that I was an admin at neons.org and I compiled / wrote a fair portion of the Neon FAQ there.

First was Dodge Sport sedan, bought new, that got 2.4-swapped in about 2001.  With the bigger, torquier engine it was a great daily, even with the archaic 31TH auto box.  White with yellow skunk stripes we put on it in '96 or so, before the R/T appeared.

In 1999 the Dodge became DW's full-time daily when I bought a used Plymouth ACR sedan, also white.  I bought it from Randy Stocker in the ATL area - that car had actually appeared in a GRM 'Fast Four Doors' article in '97 or so.

The 2.4 Dodge died in a flash flood in 2004 and got scrapped, even though the body was in great shape.

I flogged the ACR until 2006, when I sold it to a guy who was going to cage it and make a hillclimber out of it.  I don't know whatever became of it.  I still miss it occasionally.

If anybody wants it, I still have a full factory leather interior in grey from the Sport.  Yours for the low low price of "Come get this out of my basement."

CrashDummy said:

From the article: "I won a regional Showroom Stock road race championship in it, and I drove it to and from every race that season."

A bit of a tangent, but are there any cars/classes in which I could reasonably do that today? Sounds like a great budget setup to have a streetable car that can compete in autocross and road racing. 

One thing that helped the Neon’s streetability: This was back when Showroom Stock cars ran stock seats and bolt-in cages with a single door bar. We drove that thing everywhere, full graphics and everything. 

My sick buddy had his brother contact me last night to buy his Neon ACR 2 door.  He already has a deal to the neighbor and will pull the deal if I was interested.

I sorta am but that's a dick move to burn the guy who already has a deal so I passed. 

One thing I strongly remember about the Neons was the advertising: pictures of the front with ad copy emphasizing the smile and describing it as the happy small car.

Seems like all the cars and trucks today are trying to look tough and angry, but just look constipated.

In reply to BoulderG :

Hi.

From reading neons.org back in the day, they had a design life of 80k miles and Chrysler engineers are very good.  The wiring harnesses and chassis would last about that long on the street.  Racing, people were reporting getting about a year out of a shell and keeping spare engine harnesses on the trailer.

I really liked them. Fond memories of flying around Laguna Seca in them.

 It's funny how a Neon is now harder to find than an old 911. I never would have guessed that back in 1999.

In reply to BoulderG :

Yeah I'd love to see a new car that looks happy. So tired of the current angry beefcake look.

I really liked the '98 RT I bought new, which handled well, had pretty nice seats, and defined the term "cheap and cheerful" at a whopping $9500 out the door.

As Pete says, they were definitely engineered to a price and not for the ages - for instance, Dodge was very proud to have set a new low in the number of fasteners used to attach the dash. 

Ashes to ashes, rust to rust.

As said, used to be everywhere. Now it's shocking to see one pop up in yard

But part of that is TIME. It's been 20 years since a new one existed, right?

Seems like almost all of the once ubiquitous Sebrings, Intrepids and Voyagers/Caravans from that era are gone too.

Y'all are making me miss my 2.4 swapped 98 Neon (more than usual).

I miss my 98 R/T something fierce.  Stoplight to stoplight it would out drag a mustang GT. Get up over 60 and the stand would reel you back in, over 70 and it was past you. Still would run 120 out of the box. Dang I miss that little car. 

I miss my 98 R/T something fierce.  Stoplight to stoplight it would out drag a mustang GT. Get up over 60 and the stang would reel you back in, over 70 and it was past you. Still would run 120 out of the box. Dang I miss that little car. 

There's always this one, if somebody wants an almost entirely SCCA legal IT car..

wae said:

A couple months ago, when the first 1gn Neon showed up in a yard since forever ago, I basically dropped everything I was doing to run out there as quickly as possible to pull the transmission to have a spare.  I'm hoarding dash pads like a dragon, and I even have a set of Koni blacks that are blown and I won't really ever need.  But I keep them just because you can't get them.

The 2 local-ish yards here have 20.

I have only come across a couple 5sp in my RallyX search

Streetwiseguy said:

There's always this one, if somebody wants an almost entirely SCCA legal IT car..

Tell me more about it.

Appleseed said:

Around here, they all returned back to the Errff.

Same thing here in Minneapolis, although I did see a guy this last winter driving around in the salt and slush in an SRT-4. 

L5wolvesf said:

wae said:

A couple months ago, when the first 1gn Neon showed up in a yard since forever ago, I basically dropped everything I was doing to run out there as quickly as possible to pull the transmission to have a spare.  I'm hoarding dash pads like a dragon, and I even have a set of Koni blacks that are blown and I won't really ever need.  But I keep them just because you can't get them.

