The Plymouth Prowler Was Secretly Chrysler's Most Important Engineering Experiment

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Well....... Just as the article staights....... I would have jumped on one........... But no V-8 killed it for me. Thats all I can say.
barracudadave67
 
I was talking to a Prowler owner at a cruse in years back, he was very excited talking about his car. He told me about how the prowler killed Plymouth, that they had frame cracking problems, that all had to be recalled. :dontknow: Then Chrysler took over.
 
The Prowler was fascinating because only Chrysler would make something that outrageous and a vehicle so profoundly American. The Magnum engines would have been great for it and I don't think are too much bigger than the 3.5L V6. The problem was that Chrysler just couldn't make enough V8s for trucks and Jeeps. The Prowler was built in the under-utilized plant that the Viper was built. The Prowler could have been used to develop future power trains, like the Hemi, but it wasn't ( neither was the Viper).
 
It was a neat car. It screamed Hot Rod! BUT, like I always said they forgot to put an Engine in it.
 
Just anther car that couldn't be what it was supposed to be. Just like that ugly Chevy truck, they were neither Hot Rods or affordable, who wants that? Just like the Caddy want-a-be Vette, another toy for the gold chain, aviator sun glass, black windbreaker crowd to chat about at the Cougar Club.
 
Well it was also one of their biggest failures, IMO. No V8.

Had they stuffed the Magnum engines in it, it would still be in showrooms right now with the new Hemi.

Idiots as usual.
 
this:

The Plymouth Howler is a roadster concept car designed and built by Plymouth. It was first presented at the 1999 SEMA show. It is essentially a redesigned Prowler which addressed some of the complaints and problems existing Prowler owners had.
The lack of cargo space in the Prowler was universally lamented, so the Howler addressed this by elongating and squaring off the back end, creating a moderate sized trunk. The Prowler was only available as a 3.5L V6 that was rated at ~250 hp at its highest. For what was considered to be a modern "hot rod", this was not considered to be enough power, so the Howler was given a 4.7L V8 - which had nearly the same horsepower, but had significantly more torque.[1] The engine is mated to a five speed manual transmission, instead of the Prowler's four speed automatic. This freed up some room in the undercarriage to enlarge the gas tank for the thirstier V8. The Howler also has a removable hardtop instead of the traditional ragtop of the Prowler. The top is manually removed, and can be stored in a compartment behind the seats.
Though the concept was appreciated by most Prowler enthusiasts, the low sales volume of the Prowler and the ultimate demise of the Plymouth nameplate ensured that the Howler was never made into a production vehicle.
 
They can run mid-high 14 sec 1/4 mph at 91-92 mph pure stock. That's not bad for late 1990s what else did Mopar have then that was close? The R/T Dakota and the 5.9 Limited Grand Cherokee. Some big FWD stuff with the same motor.
These were a success. They sold all they made, no problem, and they immediately went up in value after they quit making them.
It would have gotten the 4.7 not the old Magnum which was on its way out. The first 4.7 wouldn't have been any quicker then a HO 3.5 and the 4.7 sucks long term reliability compared to the 3.5.
 
Always thought those things were fugly..but that is par for coarse with mopar/fiat for awhile now..
 
Yeah but not many real car guys bought them. Mostly only those that wanted something that "looked cool". They didn't give a rat's butt in hell about the history of the look of the hot rod. So IMO, most of those buyers "didn't count".

Just like the kid goin after "somethin shiny".
 
stroked340 said:
Always thought those things were fugly..but that is par for coarse with mopar/fiat for awhile now..
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Um you need to know your mopar history before spouting off.
The prowler was designed and produced before the unhealthy merger with Diamler making the company Damnyou-Chrysler, and was killed during that merger, and so was dead and buried many years before the fiat merger.

The 90s was a good time for chrysler before the Diamler merger. Thay had good products in the pipeline, a halo car in the viper that could win against the corvette. Granted they could have had a mid sized V8 muscle car to compete with the camaro and mustang, even though the camaro/firebird went away after i think 1994.

If the prowler helped them with engineering techniques with alternate materials decades before their competition then thats great. It shows forward thinking, which is what i have come to expect from the smallest of the big 3.

By the way, they were also experimenting with ceramic rotors on the rear of the prowler as well. This is also decades ahead of everybody else.


As far as Fiat goes, this company also has alfa romeo, maserati, and ferrari under its brand, yet they havent killed the viper. They worked with chrysler to improve it, as well as improving chryslers current models. You only have to look and compare just the interior redesign of the 2015 challenger to the outgoing 2014 challenger to see the difference.

