SRT belatedly claims Plymouth Prowler as one of its own

Gallery:
http://www.autoblog.com/photos/chrys...photo-5510630/

Before Chrysler had Street and Racing Technology, it had Performance Vehicle Operations. What the two entities have in common, before SRT became its own brand, of course, is that each was created to take Chrysler and Dodge (and Plymouth, before it was unceremoniously killed off) vehicles to the next level of style and performance.

We'll leave the question of whether or not the old Plymouth (and later Chrysler) Prowler was ultimately a stylish, performance-oriented car to you, but the boys and girls currently leading the SRT charge at the Pentastar headquarters are keen to accept the retro-rod into the fold.

According to the automaker, all of SRT's current high-performance models owe a debt of gratitude to the old Prowler, due mostly to that car's use of lightweight bits and pieces and innovative construction techniques. If nothing else, the fact that the Prowler's frame is "the largest machined automotive part in history" is pretty cool.

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/12/19/s...ne-of-its-own/

 

The newest generations of SRT's will definitely be more interesting with lighter chassis's and more powerful and efficient engines. Some good stuff in the pipelines

 

I was surprised that the Prowler did not sell any better than it did, especially among the aging Baby Boomers that had owned Ford and Chevy street-rods in the 50s. Most of them, after the initial wave of hype the first year (and 80-100% mark-ups) just sat in the showrooms drawing some ooglers and lookers, but rarely buyers. It can be argued, of course, that the car was overpriced.....especially with the outrageous first-year markups. Prowlers didn't offer a true manual transmission, either, like the 50's rods had. But, for the price, they also came with a small matching-body-color trailer to serve as the trunk, for carrying things...no, I'm not kidding.



Lexus, BTW, did a prototype factory street-rod in the classic 50s Candy-Apple-Red color, but never went on from there.....perhaps because of the Prowler's poor sales. IMO, it looked a lot more like a classic 50's street-rod than the Prowler did.

 

^Don't forget the one BIG thing the Prowler didn't have......a V8. Hot Rods weren't known for V6's....and to offer the Prowler with a V6 and no 8, does not do the name "Hot Rod" any justice.

 

Certainly looked cool. A V8 would have been nice. Other retro looking "hot rod cars" such as the Chevy SSR did offer a V8, but it never caught on

 

Just under $43K in '05 was probably one reason the SSR never caught on.

http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...vrolet-ssr.htm

 

Very low ratings from CG too.

 

That too!
CONS
Fuel economy
Noise
Build quality

 

Prowlers can be had used for $25-30k now. I always think about getting a hotrod type of car...

 

Buy one on the cheap, throw 5-7k at it for a 5.7, 6.2 or 6.4 Hemi Swap and have an UNGODLY track monster.

 

You would have to beef up the front suspension.

 

The SSR may have looked intersting to some people, but it never caught on for a reason. It was heavy (being built on a Chevy truck ladder-frame rather then unibody), very space-inefficient with the hard-top roof folding back into the cargo area, had poor fit/finish, was ponderous to drive, and was somewhat sluggish even with its 5.3L and 6.0L V8s. What's more, they were almost impossible to get in the first year, Chevy only built a few thousand of them, and the dealer-price markups, like with the Plymouth Prowler, were absurd. Rumor is that the first production SSR went to the Chevy museum, and the second one was specially-built for Tom Cruise.