Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

You could even get both in the same vehicle. The 93-on New Ram, for example. Good powertrains, great (for the time) new ergonomic interior design... the dashboard literally crumbles to dust in 5-10 years.
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... I've never seen THAT PART fail before. On mine it's just the gauge surround (that clips in on those pieces of red felt) that imploded.
 
Apparently because I'm a Hagerty customer they'll provide me a pair of 3-day VIP passes for free to the Leake Auction coming up in Dallas in a couple weeks. Any fellow DFW people interested?

I'd be interested.

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This neon was

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This one, however, wasn't

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Go check the production/sales numbers - the second gen was less popular, but still a very steady seller. It also did well in racing, and it could be had in SRT4 form, which was the first American sport compact (successor to the 'hot hatch' idea) worthy of the name and therefore historic.

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... I've never seen THAT PART fail before. On mine it's just the gauge surround (that clips in on those pieces of red felt) that imploded.

You may be one of the very few that haven't. It's ridiculously common. Google "Dodge Ram Dashboard Rot".

There is even a NYT story providing (definitely incomplete) coverage: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/17/automobiles/ram-dashboards-cracking.html
 
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Go check the production/sales numbers - the second gen was less popular, but still a very steady seller. It also did well in racing, and it could be had in SRT4 form, which was the first American sport compact (successor to the 'hot hatch' idea) worthy of the name and therefore historic.

No love for the original Daytona?
 
No love for the original Daytona?

It doesn't actually qualify per most authorities, being more of a sport coupe. The Omni GLHS has a better claim, but that is considered a "hot hatch" instead of the more encompassing (and later) "sport compact" - which came about because of such cars as the WRX, Lancer Evo, etc., which were definitely not hatches.
 
In my opinion the second gen Neon was ruined by trying to make it better. I like the first generation car's purity, austerity and simplicity with no attempts at anything fancy.
 
The first gen Neon looks just so ... derpy. In a bizarre but good way.
 
Fun fact, the neons were built in the same factory Calibers, Compass, and Patriots came from. :D
 
Funny side fact: Chrysler is involved in Dieselgate because they used a 2.0 TDI in the Caliber.
 
Ughh the Caliber, along with the Avenger ever single one of the 500 halfwits that bought one in Europe seems to have tried to become my new best friend at some point, with a bonus effort put in by those that buy them second hand and garbadge them....
 
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I know of a 1996 Neon in this colour with unpainted bumpers and manual gearshift, and about 100,000 miles on the clock. It's owned by an elderly lady who keeps it in decent shape; whenever she eventually gives up driving I'll be asking how much she or her family wants for the car.
 
Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

I never understood the love of those cars because they were always owned by trashy people who couldn?t afford to take care of the car in my area.

They?ve since moved on to 90s Buick?s and Pontiacs.
 
99% of Neons are automatic here and no-one looking for a cheap beater goes for automatic here.

All the sketchy people drive Opel Astras of similar vintage.
 
I've never seen unpainted bumpers on a Neon.
 
They were only on the first years, I think, and then the cars available were better-specced. Said car also has those extremely correct two-tone wheeltrims.
 
Wandering off the Neon topic for a bit, here's my second 'random' post for the day:

Yesterday, a good friend of mine called to ask if I knew anything about the legality of selling R12 refrigerant. I told him that I didn't, but that I would do some checking. He was helping his brother-in-law clean out his shop and found six 30 pound canisters of R12. Sooo... I wrote a post on a technically-oriented forum that I'm on a lot, asking about the "hows and ifs". We had 3 replies wanting to buy it within an hour-or-so. He ended up selling it for $1,800!! My question was: Who in the heck needs 180 pounds of R12 in 2017???

SL
 
Wandering off the Neon topic for a bit, here's my second 'random' post for the day:

Yesterday, a good friend of mine called to ask if I knew anything about the legality of selling R12 refrigerant. I told him that I didn't, but that I would do some checking. He was helping his brother-in-law clean out his shop and found six 30 pound canisters of R12. Sooo... I wrote a post on a technically-oriented forum that I'm on a lot, asking about the "hows and ifs". We had 3 replies wanting to buy it within an hour-or-so. He ended up selling it for $1,800!! My question was: Who in the heck needs 180 pounds of R12 in 2017???

SL

Anyone who doesn't want to convert the older systems, anyone who actually wants really good AC performance, and the list goes on. R134a is in most ways inferior to R12, including in safety.