The 2 local-ish yards here have 20.

I have only come across a couple 5sp in my RallyX search

I'm betting I am not the only one who clicked on your name to see the location in your profile.

In reply to eastsideTim :

No kidding.  I had to drive a few hours into Michigan just to get the closest set of Neon wheels from a junkyard

I raced Showroom Stock in the 90s (NA Miata) and also used it as a daily.

I raced against Alex Gurney who was driving a Neon

(raced against as in on the track at the same time......Mr Gurney was 3-4 tenths quicker than me).

Also raced against John Fernandez (he was with Chrysler then) and he showed me all the updates they'd been doing for the Neons

There are 5-10 of them running in the mini stock class at my local circle track on a Saturday night, but I haven't seen one on the street in a bit.

eastsideTim said:

L5wolvesf said:

wae said:

A couple months ago, when the first 1gn Neon showed up in a yard since forever ago, I basically dropped everything I was doing to run out there as quickly as possible to pull the transmission to have a spare.  I'm hoarding dash pads like a dragon, and I even have a set of Koni blacks that are blown and I won't really ever need.  But I keep them just because you can't get them.

The 2 local-ish yards here have 20.

I have only come across a couple 5sp in my RallyX search

I'm betting I am not the only one who clicked on your name to see the location in your profile.

I thought I heard a clicking in my head :) 

Maybe this will help - http://harryhansen.com/upaz/chosmake.php

I know what happened to one of them. 

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

Doh!

There was a 1997 Plymouth  Neon Coupe in that bright purple for sale recently near me. 3000 miles, manual trans, one owner. They wanted $13k and apparently it sold

Here's the archived web page if you want to take a look

Someone brought out a 4 door R/T to a track night last fall, and it got just as  much attention in the paddock, if not more, as anything else there.  Was super cool to see.

In reply to L5wolvesf :

Championship winning Western Canada Motorsports Association IT2 car.  Fresh stock twincam, 3.92 5 speed, revalved Konis, bushings, Coil overs, Ground control turn plates, Accusump because right hand turns at Edmonton, 8- 15" slipstreams, ancient Rivals, illegal oversized throttle body, Pretty much rust free.  It was a fancy one, and its now pretty much an RT spec because I deleted the ABS after the second time it tried desperately to kill me on a trail braking left transitioning into a hard left.

Cage probably needs a couple of tubes added, which I would do, because specs have changed a bit since I built it 15 years ago.  Has a Kirkey 17" road race seat on a double lock slider.  Cover is a bit sun faded.  Belts are way out of date.

I'd sell it for quite a bit less than the sum of it's parts...

Was the Neon easy to get into prolonged oversteer?

The instructors at Skip Barber took us on a tour of the track in 4 or 5 cars, all loaded with 4 people and were drifting them, 4 cars abreast through almost every turn. All while narrating the whole thing to us. It was incredible. 

Everyone walked away more blown away by the Neon than the Vipers we got to drive. The staff said they sold a ton of Neons that way.

In reply to CyberEric :

Trailing throttle oversteer is certainly a thing.  The dude in the video probably tried to lose a bit of speed there, when he should have planted the throttle and steered like a madman.

One of the ways in which Neons ruled for stock class rallycross was their ability to change direction or rotate at will.  Not necessarily "oversteer", just the ability to play the chassis like a musical instrument.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

One of the ways in which Neons ruled for stock class rallycross was their ability to change direction or rotate at will.  Not necessarily "oversteer", just the ability to play the chassis like a musical instrument.

Mine wasn't so great at that, until I installed the R/T rear sway bar, then it was so easy to dial in just the right amount of rotation.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

One of the ways in which Neons ruled for stock class rallycross was their ability to change direction or rotate at will.  Not necessarily "oversteer", just the ability to play the chassis like a musical instrument.

And I always fought that in mine, because I was racing against double wishbone Civics and Integras.  I could absolutely yard them on the straights, though. 

In reply to pinchvalve (Forum Supporter) :

I was just reading through registration and competition requirements for this hillclimb.

Its local and registration opened earlier this week but sadly my car won't meet the safety requirements.

Watching this was a good reminder to make those safety investments.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

From reading neons.org back in the day, they had a design life of 80k miles and Chrysler engineers are very good.  The wiring harnesses and chassis would last about that long on the street.  Racing, people were reporting getting about a year out of a shell and keeping spare engine harnesses on the trailer.

I got 450k miles out of my first one.  I was hoping for 500k but the oil light started to flicker at idle.  The other one I sold with 350K miles still going strong.  I think it was cheap car syndrome.  People that buy cheap cars don't usually like to pony up for maintenance.  For me the weak link was alternators but I think that's the fault of Oreilly remans.  The original went about 150k, the remans were an annual replacement.

