Just bought an 2002 neon....that happened to be an ACR!

gearbanger4 · Post by **gearbanger4** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:30 pm

So, a couple weeks ago I was walking through the shop at my work when a tech that likes to bust my balls about my neon fetish says "hey I found a car for you". Huh?, "my neighbor's brother has a neon that has a trans problem and needs to unload it, and I know you were looking for a project car". So after some questions and a few phone calls my interest was peaked in what sounded like a rat 192,000 mile base 5 speed neon. I didn't care, as I am currently building a motor.....and don't mind swapping/ rebuilding a trans. Just looking for a cheap "shell" if you will to work with.

Few days later I drive down to see it for the first time (as I had basically committed to buy it over the phone). Black, snowflakes, no wing, quite a few dents and dings and the interior was nasty...but I was expecting that for the $400 I was going to offer for the car. "Go ahead and take a look at it, my wife's brother really needs to get rid of it asap" he said. Ok, so I pop the rusted hood.......and like any neon geek would I felt a wave of excitement when I saw the aluminum mag intake! WTF? I peeked around first thinking was this swapped in? Hmmm..

I took another look inside and noticed that there was a traction control button, saw the 4 wheel disc brakes on the walk around, and noticed the dual outlet bumper and chrome tip that I somehow missed walking up. I then took a picture of the vin to put in the neons.org decoder later when I got home. But before leaving I told the seller " I will definately be buying this car from you, and will bring a trailer tommorow". This guy, or the owner obviously did not know what they had...

Popped the vin into the neons.org decoder and saw the message "you own the coolest neon ever built an ACR" ....that was the moment I felt like some kind of gift was handed too me......my fourth neon and it is a 1 of 89 black 2002 ACR!

Yes, it needs ALOT of work, and I will begin a project log once I get some decent pictures. Just had to share my story, and express my latest addition to my 14 year history of love for the neon.

LowNSlow · Post by **LowNSlow** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 10:34 pm

Sweet, that's awesome.

Haganracing · Post by **Haganracing** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 11:45 pm

Yeah I bought an ACR few months ago.. such a nice car!

Enjoy!!

rOniN · Post by **rOniN** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 1:54 am

great find...hope the project works out for you

Midnight_Rider · Post by **Midnight_Rider** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 2:11 am

1. Rescue;
2. Give ACR love;
3. Post pics.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:06 am

Great find! I know just how you feel...I was looking for a base 5 speed 2002 Neon and what do you know, found an ACR!

Give her some love and post some pics

NickKo · Post by **NickKo** » Sat Jul 14, 2012 9:31 am

LowNSlow wrote:Sweet, that's awesome.

Agreed !!

I couldn't have said it better.

- Nick

gearbanger4 · Post by **gearbanger4** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 3:00 pm

thanks! here are a couple pics with the car stuck in the garage, pending diag on the trans problem. along with the ported mag intake I completed. As I get the project going more I will post more in the project log section later this month.

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JeffM · Post by **JeffM** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 3:12 pm

Wooowee! definitely needs some love! Good find though.

titansxt · Post by **titansxt** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:22 pm

You wouldn't happen to be the guy near Plainfield I was supposed to buy a 2.4 and a ported intake off of, are you? Or did you buy it from that guy? Never heard back from him / you about the parts... Meh.

Nice find on the ACR. Someone in my neighborhood had an ACR for sale. He was asking too much for it (clean, VERY well kept and low miles) I passed on it. Had no idea until after he sold it to some broker in Florida that it was actually an ACR.

bobneon2k · Post by **bobneon2k** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 9:53 pm

you lucky S....O....B....!

cool beans! great find and congrats on the successful poker face you must have had in order to not make the owner suspicious. LOL

Post by **occasional demons** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 10:18 pm

The original muffler is long gone too.

Gratz, and best of luck on the rebuild!

gearbanger4 · Post by **gearbanger4** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 10:10 am

titansxt - that must have been somebody else... hmmm

occasional demons- and yes the rusted case of the muffler is hanging down, surprisingly it is still quite.....as long as I don't breath on it or look at it the wrong way!

on a side note, I think that at least the adjustable front struts were replaced at some point as it says "tokico" on the side, oh well. even if the dynamic struts are still on the rear, they too are likely long gone and blown.....

NGCnoproblem · Post by **NGCnoproblem** » Wed Jul 18, 2012 11:48 am

Ive heard of acrs but I just thought they were the rt before the rt lol. Wat all is different about em?

And cool find man!

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:01 am

congrats!!! i too have a black ACR and not to far from you

gearbanger4 wrote:......my fourth neon and it is a 1 of 89 black 2002 ACR!

i was under the impression that a lot more black ACRs were made. somewhere in the 400 mark...

gearbanger4 · Post by **gearbanger4** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 2:03 pm

maybe the SRT-4 ACR in black was more like 400? According to this link at least......it says about 431 SRT-4 ACR's if I am reading it correctly.

http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?t=56220

dblsg · Post by **dblsg** » Sun Jul 29, 2012 8:43 pm

cool! looks like we have 2 of 89... there's another black one running around my town (besides mine).

2GN.ORG

Just bought an 2002 neon....that happened to be an ACR!

Just bought an 2002 neon....that happened to be an ACR!

Re: Just bought an 2002 neon....that happened to be an ACR!