The Plymouth Prowler exists for one reason and one reason only: Boomers were reaching the pinnacle of their careers at the start of the millennium, and they had money to spend. Chrysler cashed in on this by appealing to Boomers’ seemingly genetic affinity for hotrods, debuting the PT Cruiser in 1999 (that car would go on to inspire the Chevy HHR), but before that, for the well-heeled Boomer, there was the Plymouth Prowler.
You won’t hear any anti-Boomerism here at The Autopian. The Boomer generation loves cars, and many of its members are here in our ranks. Many Boomers love hotrods/street rods — we’re talkin’ Model-A based rods with big crate motors, wacky George Barris Kustoms, Muncie 4-speed-equipped Chevy Novas, and on and on. Having lived in Detroit when retired Boomers ruled the car shows, I grew to love these cars, even if I never had much interest in owning them myself. They’re wild, often absurd, and the community around them is tight.
Anyway, at a certain point, older Boomers had to put up the keys to their ‘rods and replace them with something that doesn’t require regular tinkering. Welcome the Plymouth Prowler:
OK, the one I drove was technically a Chrysler Prowler, since it was built after Plymouth’s 2001 demise. But it’s the same thing — the same insanely odd, modern streetrod-inspired Chrysler product.
Look at the chassis below; this was an all-aluminum, body-on-frame design with a rear-mounted transaxle. The brochure makes sure to start by leaning into a bit of patriotism, saying “PROWLER SALUTES A GREAT AMERICAN TRADITION,” before going on to say that rear transaxle’s location is “LIKE SOME FERRARIS.”
Lest you think that the transmission, a four-speed slushbox, make you a wuss, fear not, as you can “CONTROL ALL GEAR SELECTION. The brochure continues by saying that the front suspension — an inboard-mounted coilover with a pushrod-rocker mechanism — is like that of an INDY CAR, before noting that the European steering “in the grand hot-rodding tradition, was refined from a minivan unit.”
There’s lots of hot-rod mention in here. The brochure says the car has “the rear wheel-drive motivation so clearly demanded by classical hot rod high-boy protocol,” and notes that the Prowler is a “luxury car by hot-rodding standards.”
“Probably NO OTHER HOT ROD ANYWHERE combines the contemporary engineering and commodious creature comfort that Prowler does. For sure, no other rodney complies with federal passenger car safety standards,” the brochure concludes, leading me to wonder what the heck a “rodney” is….
The most interesting part of the brochure, to me, is where Plymouth specifically calls out custom-built hotrods as this car’s competition:
It is priced multiples of tens of thousands of dollars less than similarly equipped street rods custom-built by big names. It can be conveniently purchased through Chrysler Financial Company L.L.C.It is insurable. It can be serviced at any Chrysler-Plymouth dealership.
Yes, Chrysler literally engineered an entire car for custom car-loving Boomers. And I’m all for it.
The Prowler is simply fantastic. Not to drive, to be clear, but in general.
To drive, it’s lukewarm. In fact, I’d call the Prowler a warm-rod if I’m being entirely accurate. The 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6, which you might find in the Dodge Stratus Coupe, among others, may make 250 horsepower, propelling the sub-3,000 car from zero to 60 mph in under 6 seconds, but it’s not a particularly soulful motor. The Prowler is quick, but that cow-sounding exhaust note, along with the somewhat jerky four-speed automatic transmission, mean the Prowler lacks a lot of the heat you’d expect from a real street rod.
There’s also a lot of cowl shake, which is a bit strange given this is a body-on-frame car. Maybe it usb;t cowl shake, but rather just “shake” in general, with the cowl being along for the ride. Hitting bumps just made everything around me feel jittery.
The Prowler is more evocative of old show rods in that it’s really all about styling, with driving clearly secondary. It’s odd, given how much engineering was put into this chassis, but the car is just not particularly great as a driver. There foot room is tight, there’s basically no luggage space (see above), the engine is ho-hum, the automatic is disappointing, and everything shakes.