I think Fiat automobiles genuinely cares about chrysler. It shows in the current products in the pipeline compared to the stuff made during the diamler merger except for the gen 3 hemi

This is my .02
Matt
 
fratzog lover said:
It is said they couldnt even spin the tires. Shame. Neat looking car.
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Does anyone here remember when the first V10 trucks came out in the '90's?
Guy's were out doing 6-wheel burnouts in their duallies,'till they took them in for service,
probably for a bad plenum bottom plate gasket.All of a sudden they could barely turn a
tire,it was the advent of "reflashing", and mopar probably got tired of arguing over and
fixing powertrains.So they killed the power curves to preserve the drivetrains with an
"update". I drove a Caddy Catera w/a six speed auto,Whaaaaaaa,aaaWhaaaaaaaa,
aaaWhaaaaaaaa.......5 freakin times! Honest to God I was slicker at gear shifting with
the crashbox four speed I built w/no synchro's!!!But what nice no-load shifts for those
clutches,how anybody could pay for a "Caddy" and tolerate that is beyond me!
Anybody ever been sued for loss of life?Lifetime disability?You can be sure
Mopar and every other auto manufacture has,and if you don't think the thought of that
little topless roadster snappin around whan you stepped on the loud pedal didn't pass
thru' the legal dept., well.......
 
I've always liked the Prowlers. I agree it could had used a V8 engine, but it doesnt bother me that it didnt have it either.
 
I was in the dealership parts dept in the early-mid 90s. Great times. MP parts were in big development, cars were great except for the transmissions which we had a bunch of in stock. I was at Chrysler Plymouth, a buddy was at a Dodge franchise and he called for me to test drive a V8 truck. 5.2L, 5sp, 3.91 sure grip, with the MP cam, headers, and computer. It was a blast, but we couldn't make a deal on price. It certainly was faster than the 5.9L RTs when they came out.
 
I always thought they were ugly and boring, just like the T.P. Cruiser.
 
Dartnut said:
I always thought they were ugly and boring, just like the T.P. Cruiser.
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I did too. "Some" concept cars are OK. I think Ford did a great job resurrecting the 'Stang, and "in some respects" that holds true for the Challenger.

But "this thing" was a limited market from the get go, and could have never appealed to a wide base of customers.
 
67Dart273 said:
I did too. "Some" concept cars are OK. I think Ford did a great job resurrecting the 'Stang, and "in some respects" that holds true for the Challenger.

But "this thing" was a limited market from the get go, and could have never appealed to a wide base of customers.
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They sold 11702 prowlers in 5 years, that's 2,300 a year average. That beats the Viper's average. Makes your point as to limited market but must be a bigger market then the Viper. The Hellcat at over 7,000 in it's first year and double that planned for this year shows what a special market really wants. Then again there wasn't much market for Hemi Cuda convertibles in 70 and 71 but look at what that gets you today when you buck the crowd.
 
I will say it plainly. If it was a full bodied car with any other styling, it would have been boring, just like any other V6 Chrysler product. Period. And that's the end of that story.

Chrysler f&^ked up TWO BIG chances at making a serious V8 RWD comeback. The Prowler and the Crossfire. Just think how awesome COOL Those two would have been with the 5.7 Hemi. But hell no, Chrysler screwed it up as usual.
 
View attachment image.jpg

July 15th 1998

That is me picking up my new Prowler. I now have 42,000 miles on it. I have met people from all over the world I can call friends because of this car.

It was an experiment that got such good response in 1993 when it was a concept that they built it

Should of it had a V8 yes but the engine they could have put in was less hp and torque ( check out howler v8 manual had 360 with 240 hp) so being a modern car they used what was the best engine they had. This car was a PARTS CAR, parts on the shelf to build a concept.

And for all of you that say it should have, have you ever ridden in or drove one? They are quick, cruise nice and get more attention than almost every car on the road. To this day people still ask what it is.

I have has people video and taking pictures going down the interstate to the point they are dangerous. Turning around as they drive past for pictures.

If anyone want a snake skin green Prowler with a 6.1 Hemi I know one for sale in Canada. Have several friends that have either 5.7 or 6.1 and there is one with a 360 running around. Plus the Dick Marriot Prowler with a complete corvette drivetrain and the one Ledgendary Motor Car did on TV with an LS7 corvette engine and Porchse read axle.

The biggest issue with putting a V8 in it is the transaxle, it will not hold the power, Trey has a 6.1 in his Prowler with a shaker hood and blew the transmission right away

Oh you say it only has a V 6, Mike Krehel owns the fastest Prowler a stroked out motor running 11.56 in the 1/4 in Texas heat, he also has transmission failure due to excessive power

Spinning the tires, well I have never tried, have you ever bought a set of Goodyear run flat 295/40/20 ? They are exspensive. Even though I have never tried yes it will spin the tires since I have done it without really trying.

A lot of people read the negative feedback and use that to form their opinion, go for a ride in one and see if you still think they are lame.

And as far as not being owned by car guys, well several are owned by people that have influenced hot Rodding for many years. have had the pleasure of meeting many of the Chrysler employees that were instrumental in the building of the car and they are all car people.

I'm proud to own my car, it was made into a Johnny Lightning Diecast in 2001, was 2000 ISCA International Points Champ and a hell of a lot of fun
 
I like it in that article when he said all the car designers back then were "drinking at the same bar!" Ha ,,,, in general, pretty true today for the average car. good thing we have the chally, camero, stang to look at and drive! ha

the article states the Prowler came about mainly as an engineering exercise in aluminum.. ma mopar has always been a leader is design and engineering.....
 
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