Streetwiseguy said:

In reply to L5wolvesf :

I'd sell it for quite a bit less than the sum of it's parts...

Sounds good to me but my wallet just had a grand mal. Then I'd have to get there and back. Tell me anyway I can take it. 

Had a couple of friends who raced them in Showroom Stock back in the day. One of those friends also street drove it into Boston on her daily commute. She used magnets for numbers and other decals that were stowed inside on the trunk lid, so the thing just looked like a stock Neon on the street (well, except for the roll cage).

Don't forget the Celebrity Challenge races they used to run, too. B-list celebrities in a fleet of identically prepared Neons as support races to some of the pro series. One of my Neon-racing friends did a Neon Pro race at Lime Rock, that was run along with the celebrity race at a Trans Am weekend. Got to see Alfonso Ribeiro (famous as Carlton in The Fresh Prince) barrel roll his Neon down the front straight. He was fine, and the Chrysler PR guys had the wreck cleaned up and out of sight in no time...

I spent an inordinate amount of time on the .org in the early 2000's. Around that time I had a stock sohc sedan, then a NYG DOHC coupe, then black ACR coupe, and a black DOHC espresso coupe. 
Various combinations of 2.0, stock 2.4, 2.4 w/cams, srt4 2.4 on mega squirt. Fun cars, very underrated in their time. I recognise some of this threads posters from that era.

My dad reckons the 2.4 turbo was the first car that scared him. Would comfortably spin the 195 section Azenis at surprising speeds on a cold day. 
 

Every once and a while I'll try to find a 1g for sale, but it's probably best to leave it as a 'good memory'. If I'm going to struggle with parts availability, it had better be worth it!

Streetwiseguy said:

In reply to CyberEric :

Trailing throttle oversteer is certainly a thing.  The dude in the video probably tried to lose a bit of speed there, when he should have planted the throttle and steered like a madman.

Duryea hill climb. I used to compete in that. That corner has a nickname that escapes me. It's a slight bend in the road but has a dip in it. The brave/crazy keep their foot planted through there but it leads to a hairpin left just out of camera shot. Lifting, combined with the dip and a overly stiff suspension, can get you that result.

I went through there without lifting in a fwd Audi. It's a bit terrifying.

Y'all must only be talking about the 1st gen. My mom had a 98  and what a POS that thing was even brand new. It lasted just long enough for her to buy a 2003 sxt brand new. Also a POS but it will not die. The 2003 is sitting in her driveway because it won't shift out of first gear. The engine will pull all day though, I drive it around the block a few months ago lol. She hasn't driven it in at least 7 or 8 years. She's been trying to give it away and no one will even take it ha! 

How has Dusterbd missed this conversation?

ddavidv said:

Streetwiseguy said:

In reply to CyberEric :

Trailing throttle oversteer is certainly a thing.  The dude in the video probably tried to lose a bit of speed there, when he should have planted the throttle and steered like a madman.

Duryea hill climb. I used to compete in that. That corner has a nickname that escapes me. It's a slight bend in the road but has a dip in it. The brave/crazy keep their foot planted through there but it leads to a hairpin left just out of camera shot. Lifting, combined with the dip and a overly stiff suspension, can get you that result.

I went through there without lifting in a fwd Audi. It's a bit terrifying.

That was Pagoda, but the same corner (called Oh Sh*t). The dip on the right side of the road was particularly bad that year, and drivers were warned to stay clear of it. The road was still a bit wet, so I was trying to slow for the corner and not turn in too sharply and I went wider than expected. The dip took all the weight off the rear end, it came around, and the front tire climbed the slope of the hillside and over I went.  The car had a full cage and I was in full safety gear and restraints, so I was fine. The car did not survive however, it had a long and storied career, and sadly I ended it.  Great car though. 

^ Old Speednation car with (allegedly) the Razor concept car's engine/cylinder head? 

Obviously I love all things FWD Chrysler, I sold my last 1g neon about a year ago still have a couple SRT4s a 2gn R/T and the SRT powered Omni. The ownership really started to suck in the last several years and that was part of my decision to step away from them. 

David S. Wallens said:

Also, see that SCCA SOLO EVENTS sticker on the rear bumper? Anyone have some? I’m on the hunt for them. 

Thanks. 

Gotcha covered on that, David.

In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :

Got the e-mail and replied. Thank you, Danny!

Back in the day, we were tripping over those decals. Today, it’s a rarity. 

I thought I had some in my stash but only came up with one for CLUB RACING. I just love the look of those block letters.

Thanks again!

There were two neons at the Champcar race at Watkins Glen last weekend. I know where a black flamed coupe with the neon logo on the quarter panels is parked, but I can't catch anyone at home. Large unfriendly dog prevents investigation.