But I’m OK with all of that, because the Prowler is just epic in its boldness. It has what looks like an Autozone tachometer on the steering column, because that’s what you’d put in your home-made hotrod. It’s got lots of white gauges. It has chrome wheels and a chrome shifter bezel, it has a wild dual-exhaust system, and it has custom Prowler badges on the key and seats.
The view out the windshield is unlike anything you’ve ever seen — a sharp beak, two “fang” bumpers, and fairings bolted to each wheel’s knuckle:
The Prowler turns heads in a way that aligns with Chrysler’s original intent. People still gawk and wonder: Is that a custom?
No, dear pedestrian, it is not. An actual car company built a life-sized toy for Boomers, and they did so unabashedly, even using a Jeep Wrangler YJ as a test car (leading to the coining of the word “Prangler“). We all should thank Chrysler for their insanity.
I’m a late boomer.
These were a swing and a miss.
Plenty of press coverage, good looks if you didn’t look too close, but wimpy power killed it.
I want to know what Boomer traded it in on.
Was it a Ford Escape? Or a Baby Bronco?
Next of kin?
Lexus for the new trophy wife.
I’ve never driven one nor do I expect to, but I have loved the way these look since release. You want performance, buy a Viper.
*Gen X
I have a Viper. I’m still looking for one of these.
I need help.
There’s one for sale on my local Marketplace…oh wait, that’s not the kind of help you meant, is it?
I believe that’s called “enabling”.
First saw some of these at the ACD Labor Day parade in Auburn IN, maybe in ’97,’98?. They were last in line, after the trailer queens. Cause quite a stir, but not noisy enough, the front bumpers ruined the atmosphere, and then a V-6 and no stick shift ruined everything. So much potential…
I haven’t read through all the comments but Chip Foose had a hand in the design; it was his project at the Art Center in Pasadena
Were the boomers really the hot rod generation? When I think of boomer car culture, at least in the US, I always think of 60s and 70s muscle cars. Hot rods, as far as I’m aware, were more popular with returning soldiers from WWII, who built them from scrapped Model Ts and As and were really popular from the late 40s to the early 60s. And yeah, hot rod building continued after that, but I still thought it was mostly by those older than the boomers.
Boomers grew up in the hot rod years. Same story as millennials and JDM cars, or GenX and 70s muscle cars. The type of car you daydreamed about when you were a kid is likely what you buy when you’re retired and can finally afford it, assuming you didn’t already have a mid life crisis.
Correct, boomers are the muscle car generation. When hot rods were the thing, it was Silent generation that wanted them. The Prowler was aimed at aging Silents (born 28-45) who either had older siblings who had post-war hot rods or wanted them. So silents were 52-69 when the Prowler came out and the perfect age to waste money of cars that made them feel young 😀
People always want the cars of their youth that they were too young/broke to get – muscle car boom in the 90s-08 was peak boomer buying power. 70s and 80s JDM popularity in the 10s-20s when Gen X are prime buying power. 80s and 90s cars now that milenials are peak buying power. etc, etc.
There’s a guy who owns a pizza place here in town that daily drives one. Same yellow/gold color. He also added some crazy purple/red pinstriping all over it.
I used to work with a guy who had his and hers Prowlers, each with matching trailer. His daily driver was a 1st gen Volt.
Anyways, the tragedy of the Prowler was obviously that it didn’t quite overlap with the Hemi. I don’t even think a manual transmission would have been needed, but the car would have had more staying power in the imagination with a V8.
Still, what a swing by Chrysler, and how unimaginable would something like this going into production now be?
I always think about its spiritual relative, the decade later Mercury Marauder, and how while the market result was similar, Ford’s play it safe mentality really contrasted with Chrysler’s let’s go all in damnit ethos.
Fitting a Hemi would have really strained the styling. The available Magnum at the time is like ~3″ wider, similar height, and like 8″ longer; and all that for the same horsepower (but admittedly more torque). I believe a 5.7L Hemi adds like another inch to all of those dimensions.
