This morning I found myself marveling over how much you readers love stories of rare versions of regular cars. Automotive history is full of Holy Grails, and today we have another. Jason reminded me that the Dodge Neon ACR was once a thing. This was a car that was just a cage from being track-ready, and actually quick around a circuit. It looked like a teenager’s first car, but was fast enough to shame the competition.
Whenever something makes me conjure up memories of the Dodge Neon and its Plymouth twin, those memories take me right back to high school. It was common to see a Neon in my high school’s parking lot, and those cars would usually be used up and beaten down. Despite crumbling rust, peeling paint, and all kinds of dents, these cars still got classmates to school. Chrysler, Dodge and Plymouth put roughly 2,224,000 Neons on the road between 1993 and 2004, and many of the survivors continue to live a life of cheap transportation. But such is the life of many inexpensive cars. And yet, through the damage you could still see the kind face of a car that Dodge once marketed simply by saying “Hi.”
As our Jason wrote back in 2019, these cars are way cooler than they appear at first glance. I think this little paragraph about the concept and the production version sums it best:
The Neon started life as a fairly bonkers 1991 concept car with a two-stroke engine, four sliding doors, and a freaking onboard trash compactor. It was a bold take on the standard small, entry-level sedan formula, and while the production version stripped away all the really weird two-strokey, trash-compacty stuff, the end result still captured the fun essence of the concept.
And the Neon was more than just cute, inexpensive, and fun. Then Chrysler President Bob Lutz said: “There’s an old saying in Detroit: ‘Good, fast, or cheap. Pick any two.’ We refuse to accept that.”
The Neon came with a 2.0-liter four making 132 HP, with an option to get 150 HP in the R/T. And you could get your Neon as a coupe or a sedan, which weighed in at roughly 2,400 pounds. In today’s world–where regular family cars can easily sneeze out 300 HP–that’s nothing. But you have to look at what else was on the road in 1993.
A Saturn SC1 made 85 HP while the SC2 made 124 HP. The Nissan Sentra put out 110 HP unless you got the SE-R, which netted you 140 HP. A Volkswagen Golf made 115 HP, and even the hot Honda Civic Si made 125 HP. All of these cars had weights close to each other, too. And at $9,457 ($19,277 today), Car and Driver says, the Neon was $850 cheaper than the cheapest four-door Saturn. So right out of the box the little Neon had an advantage.
If you were a racer, the Neon had a version just for you.
The Neon ACR, sold under Dodge and Plymouth, was homologated by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) and was just a cage away from being able to compete in a number of racing series. In fact, when the Neon ACR made its debut for the 1994 model year, you had to be a licensed SCCA racer to buy it. Fewer than 200 of them were sold for 1994, and from 1995 to 1999 the ACR was available to everyone.
So, what did you get with the ACR? Well, you actually got fewer bits with the Neon ACR. The car came without anything that would add weight, like the air-conditioning, sound deadening, and the stereo. And while you lost creature comforts, you gained thicker anti-roll bars and adjustable shocks. All wheel disc brakes were available, and they came without the ABS that they’d get on the regular car. Sedans kept the 132 HP four of the base car, but coupes got the 150 HP dual cam four from the R/T.
ACRs didn’t come with anything snazzy that allowed you to easily identify one. Though, you could identify an ACR by looking at its front bumper. They had higher-end trim bumpers, but without the fog lights that those cars would have. Other goodies came in the form of keeping the radiator meant for Neons with air-conditioning and a faster steering ratio.
As Hemmings writes, this was enough to help propel the Neon to lots of racing victories. Neons won three consecutive Showroom Stock C competitions and they were known to absolutely kill it at the track. Neons even got their own spec series, the Neon Challenge. The folks of Allpar have compiled a list of what they could find of the Neon’s impressive racing career [Editor’s Note: I just interviewed a national champion mentioned on Allpar’s list— keep reading! -DT]. Today, you’ll still find them zipping around tracks, and I’ve also seen them competing in off-road time trial events like HooptieX.
Perhaps the coolest part about the Neon ACR (which means American Club Racer) is that it’s road legal. So, it’s a car that you could dominate at the track with then drive home in.
The first ACRs ended production in 1999 before returning again in the Neon’s second-generation and again in the SRT-4. It’s not known exactly how many first-generation ACRs were made, but enthusiasts estimate that there were 4,256 made between 1994 and 1997, and it’s even more unclear how many 1998s and 1999s there are.