Byrneon27 said:

^ Old Speednation car with (allegedly) the Razor concept car's engine/cylinder head? 

No this was the second Speednation neon to die on a hill.

I still have a copy of this around.  The Neons aren't quite dead yet.

I still see a few being used as dailys here in the Lehigh Valley, but they're getting real shaggy There is one where the carpet shows from outside, who put a sticker on that one?  To contrast there is also a black 2 door ACR with silver stripes that I know to be original obsessive owner. He won't drive either of his cars in the wet, he rides the bus! I don't wander the local wrecking yards, but they are all so space constrained that I doubt they last long after they arrive.

OHSCrifle said:

How has Dusterbd missed this conversation?

Because I sold mine. They were fun little cars but my life is too short and my parking too limited to love them all

This type of car feels like a dead breed. Light, small, 150 or so horsepower. Looking at the cover of that old issue, only the Civic Si and GTI have survived. And the Civic seems so much bigger and heavier. The GTI is still somewhat small but my guess is it weighs around 3200lbs. 
 

I miss this type of car now.

For whatever reason, Honda and VWs are the only enthusiast groups who have kept old chassis fresh by developing more commons swaps and engine rebuilds.

People don't mind $2000 for a freshly rebuild K20/K24 or 16v, VR6 or 1.8T, but for whatever reason, they aren't going to pay that kind of money for a Neon, Cavalier, Saturn, or Ford Econobox. 

Another good example of this are the turbododges. Even if I found a turbo Caravan, I'd be worried about keeping one on the road. 

In reply to pheller :

Because the perception is usually "American compact cars are trash" thus why lavish any attention on them?

My Neon stories:

Chrysler screwed the pooch.  The first gen car had four  design flaws.  Three can be laid at the budget department, one at the design department.

1: design, cab forward, droopy nose, lousy suspension travel, and all the ride compromises caused.

2: budget: every single sohc built for the first few years leaked oil from the cheap head gasket.  Saved a bunch of money replacing them all under warranty, didn't you?

3: budget, cheap short pistons so they all sound like they are gargling rocks on a cold start.

4: budget, frameless windows make the doors cheaper to build, but if you don't German it in the window regulators, you are loud, wind whisting junk.

The results of those four things:

1: a Neon is a cheap throwaway car in the mind a the consumer.

1a,I guess: the four things were all fixed in the second gen car, which was a very comparable car to the same vintage Accord, at Civic pricing.  I know.  I owned both.  However, the die was cast by two things- the previous bad reputation, and the Merc ownership.  The 02 Neon was a very nice car.  The 03 was built with content removed by order of the Germans, and they were toast then. 

Then we got a Caliber...

Last Neon story: A friend was an engineer on the SRT4 team, and one of his jobs was to figure out how to drive the car for the dB test, so they could sneak the "No muffler" thing past the corporate lawyers.

I built half a dozen turbo neons(usually 2.4L swaps) loved them all. I still occasionally look for a neon on FB marketplace to use as a daily driver...but I cant seem to find the one I want. They are all beat to death these days. Hell, I still have a 2.4L long block sitting in the garage waiting for me to find the right one to buy...I really only like the 1st gen coupes though, so its a long search these days.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I looked at an '82 TC3, it was just too small.  But a great rorty exhaust note.  I was told that they had managed it such that it only had the turbo and the cat doing the muffling, no other resonators, but never confirmed that since I couldn't fit in it comfortably.

I had to wander out to Amigo's auto wrecking for a Toyota part this morning, and while walking past the new arrivals, there is a Neon with two pipes out of the muffler.  Look through the window, three pedals.  Pop hood, DOHC.

Now, I'm trying to resist buying the power train, because I have no spares left for the car I don't use anymore.

Streetwiseguy said:

Now, I'm trying to resist buying the power train, because I have no spares left for the car I don't use anymore.

The best GRM logic summation I have ever seen.

I was recently explaining to a newer autocrosser how, back in the day, Neons (then) were like Miatas (today) when it came to cars in the paddock. 

By coincidence, I saw a perfect looking Neon over the weekend. Seems more fitting to post it here than in Unicorns. Pardon the sloppy retouching to blank out the owner's face, but wanted to keep his privacy.

Car looked perfect from the outside. 2005?

https://cars.ksl.com/search/make/Dodge/model/Neon;Neon+SRT-4/zip/84310/miles/100

Dodge Neons within 100 miles of me

matthewmcl said:

https://cars.ksl.com/search/make/Dodge/model/Neon;Neon+SRT-4/zip/84310/miles/100

Dodge Neons within 100 miles of me

 

Those are all second gen Neons.  They didn't have anywhere near the success or following of the first gen from 1994 to 1999.