And now go look in a Prowler engine bay. Yeah, there’s no room, especially when it comes to length. Plus, the Prowler is a relatively light 2,800 lbs. While it isn’t a great driver, adding more weight up front certainly wouldn’t have improved it.
Yeah the spirit of my comment would be that it’s too bad the car couldn’t have been designed with the Hemi in mind, rather than trying to shoehorn one into the V6 sized space. I totally agree with the decision to go V6 over 360 Magnum, but the additional 100 hp of the Hemi plus the sound would have made some additional compromises worth it IMO.
I’m guessing they made sketches of what the car would have looked like if they went the V8 route. I’d have to see them before saying it was worth it. Because clearly, the car was a styling exercise. They chose style over performance, and I’m ok with that. Not every car needs performance first.
Also worth noting that the Hemi came out after the Prowler was discontinued. I think if the Prowler came out a full six years later, it wouldn’t have been as dramatic looking as it was.
I remember these coming out when I was a kid and I loved the styling but even then I knew it had to have a v8 since every old hotrod seemed to have one. I realize it was a styling exercise but it was doomed by not designing it around a v8. I have to think Chrysler also chose a v6 to make sure it didn’t compete with something like a viper akin to gm killing the v8 fiero to protect the corvette, at least in terms of sales (obviously the viper would always be faster).
I also think the cost would have ballooned substantially to package the v8 with all that extra weight and torque which would have made for beefier suspension, chassis and especially that rear transaxle.
So I agree it would have been an all time great with a v8 but it would have probably cost a fortune.
The SRT4’s engine makes more sense in my mind than the HEMI. But I don’t think it’d land with the typical buyer.
I love these things unabashedly. That is to say, without abash. It’s this kind of “well, why not?” attitude that made Chrysler fun back then.
No V8? No manual? Who cares? It’s about cruising, not winning races.
That said, I understand there is a mod that changes the final drive ratio by changing the drive chain sprocket, and it really wakes these cars up off the line.
As much as Chrysler is vilified now, it’s not a stretch to say that in the 90s, it was easily the coolest domestic doing the most interesting things. The fact this even made production is proof, sure, but it’s hard to overstate how much attention the lowly Neon got when it arrived.
Chrysler died when the ‘merger of equals’ occured. In the early ’90s they were by far the most innovative car company in the US.
Yeah, but the Neon was new, different and fun while it lasted. That last part being the key.
Any passengers of mine can confirm I get irrationally excited to see a first-gen Neon in the wild; they’re sadly more rare than any Mercedes AMG product at this point.
And don’t forget to read Uncle Adrian’s (always) amazing Damn Good Design on the Prowler
https://www.theautopian.com/the-plymouth-prowler-was-way-more-advanced-than-its-appearance-suggests/
Hopefully the Prowler they pull out of the time capsule in Tulsa in 22 years fairs better than the time capsule 1957 Plymouth Belvedere.
I love almost everything about the Prowler.
The sheer audacity for a mass market car maker to produce something so wild and different. And it wasn’t even obnoxiously expensive, either.
It might be hard for some people these days to believe it, but at the time, Chrysler (including Dodge, Jeep and what eventually became Ram) was the absolute hottest car maker in terms of styling. No one else could touch them.
You definitely aren’t wrong. During the late 90’s and very early 2000’s Chrysler really was taking some big swings. It’s really hard to describe just how mind-blowing the Viper was when it came out. Then you had the second gen Ram, the Stealth (yeah, it was a neutered 3000GT but most of us didn’t know that), the Neon (love it or hate it, it at least had character which was new for that segment), the PT Cruiser (again, at least it was different and it was something of a forerunner for the boxy car fad of which I’m a fan), the Prowler, and the Crossfire.
Yeah, they had varying levels of success or execution; but they at least stood out from the crowd.
Their ads from that era still resonate. Their cars were pretty revolutionary, but even their marketing was unlike anything else out there. I think these were all fully 3D rendered cars in their TV ads which at the time was unheard of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgaKYYD8_7U&t=5s
Wow, I forgot about that one! They really did take some big swings in marketing too. That would have been mind-blowing at the time!