One thing’s for sure, it that these are seemingly getting lost to time. Popular selling platforms Bring a Trailer and Cars & Bids have sold Neon SRT-4s, but zero first-generation ACRs and only one SRT-4 ACR. I’ve found a number of ACRs for sale on Facebook, and all of them are either later models, worn down and heavily modified, or no longer street legal. A minty one went up for sale in 2018, generating headlines. Normally, I’d say that’s sad, but not this time. At least to me, the lack of good early ACRs for sale means that so many of them have done their job, getting raced hard then going on to be their owners’ daily drivers.
David Tracy Interviews The Neon King
Thank you, Mercedes, for letting me crash your article a bit, here. The thing is, there was no way I could publish an article about Dodge Neon ACRs when I know the Dodge Neon guy. His name is Erich Heuschele, and he’s the head of vehicle dynamics for Chrysler’s fast-car division, SRT. I met him while half-drunk at a huge Gambler 500 party in northern Michigan, where he drove – of course — a modified Neon with a wacky wing bolted to the hood. Erich loves Neons more than you could ever imagine — in fact, in some ways, he owes his career to the little car.
“I’m still riding that [Neon racing] wave now,” he told me over the phone today. “I was a nobody! I was just a freakin’ lab engineer who autocrossed and started doing track days in my Sentra SER. I jumped into that Neon ACR. I won the regional champion champ in 94. In 95 I won the national championship…There was the Neon Challenge Pro Series, and I won in ’97, and I won in ’98 — that was on ESPN 2 at 2 in the morning. [Racing Neons] took me from nobody to a hero at work!” Erich was a lab engineer, then a brake guy, then a suspension guy, then he went into litigation for a few years. Then: “Freakin’ SRT called me. They needed a dynamics guy — called me! I was working in litigation on the 13th floor!”
“I could attribute my career post-1997 to racing Neons,” he told me. “It was way better than any master’s degree I could have got. I’m the highest level driver at Chrysler right now because of it, too. (I’m not the best driver, but I am the highest level — the best driver works for me).” Heuschele then reminisced with me over the phone about how he learned a lot from racecar driver Randy Pobst, whom Chrysler hired when doing Neon development work.
Anyway, I’ve gotten ahead of myself. The main reason I called Erich was to learn about what made the first-gen Neon ACR special. First things first: The powertrain was a big deal, even if it wasn’t unique to the ACR.
“It was totally the same engine,” he told me, and everything was parts-bin except the struts front and rear,” he said, comparing the ACR to a regular Neon. “It was pretty cool; they did a lot with not-much. It was a pretty light car! I think the minimum weight spec was 2,420 with a cage!”
Heuschele got into the Neon ACR racing craze early in his career; he was too young to have developed the first Neon, but he wasn’t too young to race the shit out of one. “The first-gen ACR was legit, man,” he said. “I bought one of the first ones; I think I bought the second black car in ’94.”
“Welcome to my life; 1994 to 1998 – racing Neons…I had three of them. Actually four!”
Then we got into some nuts and bolts of the machine. “The first-gen Neons, like the very first Honda CRX — it doesn’t have very much suspension travel. In order to manage not having very much suspension travel, it has to be very stiff…so you have to put very stiff shocks in it, and next thing you know: You have a sporty car.”
“[Chrysler] put a 2 liter engine in it. None of the competitors had that big of an engine. A lot of them were 1.8s, a lot of them were two-valves… [the Neon] as just a powerhouse compared to its competition at the time.”
“You put that big torque engine in it…you got a big motor, you got a stiff platform, stiff suspension, and pretty good geometry — struts all thew ay around. The company decided it wanted to go SCCA stock racing and they wanted to do autocross, and they put contingency money from the start behind nationals level racing… there was money in it — that was part of the marketing plan for the car.”
How about that?! The Neon was designed to race cars from day one! And the folks behind making it capable were those with experience racing front-wheel drive Shelby Chargers.
“The company decided – I was too new and young [at the time] — there was a whole contingent of people racing the Shelby Chargers…John Fernandez somehow convinced management that that’d be a good way yo market that car…[incidentally,] large parts of team Shelby became early team Viper…[The Shelby Charger race folks] had experience racing, and they knew how to make a competitive race car…A lot of experience gained from that got put into [the Neon ACR] program.”