FYI, the current regulations are that you require a Federal license to buy R-12 even from a private seller.

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In my opinion the second gen Neon was ruined by trying to make it better. I like the first generation car's purity, austerity and simplicity with no attempts at anything fancy.

While I wouldn't say the second gen was ruined, it certainly lost something by not being as focused (no pun intended) as the first gen.

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I've never seen unpainted bumpers on a Neon.

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Early US base models shipped that way, no idea how the export ones were.

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I never understood the love of those cars because they were always owned by trashy people who couldn?t afford to take care of the car in my area.

They?ve since moved on to 90s Buick?s and Pontiacs.

Find someone who's still running one in SCCA and take it for a spin. You might figure it out after that. :D They were a great deal of fun, actually more fun than the contemporary Civic Si.
 
FYI, the current regulations are that you require a Federal license to buy R-12 even from a private seller.

One of several things that we suspected, but were confirmed in the answers we received on the other site.

The buyer was an HVAC tech who provided his license numbers in case Mike wanted to verify his credentials before the sale.

Find someone who's still running one <<Neon performance model>> in SCCA and take it for a spin. You might figure it out after that. :D They were a great deal of fun, actually more fun than the contemporary Civic Si.

My buddy Barry in Columbus has an ACR Neon that he dearly loves. It's a track rat and not very pretty, but it IS entertaining.

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Anyone who doesn't want to convert the older systems, anyone who actually wants really good AC performance, and the list goes on. R134a is in most ways inferior to R12, including in safety.

I'd have to agree with that 100%. I still have two cars that use R12 and have no plans to convert them. I've had a small supply of R12 for some time and even went to the trouble of purchasing a recovery unit so that I wouldn't be guilty of 'dumping' old R12 into the atmosphere. My point was that you'd have to be caring for a fleet of old cars to need 180 pounds of the stuff!


SL
 
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I'd have to agree with that 100%. I still have two cars that use R12 and have no plans to convert them. I've had a small supply of R12 for some time and even went to the trouble of purchasing a recovery unit so that I wouldn't be guilty of 'dumping' old R12 into the atmosphere. My point was that you'd have to be caring for a fleet of old cars to need 180 pounds of the stuff!

He may have a couple of older RVs or a bus that uses R-12 (they used a *LOT* of R-12 to fill their systems) or alternately he could be a specialty mechanic. There are a few around here that specialize in among other things charging old cars where the owner is keeping the AC system original (with new hoses, seals, rebuilt original compressor, etc) but wants good climate control performance and isn't willing to convert to a modern compressor and condenser as would be required for good 134 performance because that would destroy the originality. Those guys charge $300-600+ per evac and R-12 charge - and they get it, too. Some even have waiting lists; I've got my license and such so I need not pay them, but I've asked around just to see what the prices are like. Those guys snap up all the R-12 they can find in the 30lb cans because for them it's a license to print money.

Edit: Or maybe it's not a profit motive - once I thought about it, in the DFW FG group alone I could see a case for a significant amount of R-12. DS's Bronco, my Jag, my Bronco if someone hadn't converted it and I may convert it back, Nabster's older Mustang, my ex-DFD friend and FG lurker's two RWD Volvos and 88 F-150, my other friends' with their six pre-134 vehicles on the ranch we've used as a shooting range... Figure 20 vehicles in the immediate or first remove circles. Use the old back-of-the-envelope average of 2lbs per car (actual charging after evacuating system after repairs and topups, equipment purging, etc.) per 5 years and that's 40lbs of R-12 every 5 years, 80lbs a decade, 160lbs in two decades. I can see someone in such a collective making a mass/group purchase while they can, and not for profit either. Some of us in the DFW FG group are casually looking to find a dual refrigerant (134 and 12) servicing machine to group purchase; such are currently being phased out of shops and show up on the market at prices not far from what it costs for a single R-134 recharge in a shop.
 
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Apparently today marks the day the Golf MkIV 1.4 of my aunt (fuck that engine) is 20 years old. I like how modern the design looks. I think this could be mid 2000s.

wiki pictures

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I think the late 1990s VW/Audi/Skoda/Seat school of cars is one of the definitive leaps forward in initial build quality and design, and the MkIV Golf is a core piece in that. And the B5 Passat makes the B4 look desperately 1988.
 
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