150 cars, delivery mileage, standing since 1997. May need cleaning!
There is the small mater of where they are - Singapore!
Shipping costs and customs/taxes added on top of the price.
"Our Asking Price is: 1,350 USD EACH UNIT FOB" or about £900
www.alibaba.com/product-free/110779392/CHRYSLER_NEON_RIGH_HAND_CARS_2.html
Last edited by: Tigger on Fri 14 Oct 11 at 08:15
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Scrap.
All rubber parts will have perished.. especially tyres with flats..
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+1
I'm surprised this story has taken so long to turn up here.
There's just too many minuses to list - and if you sort them all out and end up with a perfect car, it's a Chrysler Neon.
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>> and end up with a perfect car, it's a Chrysler Neon.
...with the 3 speed auto at that vintage
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One of the most awful cars in the UK in the 1990's. No amount of toys could hide the dreadful build and a pre historic 3 speed box.
Do you think these cars will even turn over after all that time? I wouldn't be surprised if the engines have seized.
Also I suspect these are poverty spec cars.
Last edited by: RattleandSmoke on Fri 14 Oct 11 at 12:38
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>> One of the most awful cars in the UK in the 1990's. No amount of
>> toys could hide the dreadful build and a pre historic 3 speed box.
>>
>> Do you think these cars will even turn over after all that time? I wouldn't
>> be surprised if the engines have seized.
>>
I didnt know you owned one of these?
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I had the displeasure of travelling on one once. That was enough. They were just cheap compact cars for the American market, with a massive price increase by the time they got to the UK.
At the correct price they should have been sold at they may have been ok.
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>> One of the most awful cars in the UK in the 1990's. No amount of
>> toys could hide the dreadful build and a pre historic 3 speed box.
>>
>> Do you think these cars will even turn over after all that time? I wouldn't
>> be surprised if the engines have seized.
>>
>> Also I suspect these are poverty spec cars.
>>
If they're in Singapore I'm fairly sure they won't be poverty spec - even in the mid nineties it was a ruinously expensive place to run a car (high taxes, tolls etc) so those cars sold tended not to be stripped out basic ones. Plus, at mid 30's and high humidity A/C is essential :-)
While I'd never have bought one in a million years, I did drive a few in the US (hire cars) - they were poor, but you have to remember how bad some cars were in the '90s... The Escort launched in '91 was absolutely dire, and widely slated, and the Maestro/Montego was still on sale. Even the Lada Samara was on sale, and quite frankly an air conditioned auto Neon was a better choice than that!!
Peter
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I'm almost tempted. I had one as a hire car in 1998. It was actually OK, despite what people say about them. Sure, 3 speed auto wasn't great, but on American roads with the 55mph speed limit (as they still had then) it was just fine.
I have fond memories of the Neon. Not sure I'd buy any car sat around for 14 years though!
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Isn't this the extreme, absurd case of 'buy on age and condition, not on mileage'? What would you pay for a 1997 Neon that someone had taken the trouble to look after for fourteen years? Now see if one abandoned in a field for the same time (bearing in mind that Singapore is warm, humid and surrounded by sea) seems like good value.
Rats, do we take it that you weren't even allowed inside the Neon you rode on?
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I think I'd pay about £500. Maybe less. :) But there's always the cachet of being able to claim that you bought a new car, at least once. I'd just have to change the subject quickly once they ask what it was...
If, for arguments sake, one did import one of these, would it be registered with a P plate (for 1997) or a 61 plate?
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I think if it hadn't previously been registered or used elsewhere it would get a 61, although there may be an exception for such a long gap between manufacture and registration.
Can't help thinking of the 'new old stock' mechanical watches I've occasionally bought from stashes found in forgotten drawers. They look nice enough, but unless you're very lucky the mechanism is gummed up with superannuated lubricant and it never runs as well as one that's been owned, used and serviced, even if that one has the odd scratch on the case.
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There may well be lots of good reasons for avoiding these, but I don't think the mechanical condition is necessarily one of them. Stories often appear about "barn finds" of ancient cars that are in perfect condition, whose engines turn over and start with a new battery and run perfectly.
I'm sure they will need lots of rubber components replacing not least the tyres, but I don't see why the engines should be seized.
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>> If, for arguments sake, one did import one of these, would it be registered with a P plate (for 1997) or a 61 plate?
I don't think you'd be able to register it at all. It wouldn't meet the emission regulations. But if you could it would be a 61
Last edited by: Tigger on Fri 14 Oct 11 at 19:28
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One of my university friends was given his grandfather's car - which had 5000 miles on the clock, and had been sitting for year (about 10, I think). He had a number of rubber items to replace, but otherwise it was fairly straightforward. I'm sure that many of these cars would start if they were given clean fuel and a charged battery. But they're basically scrap.
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>> But they're basically scrap.
Any idea what they would be worth as scrap - I guess less than £900?
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If, as I think possible, these Neons have the same running gear as my Cruiser, they should be all right. The engine is a good strong 16v 2 litre, reliable, not super economical but not a guzzler either. However I haven't driven the auto which is a renowned slug.
If the relationship extends to the rear suspension, there are a lot of bushes and so on that may (or perhaps not) need replacing. My car is certainly getting rattly back there, probably damage from ghastly speed bumps and the like, but a bit of labour anyway to renew those bushes. At least the bearing in the Watts linkage will be all right in cars that have never been driven.
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New cars - £900-ish. Slight catch - madf