’90s car commercial with better CGI than half the movies made today.
It’s no coincident that the first (and best) Jurassic Park movie came out in this era. They all used the same (new for the time) 3D graphic technology. It’s been (mostly) downhill ever since.
Im with you 100%. It may not have had a V8 and a stick (but with the updated engine, it was quick for its day), it may have had the bumpers a home job wouldnt, it may have not been a real “drivers car”, but i don’t care about any of that. They actually built this thing and sold it to the public. Chrysler deserves massive credit for that. Any time a company roles the dice and builds something completely off the rails (im looking at you SSR) I am all for it. Even if its not my cup of tea, I think as car enthusiasts, we should rejoice. This thing was made for cruising, and turning heads and they did a damn good job of that.
My only gripe with these things is that ridiculous “bumper” up front. I get the reasoning behind it, but they just make this look like a hot rod with training wheels. Takes quite a bit of the “edginess” off.
If i recall correctly, Chrysler mentioned, with a nod and a wink, that it was very easy to remove the front bumper.
“Maybe it usb;t cowl shake, but rather just “shake” in general, with the cowl being along for the ride”
“There foot room is tight…”
Just thought you’d like to see what the editors missed. 🙂
He’s the editor.
I know. But even editors need editors.
Checks and balances, right?
At least that’s how it used to be…
Best buddy used to be a copy editor. Made a living, a good one, fixing errors like these.
Kan yu belifve thtt us once ay akshul joub?
Still don’t get this Generation stuff…Boomers, Generation ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ…wtf.
It’s mass marketing hokum. Actual sociologists don’t use the idea of a generation the same way we’ve been hearing it since the ’60s (The Love Generation, The Me Generation, The Pepsi Generation, The Blank Generation, etc.)
Previously, a generation was defined well after it had passed into old age; a 20 year cohort (for biological reasons) that shared a common experience such as war, plague or the like. The generational identifiers were acquired and observed, not assigned at birth.
For the Baby Boom, their generational identifier really was their sheer population size combined with post-war wealth. That wealth led to the “youth market”, as they were the first generation to be advertised to at teen and pre-teen ages.
Well, a “youth market” depends on youths, and as the Boomers became adults (The Me Generation! Ivan Boesky!) the marketing shifted to whoever was born in the next 20 years (me!) but they weren’t old enough to have a generational identifier, other than age, so marketers had to make shit up, which they’re good at. Also a ‘generation’ became something like 15 years even though biologically people were having children later in life, so an actual family generation might be 25 or 30 years.
The lettering convention started with a book called ‘Generation X’ about late-cohort British Boomers, and a Billy Idol band form the ’70s named for the book. No one born between ’65 and ’85 really ever knew what the fuck it was supposed to mean.
You are correct. Marketing now rules all.
I would say that there are only three actual things that matter:
You are either a young person.
A middle age person.
Or an old person.
All young people are lazy, iconoclast, creative, fun, poor, and zealots.
Middle age people are burdened, tired, hard working and at their peak earning years.
Old people are nostalgic, confused, calm and bemused.
The whole generation thing is marketing crock.
usb;t
Similar but different from usb;g
P sure prangling is a crime. Pranglers get five to ten in Leavenworth.
I’m a very late Boomer. I’d want to buy it, but I’m not seeing the pricing or the link to buy it.
I… I think it sold!
I love the plum color these came in. With a 6 cylinder and no stick, it fell short of the mark.
That metallic plum Chrysler had was about the era’s equivalent to the current Mazda red. Such a great color!
It even made the PT Cruiser look good!
If I close my eyes and picture a PT Cruiser, it’s always that color.
I was right; they called that color Plum Crazy on the PT Cruiser. Different name for the Prowler (Prowler Purple Metallic, which kinda sounds like flying purple people eater.). Throwback to the fun Mopar color names of the late 60s and early 70s.
No mention of the trailer that was available? 😛
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bd/da/9f/bdda9f57c0a6d2b9c5346650492b03bb.jpg
I remember them saying that they finally figured out how to fit a V8 under the hood just before Plymouth went poof.