So, some related history. 

That’s me, driving a Neon at the 1999 SCCA Solo Nationals, when Street Touring was just one class.

And as car No. 1, that means that I was leading for at least a few seconds. 

This was back when everyone was still trying to figure out Street Touring. Did you want the torque of a Prelude? The agility of a Neon or torsion bar Civic?

Not long before we sold our third and final Plymouth Neon (our SCCA Solo Nationals and Pro Solo championship car from 2000), my wife was backing it out of the garage while two neighbor kids stopped their bikes to watch. One kid asked the other "What kind of car is that?"  The other replied "It says Plymouth on the back." The first kid got a confused look and said, "Plymouth? I've never heard of that!" 

Another Neon (not mine) on BAT two years ago supposedly had documentation indicating it was the Last Plymouth, stored since new with 68 miles:

The Last Plymouth?

In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :

Just reminded me of my very first Neon.  It was such a stripper that the only way to know it was a Plymouth was by the VIN.  Options?  Nope, not even a hood badge.

In reply to Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) :

I forgot that you had three Neons. Plus I know you drove a certain yellow one, too. :) 

It’s just amazing to recall the talent attracted to that the Neon program. Anyone who was fast–or wanted to be fast–campaigned a Neon. The support (as in cash) had been never been seen before. 

In reply to David S. Wallens :

Speaking of that yellow Neon, I think the red Neon pictured at the top of this story is the same car as the yellow GRM project car from 1996. It went back to Chrysler to be updated, refreshed, and repainted, then was conveniently delivered to Swanson Chrysler-Plymouth in St. Pete.  Swanson ran a pioneering "one-price" dealership that had been featured in the Wall Street Journal. Once they caught on to the whole Neon ACR phenomenon , they actually started keeping ACRs in stock, lots of them, at discounted pricing.  A bunch of us bought new ACRs from Swanson at bargain prices.  I miss those days of cheap factory-built autocross cars!  

As a man who LOVES neons, decades of being cheap cars, good race cars and rot have really made them thin on the ground. Also the people who want a nice neon also arnt gonna pay a premium price of a nice one. 

Still have fond memories of my neon.

Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) said:

Not long before we sold our third and final Plymouth Neon (our SCCA Solo Nationals and Pro Solo championship car from 2000), my wife was backing it out of the garage while two neighbor kids stopped their bikes to watch. One kid asked the other "What kind of car is that?"  The other replied "It says Plymouth on the back." The first kid got a confused look and said, "Plymouth? I've never heard of that!" 

Another Neon (not mine) on BAT two years ago supposedly had documentation indicating it was the Last Plymouth, stored since new with 68 miles:

The Last Plymouth?

Why buy a car if you don't drive it? Probably to sell it to someone else's collection many years later.

Ozzy said:

Nice and thank you. 

red_stapler said:

Still have fond memories of my neon.

K1s for the win.

The Neon I still have is this little ceramic gem, a gift from artist, autocrosser, and longtime GRM advertiser Scott Schleh, AKA Mr. Clay Cars:

Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) said:

As a man who LOVES neons, decades of being cheap cars, good race cars and rot have really made them thin on the ground. Also the people who want a nice neon also arnt gonna pay a premium price of a nice one. 

This is the problem.  I took a beating from the Neon Facebook groups when I listed Car #19 for $10k.  For those unaware, I had a mint Celebrity Challenge car with ~9000 miles and full documentation.  Race car from day 1 with little in the way of street miles.  Car was fully built to ITA specs.  I ended up getting fair money for the car, but it took quite a lot of time to find the right buyer.  Same goes for Car #18, although that one wasn't in as nice shape so I sold it for what I had into it (all the receipts/invoices were included).

For anyone who made it this far, here are the reasons you don't see Neons any longer:

• Cheap commuter car that has cycled out of most consumers fleets, therefore there is no supply of junkyard cars to cannibalize for parts
• Limited options in new aftermarket parts due to declining popularity of the platform
• Many cars/parts met their demise being smashed in a circle track or Lemons race
• Typical Neon buyer is used to cars/parts being plentiful and therefore are unwilling to pay reasonable prices for a car or parts
• Used performance parts (Konis, etc.) are either hoarded and/or sold at high transaction prices

Really, there's no compelling reason to build a Neon any longer unless you want to be different of have some kind of sentimental connection to the platform.  If you look at it from a utility standpoint of building a race car, why go through all of the hassle of sourcing, hoarding, and rebuilding used parts for a dead platform when you can buy a Civic and have everything at your fingertips thanks to 30+ years of strong aftermarket support.