“They did a parts bin car, by pulling ahead some of the parts that were going to go into the [Neon] Sport Coupe — it was geared down. The springs and sway bars from the upcoming Sport Coup [went into the ACR]….and racing shocks — stock Arvin shock bodies, only totally valved as race shocks, and they had camber slots where you attach the knuckles, so you can add 2.5 degrees of camber.”
“We kinda played the rules and played the SCCA, so we could run race alignment,” Heuschele laughed, saying the rules say the car couldn’t be modified. A normal Neon, he told me, had a recommended camber of plus or minus 0.5 degrees. The ACR’s recommending? Plus .5, minus 2.5 degrees. “We specifically made a car to be an SCCA racer and autocrosser,” he reiterated. Part of that meant weight reduction.
“We parts-binned everything, and had these unique struts — otherwise, the car was the lightest possible. It didn’t have bump-strips on the side, it didn’t have sound deadening, it had the cheapest possible seats. Except it had the sport fascia without fog lights – that’s how you can tell the ACR.”
Even non-ACR Neons were fast, Heuschele made clear. Many cars in the segment had little 1.6s that made around 110 to 115 horses; the base Neon 2.0 managed over 130. “You just smoked ’em,” he told me about the competition.
The four-door ACR had a single cam 4 valve like the regular car. “It was never any different,” he said, though the 3.94 final drive ratio and shorter transmission gearing from the upcoming coupe were definitely beneficial, as were the new shocks. “The two-door Neons which came out the next year…were dual cams with dual-cam trans, which all two-doors had.”
“So if you look at a Sport Coupe versus an ACR coupe with a dual cam, the only differences was the ACR had the racing valve shock with adjustable camber, and a base base interior, no spoiler, no bump strips — all that other stuff.”
Anyway, I’m hoping to do a ridiculously deep-dive into the Neon with Erich at some later point. For now, click the video above and watch him show his skills in the Viper ACR.
When the first gen cars were on rental lots, I went out of my way to be sure I got one for my trips (New Yorker, no car). I absolutely loved them, especially the 4-door with the shorter doors. The best was a green DOHC I had in Wisconsin, which shined on the rural back roads. Marvelous car; unfortunately I never got to drive a manual.
Back in the day, my brother bought and raced one with SCCA. He added a roll cage, racing seat, disabled the air bag, etc. The car does still exist, although it might need engine work (i.e. an engine). I have photos in full race gear – two tires fully on pavement, one tire sort of on pavement, one tire fully detached from pavement.
Awesome piece! I had the pleasure of working alongside Erich when I was working at FCA in vehicle dynamics. I only knew vaguely of his origins to racing, but it’s great to finally hear how it played out! We need more of this. I’m in for the deep dive story 😉
In 04 or 05 the local corvette club set up a scca course in a parking lot and held an open race. The only non vettes to show up were my lightly modified 1st gen rx7 and a acr neon on sticky tires. What the vette guys didn’t account for was that they had set the course up EXTREMELY tight. Our short wheel base cars drove circles around the field of mostly c3 and c4s. I placed third behind a heavily modified c3 in second, and that acr neon that made every one else look like slugs. You have never seen vette guys so mad by being beat by and import and an economy dodge at their own event.
I wish modern auto design would take some inspiration from the Neon. So many hard angles and “aggressive” looks. Even the SRT-4 version could still look the business while not being hostile.
There are a couple of SRT-4s in the Tucson area someone is taking decent care of. I see them about. It may not be my jam specifically, but I’m glad they are out there.
Feels like we’re getting into quite a bit of enthusiasm for Mopar right now….
I’m here for it! It’s been a long time running, since you can’t get people to admit something nice about atleast one Chrysler product anywhere else!
Only story I have with a Neon was my sisters 2000 with the 3 speed. Black with some funny looking decals on it, but I thought it looked cool. Cooked that 3 speed at 130,000 miles…… then like 6 years later, I started seeing the Neon all over again! Same decals and all!
Someone really put a transmission into it and drove it for years after that… which was pretty nice to see. Better “story” then her Cobalt that she sent a rod through the block with slightly less miles lmao
Loved both Mercedes and Tracy’s article but one thing: David you need someone else to edit your side of the article. Way too many spelling errors.
The Neon factory contingencies were out of this world for the autocross crowd. IIRC it was $1000 for a national win. When you were used to a sticker and a $25 gift certificate, you could make bank. Of course the big numbers brought out the big guns, so you had to be at the top of your game to take home the cash.
I had a 1994 that I picked up second-hand from a classified ad in the back of AutoWeek. Don’t ever forget that the ACR did NOT have A/C!
