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.
slefain
UltimaDork
6/14/23 11:55 a.m.
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.