I still have my 98 acr bubble rims with some beat up BFGs. Located in Rochester nh. Make me a fair offer. Been looking for my acr or a similar one on similar or better condition, for a couple years now. Does not look like I will find one. Rims have about 80k on them, and the bags are the first set of replacements.

Prefer not to ship.

My car was starting to rust, and was parked with no dry storage. I did not want it to get toasted by more rust sitting or mice to destroy the mint stock interior, so I sold it, around 2016. I was the original owner. 

Edit: I still have the original acr springs, I think they had about 80k when replaced with Mopar high rates.

I will say that is kind of a shame that this style of car is quickly disapearing, even from the used market. 

In 10-15 years we're only going to have today's bloated, overly computerized, and hard to find manual vehicles. 

The Neon as well as many others in that cheap commuter car of the 90's genre, is among some of the last to get a decently peppy motor and a 5spd manual. A basic car made into an enthusiast model. By the early 2000's, the options shrunk dramatically, and by the 2010s, all but disappeared. 

Then again I just found a Fiat 500 Abart for pennies. 

I've had a 1998 Plymouth Neon ACR coupe tucked away in a barn for almost a decade, it will be out soon for refurbishing into a summer daily driver (see projects section!). Neons are classics now and have gone full circle, I would go out on a limb and say that a well-kept 1g now qualifies as "cool", and most people will be happy to tell the story of how they used to have one and loved it. I grew up on Neons, so did most of my friends (we still have several ACRs, an R/T, multiple 2.4T swapped coupes and a VQ35 swapped coupe among us). I still see the rare Neon locally, including a mint aquafresh blue sedan, but junkyards are empty, and they never pop up for sale. So many clean examples have fallen victim to circle track racing, and the broken ones get scrapped. They have little value, but it's legitimately shocking how fast parts sell on the FB groups, nothing lasts very long.

Danny Shields (Forum Supporter) said:

The Neon I still have is this little ceramic gem, a gift from artist, autocrosser, and longtime GRM advertiser Scott Schleh, AKA Mr. Clay Cars:

That. Rules. 

I haven't seen a 1st Gen in YEARS around here. Last one I saw was that periwinkle blue color they made them in, and going down the highway, I saw a big sheet of the paint from the hood fly off. I'm willing to bet that happened a lot to those cars! I had a friend who had a pair of R/Ts that he bought new and later an ACR. They were really cool cars.  

2nd Gens are near extinct around here as well. They used to be everywhere. I haven't seen one in a long time. A buddy had a silver 2000 with the automatic when we were in college, and we used to carpool a lot in that or my old '89 Maxima SE. It was kinda quick for what it was! The only ones I see now, in the rare chance that I see one, are clapped out SRT-4's. They all sound like they are seconds from shooting the rods out and have no exhaust, primered body panels, and are on the cheapest Ebay coilovers you can find, but I applaud them for still running after nearly two decades of nonstop abuse.

This picture is over a decade old, but this car is still being autocrossed in Connecticut by a retired school bus driver. I'm not exactly sure, but I think he's now in his 80's.  Still chugging along

Ya, parts are next to impossibe. They really wernt fast. Just cheap to build. Sold mine a long time ago, ahd the thing for 10 years. Great little car, miss it dearly. Wife hated it. Pretty sure the guy I sold it too circle tracked it. 

My buddy still has a turbo 4 door 95 in his garage. has less than 1k miles on the engine. Dont know when the last time he ran it was. Just a disposable car is all. People treated them as such. 

In reply to ddavidv :

Oh S-it. I use to run the hills in Pa. 72 Toyota Corolla # 85 & 86

CanadianCD9A said:

I've had a 1998 Plymouth Neon ACR.....

Looks just like mine, except I had back door handles, and it was a dodge. I had a loaded acr, had both options ac and r(radio). 

lrrs said:

CanadianCD9A said:

I've had a 1998 Plymouth Neon ACR.....

Looks just like mine, except I had back door handles, and it was a dodge. I had a loaded acr, had both options ac and r(radio). 

Rear defrost was another option on the ACR (imagine that in 2023!). You have to pay extra for that kind of equipment delete in contemporary Porsches, such a bargain by today's standards.

In reply to CanadianCD9A :

Had Rear defrost also. 

Paid extra to have the radio removed (part of the Comp package) and then another $600 to get it back.
It was the cassette one, sounded pretty good for a stock radio, Way better than the junk in my 2012 CRV.

No factory cruise, not an option on the ACR.

I'm pretty sure the second they were out of warranty, they had exceeded the manufacturers expected service life.

You guys have me thinking....

Saw this one on the way home today. 