Too bad the Howler never came out. It had a flat back
https://cdn.ccdiscussion.com/original/3X/0/d/0d8d4415853895ec86316ff95fec0f58b52595b7.jpeg
This was a great era for boomers. The PT Cruiser, the Prowler, the new Beetle, the redesigned Thunderbird…there’s probably more.
As a Xenial, none of those appealed to me. I’m actually struggling to think of a production car from that era that did.
(You forgot SSR)
STI, Evo, RX8, 350Z, IS300, MRS, M3, Neon SRT4, … nothing?
I was tired when I posted that. I’d gladly take an M3.
I would love a “new” Thunderbird as a boomer cruiser.
So has anyone “fixed” the problems in a Prowler to make theirs live up to the look?
I think there’s a pretty common mod that wakes up the transmission a bit.
It’s really a shame how not-awesome this is to drive.It nails the looks and I get it that this is not a car to be pushed to its limits. If it at least made interesting sounds it would immediately become 72% more appealing.
The better sounding engines Chrysler had at the time were much larger, heavier, and didn’t make much better power if any at all. Given the engines they had to choose from, the V6 was the right call. The disappointing thing was they invested so heavily into making the Prowler, I’m just surprised they didn’t give the V6 some more performance goodies.
I may be completely off-base here, but wasn’t the Prowler kind of a statement of intent with the new tech (inboard suspension, transaxle, etc.) to establish a more performance-oriented branding? Unfortunately, they went in a different direction before any of this bore fruit…
If they really cared about performance, I don’t think they would have been as concerned with the styling.
I always felt the car was first and foremost a styling exercise. All the engineering for it was largely to support maintaining the styling. Inboard suspension wasn’t for handling purposes, it was to maintain the open wheel front end and have it look great. I believe the transaxle was to not only help weight distribution, but to help keep space in the footwell which was already tight, and the footwell was tight all because of styling.
Yeah, that tracks. As I said, there was a good chance I was off base with that…
The cargo space in this thing is non-existent. There’s a decent-sized opening covering a space that I would be worried about damaging a larger laptop in its bag when I closed the lid.
Apparently some people have put Hellcat V8 engines in them.
With enough time and money, anything is possible.
I don’t think I’d want to drive it with a hellcat V8. I would just want something that will growl a little bit when I rev it.
Does the Hellcat V8 change the looks at all? Any parts poking out?
I think I’d be fine with one of these and a Turbo 4 making all the possible silly turbo 4 sounds.
A former neighbor of mine had a Prowler in the same yellow-gold color, always parked in the driveway next to his red Chevy SSR. While I don’t think the SSR aged super well, I think the Prowler honestly has – and I thought that literally each time I saw that Prowler roll by my house.
Agreed. Still looks cool.
The SSR looks exactly like a early aughts interpretation of a ’50s design. I throw a lot of Boyd Codding hotrods in there too (even though his are actual old cars) and some Chip Foose stuff. They all just scream 2002 to me.
While the Prowler is clearly from the same era, it some how has aged much better. I think it’s the fact it’s even more unique and there’s no other production cars from the era that went as far, so it kind of stands alone. Meanwhile, the SSR can get thrown in with the PT Cruiser, Thunderbird and HHR.
I think a very big part of that is (as you replied to me in another comment) that Chrysler actually put real effort and engineering into making the design work. The other examples were really just a matter of putting peudo retro looking sheetmetal over an existing platform, the superficiality tends to show more over time. With the Prowler, even if the form loses it’s luster, you still have to respect the effort.
I’m going to be honest and say I have never seen one of these driven Boomer or otherwise. My boomer parents drove a beat up Nissan skyline and an Astro van, and my Boomer grandparents Drove a square body and a Ranger.
Maybe because we were poor at the time?
I didn’t know that someone was allowed to have both Boomer parents and Boomer grandparents! Interesting…
It’s a 20 year timeframe – so if Granny was born in 1946 or 47, and got pregnant at 18…
Or even younger, 16.