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I figured that dropping the AC was a no-brainer, although I don’t see it specifically mentioned in the article.
I’m reading this thinking “If she didn’t talk to Erich, she NEEDS TO TALK TO ERICH!” and was thrilled to learn that’s who it was. I knew Erich when he was autocrossing the SE-R and a Mustang Convertible with South Bend Region SCCA and started about the same time I did. He’s a truly great guy. I’m sure he’s got a ton of stories to share. Heck, ask him about the ice racer he bought from one of my former coworkers, or his Dodge Aries Woody Turbo Wagon he terrorized people with.
Hi!
I purchased a new 98 R/T sedan, which was the ACR without the Koni adjustable shocks. I knew that since 1995, the Neon was a ball buster on road courses across the country. The SCCA even had to fight off internal debate over putting the car into its own class because it was dominating nearly every other showroom car back then.
I was finally able to buy one not long after I met my wife. Knowing I would marry her some day, and knowing that I tend to keep new cars for a while, I purchased the sedan with the idea that it would probably become my family hauler one day.
I purchased the car in late 98 and signed up for the local Solo II driving class in the spring of 99. I raced the car for the whole season while keeping everything stock. I didn’t want to be bumped from the stock class and immediately have to spend thousands in mods just to keep up with others. So, other than wider tires, I kept the car exactly as it was.
I used the car for everything. It was my daily commuter and my race car every other Sunday for that 1999 season. I never missed a race and my wife was right there by my side (we got married that March). By the end of the season, I received the great news that I had come in second place for the season. Oh! I also found out that my wife and I were having a baby (already).
I was ready to do this again 2000, but was completely oblivious about how much it would cost me to raise a child. I never raced the car again. It became the family car. It was our only car for five years. Things would be tight and our family would be in a constant financial struggle for the next 15 years.
The Neon, as expected, was eventually gone and replaced with various beaters over the years. I would be in my 40s until I could afford a new car again for the first time in 2015 and it would not be a race car. I’m back to buying fun new cars again, my daughter herself now married and talking about starting a family, and I still have not been back to racing in any Solo II events.
I do miss the Neon. It was one of the funnest cars I’ve ever owned and I’ve owned quite a few cars over the years already. I would actually consider the Neon second to my Scat Pack on my list of top late model cars I’ve owned. My wife has a 5-speed 500 Sport right now that I am eyeing to replace for her one day so I can make her car into a race car, but she pretty attached to it still. I can bet that it won’t be anywhere near as fun as that Neon was though. I could confidently throw that car around any corner without worry.
This is a really good car people story, thanks!
YESSSSSS ughhh finally some really good neon propaganda on this site lol. I have some neon stories to share for sure.
On March 29, 2005 I bought my first brand new car at not quite 19 years old, a 2005 Dodge Neon SXT with 7 miles on it. Joined Neons.org in May 2005, then 2gn.org in 2006. 17 years later, and I’m still driving Dodge Neons and my wife loves them with me. I currently own 7, but I’ve had probably 17. I’m not quite David Tracy levels of neon ownership, but I’m getting there. I have the “David Freiberger Complex” where I think the next project car will be the one that solves ALLLLL of my problems and is the perfect car. I’ve come to realize that I need to pare down some of them, or at least do something with them and get them out of the way.
My current daily I bought 3 weeks ago as a “project I’ll get to in the spring” because I missed having a 2 door. It got rudely pushed forward to “oh god I don’t have anything running that I can drive this winter” project. It’s a 99 sport coupe with a 3.55 transmission swapped in and a DOHC engine. A strange setup, but it works to get me 33-35MPG, with a one best tank of 39MPG.
I also have 2 ACR’s in the pile, my 95 NYG ACR I bought in 09 and beat the crap out of for years and broke. I finally got running this past summer after sitting broken for 9 years. I wanted to “get it done perfect” and that thought paralyzed me for a long time. Instead, I got it running and enjoyed it until a faulty knock sensor helped me melt some pistons lol. I also have a 98 platinum coupe ACR that was given to me by a really close friend, that is currently relegated to parts donation since it was crashed into by a drunk on a tractor (not me, or the close friend).
I mean I also have a really nice 03 SRT-4, and my SRT-4 swapped LeBaron wagon (the former NPOND car) but, those are stories from another day.
Heya Jer!