In forgot about the Neon RT that's just down the road from me. The house is Mopar Haven. The have a D Series truck, a Laser, new Dart and a Satellite.

lrrs said:

In reply to CanadianCD9A :

Had Rear defrost also. 

Paid extra to have the radio removed (part of the Comp package) and then another $600 to get it back.
It was the cassette one, sounded pretty good for a stock radio, Way better than the junk in my 2012 CRV.

No factory cruise, not an option on the ACR.

Our ACR had cruise. :) 

Okay, really our ACR was a bit of a pre-production model, so as I remember it had cruise, cassette and a fold-down rear seat. JG, wasn’t it an ACR built out of a Highline or something like that? 

David S. Wallens said:

lrrs said:

In reply to CanadianCD9A :

Had Rear defrost also. 

Paid extra to have the radio removed (part of the Comp package) and then another $600 to get it back.
It was the cassette one, sounded pretty good for a stock radio, Way better than the junk in my 2012 CRV.

No factory cruise, not an option on the ACR.

Our ACR had cruise. :) 

Okay, really our ACR was a bit of a pre-production model, so as I remember it had cruise, cassette and a fold-down rear seat. JG, wasn’t it an ACR built out of a Highline or something like that? 

Yeah I called ours the A/C-ACR. It was basically loaded with a/c, cruise, power windows, split rear seat (which made it easy to get the pop-up canopy to the track along with a spare set of tires), and the good stereo. I guess it was a prototype that they just threw all the ACR bits onto an existing car, which happened to be a loaded highline.

Also, as I recall, once they started building the two-door ACRs you could get those fairly loaded.

As you can see in the lead photo, our car also has the side trim. (We were so fancy and, technically, probably illegal.)

Ah the Dodge neon was my entry into all things automotive motorsports. I was aware of F1 and sportscars and NASCAR but it was all seemed too hard to get involved or even watch on TV. My prior car given to me to drive myself and my brother to school was finally dead. I then bought a 1995 Dodge Neon Sport manual coupe. Found out what having fun driving was. I then started to read and see some limited TV coverage of super touring cars and just happened to have a classmate who already autocrossed his ACR. First autocross was incredible and started my journey. I then bought an ACR that was almost mythical as the dealership ordered 2 identical black ACR coupes by accident and just left them in the back of the lot. I bought one well below employee price (I worked at Chrysler then and confirmed the price from internal sources that it was basically a dealer loss) They wanted to make it a package deal to get rid of the other ACR as well but I didn't have that cash then. Took that black ACR into ITA and had fun but it was already near the end of Chrysler as Daimler then cerberus crushed any glimmer of goodness out of Chrysler. 

They were destined to disappear as Chrysler was a tiny auto company back then. Even if all other car companies went bankrupt Chrysler could maybe have inched volume of production up another 50,000 per year. Just too small to capitalize on any success. I still remember the all hands future product meeting at Chrysler in 1998 or 99 when they said after the Hi media campaign they just didn't have any other ideas so STOPPED advertising the Neon. They also saw the backlash of people not wanting a happy car. The mob wants angry cars!!!! I still wish they did the 1998 MY refresh to go to rectangular headlights it was a last minute decision to stay circles. They already had the rectangular headlights designed for the launch of the coupe. 

The engines were strong and reliable, transmission worked great, suspension was great and allowed you to drive the car with some predictable control of the rear.

Basically any Chrysler product other than Jeeps and minivans were destined to fade into rumor and legend. Sometimes I think I shock people when I remind them that the Viper was a real car. 

In reply to Drunkonunleaded :

Before I decided to sell all my neon stuff I think I got the wakeup call when I couldn't find something simple like brake rotors...

Yeah I had some nostagia for another Neon in 2019 when I saw a group of 4 super clean neons at the woodward dream cruise, driven by younger men.  But then I would want to do some more with one and knew it would get pricey fast. 

But it is cool to think this time maybe 30 years ago Chrysler took a gamble to start early production to make a sporty car on purpose to get the public racing!

this is the road most went down

Is that the upcoming Ford Maverick competitor?

In reply to Advan046 :

I had never heard about going to a square headlight configuration, that's super interesting.

I wonder if there any photos out there of how it would have looked.

Puddy46 said:

In reply to Advan046 :

I had never heard about going to a square headlight configuration, that's super interesting.

I wonder if there any photos out there of how it would have looked.

The rectangular headlight was to help differentiate the coupe from the sedan. But they launched the coupe with circles. Then I think it was for 1998 MY they already felt the backlash on the Hi media campaign and brought the headlight design change back such that I was tasked to look at tooling to do the switch. But then it stayed circle. I saw the mockup in the Tech center and photos but I don't think any made it out to the public.  

