We lived through the ’80s and ’90s and spent a lot of time with the era’s greatest hits–drove them, raced them, even knew them when they still had that new car smell. We fondly remember shopping for Kamei air dams, Hella lamps and 14-inch tires.
But were the cars of those t…
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.
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.
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