The following year would see PVO transform into SRT, taking its name from the very Neon it had birthed into the world-and that wasn't the only change afoot. Interestingly, Dodge sold the SRT-4 without any mufflers, relying on resonators to keep its dual exhaust from waking up the neighbors. Bigger brakes, a look-at-me wing and 17-inch rims rounded out the package, with interior updates including sport seats, carbon fiber-look trim, a boost gauge and a cue ball shifter. PVO also added a beefier transmission, clutch and half-shafts to the equation, to go with Tokico shocks, an upgraded chassis and thicker sway bars. It wasn't long before dyno-using tuners were discovering that the SRT-4 was actually churning out as much as 223hp and 250 lb-ft of twist at the wheels, which underscored just how underrated the motor was from the factory. PVO convinced Dodge that moving to the same 2.4L four-cylinder engine found in the Chrysler PT Cruiser would pay dividends, and a turbocharged version of this motor put down 215 flywheel horsepower and 245 lb-ft of torque at 14 psi-at least, on paper. The years of development time paid off nicely for Neon SRT-4 customers. Helping to get the Neon past this hurdle were people like John Fernandez, PVO's director, and program manager Brad Dotson, with the latter lending his SCCA racing expertise to the effort. It took several more concept versions of the car, however, plus the intervention of the Specialty Vehicle Engineer team (responsible for the Viper and the Plymouth Prowler, and later renamed Performance Vehicle Operations, or PVO), before Chrysler's bean counters would let the project proceed towards production as a 2003 model. Initial prototypes for the quickened Neon made use of a supercharger to boost its four-cylinder output from the low 130s to just over 200, and after four months of development the "Neon SRT" (Street & Racing Technology) debuted at the SEMA '99. Dodge had already built the lightweight ACR or "American Club Racer" version of the Neon, which featured a tuned suspension system aimed at the autocross crowd (with later models adding goodies like Koni adjustable shock absorbers), and the car had developed a reputation for nimble handling. It wasn't an altogether unreasonable request. The mission Gale put before his team, which included Marques McCammon, Dave Chyz, and Marc Musial, was simple: take the lowly, but popular, Dodge Neon sedan and do whatever it took to make it competitive with import performance rivals like the Honda Civic Si and the Nissan Sentra SE-R. Tom Gale, the design exec directly responsible for both the Viper and the earlier Dodge Stealth, was inspired by the energy of street culture embodied at the show, and realized that if Chrysler could tap into that wave of enthusiasm it would probably find itself awash in profit. At the time, Chrysler was looking for ways to expand its performance car offerings past the Viper, which was well-suited as a halo model but priced out of reach of the majority of customers. The genesis of the SRT-4 project can be traced all the way back to the SEMA show in the late-'90s. Despite the phenomenal potential of the platform, surprising levels of factory speed support almost from day one and an incredibly low purchase price-especially now on the used market-the turbocharged version of Mopar's entry-level offering still "can't get no respect" from performance fans outside of a small, dedicated cadre of Neon lovers. In the world of sport compact cars, the Dodge Neon SRT-4 can lay perhaps the greatest claim to being the heir apparent to late comedian Rodney Dangerfield.
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