Dodge Neon Highlights the Insanity of the Used Car Market
Dodge Neon was built for the show scene, with loads of custom work, but it is $30K.
It is pretty hard to find a clean Dodge Neon these days, especially a coupe from the first generation. Due to the popularity of these small, affordable and fun-to-drive compacts, many of them were driven into the ground when new. Some others were originally purchased and modified by someone who loved them, but as the early Dodge Neon coupes passed from buyer to buyer, those which were once nice – were no longer very nice.
When you couple the rarity of the early Dodge Neon coupe with the current state of the used car market, you would expect to pay a premium for one in “show condition”. However, the heavily-modified Neon coupe shown here is listed on Autotrader.com with a price of $29,999, which represents a premium of roughly $25,000 over Kelley Blue Book pricing.
Dodge Neon Competition
This unique first generation Dodge Neon coupe is listed as a “Competition” model, and we are safe to assume that it was used for car shows and/or car stereo competitions. With the stock engine and extensive weight-adding sound system upgrades, it definitely wasn’t used for any performance-oriented competitions, even though it has a Dodge Viper speedometer that goes up to 220 miles per hour.
Now, before we are too quick to mock the appearance of this Dodge Neon, let’s keep in mind that back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, this type of décor put a show car on the cutting edge of sport compact fashion. Every proper show car of this era had an absolutely outrageous paint job with as many colors included as possible, with the gaudy design mirrored both inside and out – and in this case, under the hood. Of course, it has “euro” taillights and the same SRT-4 style wing that many sport compact owners added. As an extra touch of car show class, this car has a “custom” full body kit, along with chrome rims that fit over slotted and drilled brake rotors. However, the builder didn’t go cheap, it has Wilwood brakes, not some random eBay junk.
Next, like a proper sport compact show car of the early 2000s, this Dodge Neon has custom fiberglass door panels with custom speaker placements, a custom dashboard and a custom center console between the front and rear bucket seats. It has loads of speakers throughout the cabin, an aftermarket screen mounted in the custom dashboard and a Pioneer head unit that has come right from the turn of the century. Anyone who started driving in the 90s knows what a trick head unit that is, or was. The interior also has a Momo steering wheel and a Momo shift knob, as well as an original red-ring-of-death-era Xbox (that is almost guaranteed not to work at this point).
The trunk of this Dodge Neon is also fully-dressed with a custom fiberglass speaker enclosure, with room for more speakers and amplifiers.
A Monster Price
This 1999 Dodge Neon is exactly what everyone who had a show car in the sport compact scene would have wanted, or needed, if they wanted to bring home trophies. By today’s standards, it is a bit on the tacky side, but unlike most of the custom cars from that era, it appears to have aged remarkably well. The paint still looks good inside and out, the body kit is free the cracks that plagued aftermarket components from the late 90s and the interior trim is also free of cracks or fading. This is probably one of the cleanest examples of an era-correct first generation Dodge Neon coupe “competition” show car that you will find anywhere in the world.
The problem is that it is listed at $29,999. KBB lists the value of a 1999 Dodge Neon coupe as ranging from $2,377 to $4,292. Of course, you expect to pay over standard pricing for a heavily modified car, but asking nearly $30,000 for a Dodge Neon with a body kit and a dressed-up interior is a tough sell.
Finding someone who wants a show-ready first gen Dodge Neon coupe will be tough. Add in the paint scheme that we are kindly referring to as unique, and the target audience for this car gets even smaller, but when you tack on the $30k price tag, the ideal buyer for this Neon is truly a unicorn in the used car market. That being said, if there was ever a time to ask an outrageous price for a used car, that time is now. Click here for a ton more pictures and for information on buying this beauty.