Looks like we continue to run in the same circles 🙂
For anyone still interested in Neons and cars that share common / similar powertrain and ECU platforms (Eclipse/Talon NT, 2.0L Avenger/Sebring, 2.4L Cloud cars, many others from 96-2005ish), there’s a lot of reverse engineering work for the SBEC3 happening on the Chrysler SCI/CCD Scanner board. https://chryslerccdsci.boards.net Contrary to popular forum beliefs in past decades, these are not black box ECUs, they are not magically encrypted, and they are absolutely re-programmable.
When Neons hit the market I was impressed with the interior room and the “Hi.” marketing. I figured it had the potential to be the American Beetle. Alas, wrong again.
I’m always kinda sad at how they’re all basically gone at this point. Every now and again, you’ll see an on-its-last-legs facelifted 2000s model out there, but almost never a ’90s model.
The American Beetle (for better or worse) was probably the Chevy Cavalier…
Why didn’t the 4-door ACR get the twin cam motor?
The Neon kind of looks a little like the 90s Impreza, and has head gasket problems to match! sorry, I had to 😛
The 1995-99 ACR package sedan came with the SOHC engine because Chrysler wanted the SCCA to class it (for road racing purposes) in Showroom Stock C. The ACR Coupe had the DOHC and was classed by the SCCA in SSB, where it was not wildly successful against the 1994 Miata R. By contrast, the ACR sedan OWNED the SSC class in the 1995-96 seasons and was still very competitive in 1997.
Oh hey buddy *waves* RC9YC 4 lyfe
Hey folks! Resident Mopar guy contemporary to these tiny terrors!
““It was pretty cool; they did a lot with not-much. It was a pretty light car! I think the minimum weight spec was 2,420 with a cage!””
Damn good memory, Erich! That was indeed and remains SCCA Spec Class, but wasn’t originally. Remember? The Honda crowd got pissed that the Neon was handing them their asses, and the Neon had to eat a ballast penalty prior to getting their own spec class.
SUCK IT, CIVICS.
” “The first-gen ACR was legit, man,” he said. “I bought one of the first ones; I think I bought the second black car in ’94.””
Yep – the first actual ACR was MY95 orderable (and only customer orderable) in ’94, which was a base with 15″ alloys and a $50 refund if you deleted the radio. It’s also the only year for the Arvins – MY96 went to the inferior Konis. (But I’m an Ohlins and Penske guy who thinks 920# on a G-body is a little too soft, so, uh, yeah. Let’s… not benchmark my idea of reasonable.)
“How about that?! The Neon was designed to race cars from day one! And the folks behind making it capable were those with experience racing front-wheel drive Shelby Chargers.”
Except, fun fact, they weren’t the only ones! “Wait, what? Hang on, no, tha-” stop. Stop, stop, stop. Turbo Dodge before Neon, remember? Things are about to get complicated.
John Fernandez personally ran the Shelby cars, and specifically was the executive engineer at Shelby Automobile. Please note: Shelby. Charger. Shelby Charger GLHS. Order matters here. He also worked on the CAN-AM stuff.
Also contributing to the Neon team? A man I will forever respect and hate: Doug E. Shepherd. (Insert fist-shaking emote here.) Why do I bring up Doug? Because he’s the asshole who made the Neon rally too. YES I’M STILL MAD ABOUT THAT. And yes, the Neons were TERRIFYING in rally trim – I had a 60HP and 50ft/lbs advantage in the same class. And it wasn’t anywhere near enough against the Neon’s chassis. (But mine was way cheaper so, uh, yay for that?)
Then to just absolutely turn the knife, Chrysler also said “hey IMSA guys, you got any input?” Uh, YEAH, I think the guys who got scary numbers out of the 2.2 have some contributions for the engine department. (The A588 directly traces it’s lineage to the 2.2.)
In fact, come on Erich, how could you leave that out? The A588 (aka ECB) literally shipped using a modified 2.2 SBEC (remember, pre-OBD-II) and an overhauled 2.2 casting – it was NOT an entirely new engine. Because it didn’t need to be.
Dave. Dave, Dave, Dave. Put me and Erich in the same call. We are gonna… oh it’ll be glorious. He was on the inside. I was on the outside taking a whole lot of notes. (Most of my Neon ACR notes consist of “plz seam and stitch at factory” and “+20HP please?”) Seriously, it can only possibly go well. Better if somebody can track down Kal Showket and Jack Baldwin too.
I always like looking for first gen neons, and for some reason there’s usually a few for sale where my parents live in Utah at any given time. No ACRs at the time of writing but give it a bit and check aain and there’s a decent chance something will crop up, probably a later srt-4 but still a chance.
