Jim Kennedy’s Car Collection

Although the Neon survived as a Dodge-branded vehicle until 2005, the last year for Neon as a Plymouth, and the last year for the Plymouth brand, was 2001. My 2001 Neon was first purchased in late 2000 by a young elementary school teacher, who needed dependable transportation for her commute to Chicago from her home in the Northwestern suburbs. She drove the car for the next ten years, mostly commuting and occasionally taking boogie-boarding and snowboarding excursions with her boyfriend, who eventually became her husband. Aside from one unfortunate interaction with a snowplow, the Neon remained in “like new” condition. When they were expecting their first child in 2011, the couple decided they needed a family vehicle that would be larger and stronger than their baby’s crib. I bought the car off eBay in November 2011 and drove it from the Chicago suburbs to Massachusetts, where it quietly depreciated for two years. In Fall 2013, the Neon and I traveled cross-country to California, stopping in Belvidere to revisit sites and sights of the subcompact's youth. The arrival of my mom's "Silver Bullet" shortly thereafter raised and answered the question, “How many Neons are too many?” I sold this “End of an Icon” model in late 2014. 

Belvidere Motors was the last incarnation of what began as Beaty and Beckett Motors, a Kaiser-Frazer dealership opened by cousins LaVerne C. “Hap” Beaty (1906–1973) and Harlan S.Beckett (1917–1992) shortly after World War II. Hap Beaty later assumed sole ownership of the business, and added Studebaker and Packard to the offerings in the 1950s. On April 1, Robert L. Dixon (1940–2016) and Lowell L. Johnson (1933–1986) purchased Beaty Motors, by then a Chrysler-Plymouth franchise, later renaming the operation Belvidere Motors. When Chrysler ended the Plymouth brand in 2001, Belvidere Motors switched to offering Dodge products. In 2009, Belvidere Motors, then run by Bob Dixon’s son, Gary, lost its franchise as part of the Chrysler bankruptcy and re-organization. It then transitioned to a used car dealership, later operating as Dixon Auto Sales.