I originally posted this on another forum, but felt compelled to share here as well..
My first car was a 99 Plymouth Neon Sedan in bright Platinum. Low mileage car, about 64 IIRC. PO cooked the old engine and half-assed the install. Did not understand the sensor differences between 95, 96, and 97-99. Got her running after some new pigtails and a Crank sensor. Ended up doing new timing belt/tensioner/engine gaskets.
I bought it when I was 15, paid $900 cash. My dad threw a set of tires on it and proceeded to put ~20k miles on it due to his sales job at the time. I learned to drive by tagging along on his trips. This was the summer where I learned the value of GSF (Gas Station Food, thanks Speedway) and what it really meant to be a road warrior.
A few months after I got my license, the exhaust went to E36 M3. I just started posting up on the local Neon forum and hanging out with a lot of the Auto X guys. Ended up meeting a guy who prepped the cars for the Celebrity Challenge during the 90s and had a ton of parts in his basement..
One week later, BAM! "Neon Challenge" open exhaust. Couldn't beat the price of free, although just about anything would beat that car in any type of speed contest. Still didn't keep me from thinking I was the next Auto-X hotshoe who would soon be burning up Hoosiers on his weekends. I started to piece some things together to build a "cheater" SOHC by mixing/matching parts, as well as swapping to a manual trans. Ended up selling most of it off when I needed money.
In reality, I was 17 and could barely afford beer and gas and having new hockey equipment was a lot more important to me than Auto-X.
The car had a multitude of hilarious failures. Most were mainly stemming from the lack of alternator splash shield. This led to many dead batteries, locked-up alts and thrown belts. I accepted very little help, other than some guidance from another guy I met on the forum who was a master tech at the local Dodge dealer.
There were some other electrical gremlins. A lot were where the PO had used butt-connectors for sensors. I really honed my soldering/heat-shrink skills here and have a lot to do with how well I can do automotive wiring nowadays.
I had a lot of good dates in that car, and great memories of laughing about it breaking down. It would happen at the worst moments. I could never sneak a girl home late due to how damn loud the thing was. It was even a good wingman when broken down, as there isn't much to do when you're sitting in a disabled car with a female.
I even (regrettably) let the girl I was into at the time first start driving on that car. To this day, I have never been more terrified of riding shotgun. We only went a few blocks!
Ironically, she took out an exit sign on I-75 in it during a snowstorm while carting my drunk ass back from a wedding a few years later, well past graduation. The car ended up being fine, I just pushed it back onto the shoulder. Her and I never really talked after that night.
When I graduated, I bought a really clean Jeep XJ, but kept the Neon for leaving overnight @ the bar, heading to Detroit, etc.
My sister drove the Neon through HS, and didn't take care of it that well. Blown speakers, rust due to not washing, and even a broken strut.
Still, we got about 8 years out of it. My dad drove it the past year or so, a few miles back and forth to work. It kept E36 M3ting crank sensors every 4 months or so for one reason or another. Luckily, it only took a few minutes. I sold it back in August for $1700..
In the meantime, I had picked up a mint 98 Neon ACR (factory Konis, quick-ratio steering, bigger sways, 4-wheel discs, etc.). It had almost the entire Mopar catalog thrown at it for Auto-X. No A/C, no Radio. I picked up a set of ITBs and started collecting parts to build it into a beast. I sold it this spring when I developed "Z06itis" and realized the money could be more effectively spent on a better platform.
Still, I owe a lot to that car. All the great nights, the long drives to hockey games in HS (our school had no busses), etc. It really pained me to see how down-hill it ended up, as I had plans to still build it into the car I wanted when I was 15. I've made quite a few good friends thanks to that car. Although I may not be a "neon" guy anymore, I'll never forget where I came from.
All is not lost, though. I stumbled upon a mint 96 sedan, despite 170k miles. Threw a rod and am building the "cheater" SOHC I've always wanted to do. Not really planning on keeping it over the long-term, but it's been keeping me busy the past year or so.