You don’t want an ACR to really run anyways. They’re increasingly collectible in good condition, though you’ll almost never find one. Forget one in good shape at a reasonable price. Anyone who knows they have an ACR is of the “I know what I got” type who wants $6500 for one that’s had an eBay turbo strapped and needs $7500+ in body work.
Plus if people know it’s an ACR? The gig is up. Every steward knows what the ACR is, and they make them play with the big boys. (Admittedly, I probably get some of the blame there too.) But if it’s just an ordinary Neon coupe? Or better still, a Plymouth Neon? Ehh, you can run with the Hondas.
You just tell them it’s the SOHC one. And leave out the part where it’s the Magnum head and ECU.
Honestly, if you aren’t full-time tracking it, the Arvins are overkill anyways. And the Konis, yeah, if they’re original to the car I’ll guarantee they’re toast. And IMHO, you want something with caster, not just the camber.
And wouldn’t you know it? Megan racing still makes a set of coilovers with caster plates.
Oh man. So much to add here but I’m stuck on mobile. I owned a 1st gen neon coupe that I used to street race the shit out of. I went to many of the neon conventions in Belvedere, IL, toured the plant several times, got the srt4 presentation BEFORE the press releases, may have snapped a photo of the dyno chart w a digital camera BEFORE people usually had digital cameras and was shared on neons.org.
Road raced them at Blackhawk. Drag raced them at Union Grove. And street raced the F out of mine, where I learned that a light car w a manual trans can consistently take out faster stuff w bad drivers. People would get so mad after losing; had people pull knives on me, had threats and car chases, so many crazy memories.
One of the best was the now crushed SRT4 test mule drag racing a Pontiac trans am WS6 in front of the neon factory, and watching the trans am get its ass handed to it.
Oh and of course my headsgasket failed lol
Thanks Mercedes, adding this to my obscure car Craigslist search.
The nice thing is you can just build one. Get better springs and an r/t or exspresso trans and you’re almost there
One of the few cars my grandparents ever bought new was a white Neon coupe. The paint started peeling off after like 5 years, but otherwise that little car lasted really well.
White ones and lapis blue had paint adhesion problems. Christ I told you guys I used to live and breath these things lmao
Fun fact neons are the first mass production car w a plastic intake
Another cool thing about the Neon was it was one of Chrysler’s first modern-era attempts to bring back retro muscle car day-glo colors.
The first gen was available for a few years in an amazing hue, “nitro yellow-green”. Looked exactly like it sounded. Sadly, very few people seemed to choose it, I only ever saw one, at an auto show of course.
http://nygclub.com/list.php
You’re welcome
“though the 3.94 rear end and shorter transmission gearing from the upcoming coupe were definitely beneficial”
I love good short gearing in my RWD coupes! …..wait…. ;P
Lol. “Rear end” is just one of those words! People use it for 4wd vehicles, too!
But strictly, it’s wrong! (TY for pointing that out).
You’re right! I would have said 3.94 axle ratio or something. Saying ‘front end’ sounds odd, and rear end is definitely incorrect.
I got into autocrossing after I got my 200SX SE-R. I was classed in D Stock. Also in DS? The Neon ACR. Even a badly driven one would hand me my ass. Although I ended up winning the local club’s DS class at the end of the year because I showed up to more events. The Neons were always off at regionals or nationals.
Never Stellantis. But, graduated HS in 95, these get mad respect. What a story taboot!
I’m really glad y’all covered the ACR Neon. Neons were ubiquitous in my high school parking lot, but I really didn’t appreciate them until recently. The styling was such a great departure for Dodge. Wouldn’t mind having one now.
Love Neons. Drove an ACR once, and fell in love. Never could manage to buy one. Instead, I had a 2 door ’99 Plymouth Neon Highline whose only fault was that it was an automatic. Even saddled with that, it was a terrific car to drive. Got rear-ended and totaled by some guy in a WRX who had let his insurance lapse four days earlier. I damn near cried.
Great piece. When I first got into motorsports (SCCA autocross in the late ’90s), these things were EVERYWHERE. Stock series guys would do Solo events as well, just b/c a great chance to practice their skillset.
Hell, the run of the mill Neons were everywhere. I remember when the Ford Focus came out and thanks to its handling prowess started to appear on grids, the Neon crowd was like “whoa…they’re so high, I’m sure they’ll tip over.”