About as unsporting of a Neon as you can get, but this looks way better then the few I see on the road around me anymore:  FBM Link

In reply to Advan046 :

I don’t think I had heard about the square headlamps as well. So just for the coupe? That could have looked mean. 

I really want to see the pictures,  because every iteration I can mentality come up with is god awful.

They all went to live on a farm upstate with your old dog. They are all very happy there. No we can't visit.

The discussion of the square headlamps reminded me that every single Chrysler built in the 90's had headlights that required a flashlight to see whether they were on.

For the square-headlamp Neon, I’m picturing a face kinda like angry Bender. 

Appleseed said:

I really want to see the pictures,  because every iteration I can mentality come up with is god awful.

Picture a slightly different version of this......

David S. Wallens said:

In reply to Advan046 :

I don’t think I had heard about the square headlamps as well. So just for the coupe? That could have looked mean. 

I first became aware of it before the coupe launched it was planned to help differentiate the 2 door versus 4 door with the 2 door maybe getting a future turbo 2.0L. That was scrapped then it resurfaced for the 1998MY refresh and I only got wind of it because I was part of a team tasked with doing some corporate wide headlight alignment stuff. 

Heck the neon even had a full modeled Hatchback in the early phases of the 2nd gen Neon. I think the hatch would have sold better than the sedan. I was working on the potential European Super Touring Car Neon and we really wanted the Cd of the hatchback but at some point we just had to try and build it with the sedan version. We never got passed a few mockups of parts and I can't remember the development partner anymore, it may have still been Oreca at that time. So I never saw the mockups they were in France. Only saw the Catia models of it. 

Advan046 said:

Heck the neon even had a full modeled Hatchback in the early phases of the 2nd gen Neon. I think the hatch would have sold better than the sedan. I was working on the potential European Super Touring Car Neon and we really wanted the Cd of the hatchback but at some point we just had to try and build it with the sedan version. We never got passed a few mockups of parts and I can't remember the development partner anymore, it may have still been Oreca at that time. So I never saw the mockups they were in France. Only saw the Catia models of it. 

I'm picturing a 7/8th scale Mazda6 hatchback.  If that's what it would have been like, I'd have been very interested in one.

eastsideTim said:

Advan046 said:

Heck the neon even had a full modeled Hatchback in the early phases of the 2nd gen Neon. I think the hatch would have sold better than the sedan. I was working on the potential European Super Touring Car Neon and we really wanted the Cd of the hatchback but at some point we just had to try and build it with the sedan version. We never got passed a few mockups of parts and I can't remember the development partner anymore, it may have still been Oreca at that time. So I never saw the mockups they were in France. Only saw the Catia models of it. 

I'm picturing a 7/8th scale Mazda6 hatchback.  If that's what it would have been like, I'd have been very interested in one.

The cirrus version was pretty bitchin 

In reply to chandler :

There was a Cirrus hatch?

eastsideTim said:

In reply to chandler :

There was a Cirrus hatch?

There was a JA, JR or JS hatch?

eastsideTim said:

In reply to chandler :

There was a Cirrus hatch?

Cirrus touring car.  Well, Stratus.  Was dominatory in the NATCC, by recollection.  Used the 2l DOHC engine from the Neon.

I remember being shocked that SCC did an article about an American car 

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

eastsideTim said:

In reply to chandler :

There was a Cirrus hatch?

Cirrus touring car.  Well, Stratus.  Was dominatory in the NATCC, by recollection.  Used the 2l DOHC engine from the Neon.

I remember being shocked that SCC did an article about an American car 

Yeah, sorry. Took the part about the stcc and stole that part not the hatch part. My bad

I remember the SCC project neon. Still available on the Motor Trend website.

Hopefully I don't get banned for linking it. Plz ne pas le ban.

After a twisty-road flog session, we were amazed at the Neon's newfound handling prowess. Though the Neon is a humble econobox, we feel it may out-corner all of our other project cars, many of which are equipped with high-buck suspensions. The car is simply amazing. The grip in turns is phenomenal; so great, in fact, it's impossible to safely reach the car's absolute limit on the street. While bombing freeway on and off ramps, the car sticks, and in our late-night industrial center test runs, we have not been able to find the car's cornering limit.

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

Hi - could I get more information on this one?

In reply to CanadianCD9A :

Love that blue one. Im still looking for a clean ACR, so if you decide to sell it ever :)

Just passed a Neon and a Saturn sitting by the road just north of Arcadia, Fl as I was going to Sebring this morning.  I've been going by that place for 33 years, and have never seen a car leave that property.  Plenty have been added in that time, but none really leave.  There's a '91 Caprice up on blocks that has been there forever.

In reply to Datsun310Guy :

if neither of you get it - I am looking for an ACR coupe