The Plymouth Prowler, later the Chrysler Prowler, is a two-door, two-seat sports car, manufactured and marketed by DaimlerChrysler for model years 1997 through 2002. It is widely known for its hand-crafted aluminum bodywork and its retro-hot rod styling with open, Indy racer-style front wheels.
Based on the 1993 concept car of the same name, Chrysler offered the Prowler over a single generation, with a V6 front-engine, and a rear-transaxle, rear-drive configuration. Total production was 11,702 Plymouth- and Chrysler-branded Prowlers.
Design
thumb|Rear
Chrysler's design and international director Thomas C. Gale said his "love for 1930s-era hot rods" inspired the Prowler." Gale, who has a hotted up 1932 Ford in his garage, approved the hotrod-inspired Plymouth Prowler as the company's follow-up show-stopper to the Dodge Viper.
Another early influence is credited to a Chrysler-sponsored project at the Art Center College of Design, resulting in a thesis project by Douglas "Chip" Foose, which included drawings of a retro-roadster. Foose "designed it as a coupe for Chrysler to begin with, but modified it to a roadster version."
The Prowler used a powertrain from Chrysler's LH-cars, a 24-valve, 3.5 L Chrysler SOHC V6 engine producing at 5850 rpm. For model year 1999, the engine was upgraded to a more powerful, aluminum block, at 6400 rpm version. The engines were coupled to a four-speed Autostick semi-automatic transmission at the rear of the vehicle. Power to the transaxle from the engine was via an open tube-type drive shaft that rotated at engine speed, described as a "torque tube". However, it was not a stationary enclosure, as is the drive shaft within a rigid torque tube connecting a front engine and rear-mounted transaxle, such as on the C5 Corvette, Porsche 944, and Alfa Romeo 75. Placement of the transmission in the rear helped achieve the Prowler's desirable 50-50 front-rear weight distribution.
The Prowler was the first rear-wheel drive Plymouth since the 1989 Plymouth Gran Fury and became the last Plymouth model with the layout. While criticized for having its V6 engine, Chrysler's High Output 3.5 L had a horsepower rating similar to (or higher than) the company's Magnum V8s of that era. While not making nearly as much torque as a V8, the Prowler's light weight helped to achieve 0 to 60 mph acceleration in just over 7 seconds.
- Top speed: electronically limited
- 1999–2002 model
- 0-60 mph (0–97 km/h): 5.9 seconds
|-
! scope="row" | 1997
| 457
|-
! scope="row" | 1999
| 3,921
|-
! scope="row" | 2000
| 2,746
|-
! scope="row" | 2001
| 3,142
|-
! scope="row" | 2002
| 1,436
|-
! scope="row" | Total Plymouth Prowlers
| 8,532
|-
! scope="row" | Total Chrysler Prowlers
| 3,170
|-
! scope="row" | Grand total production
| 11,702
|}The last Prowler was built on February 15, 2002, and the model niche was later filled by the Chrysler Crossfire in 2004.
Colors
Across the two production runs, the Prowler was available in 12 colors.
- Prowler purple metallic (only color available in 1997)
- Prowler yellow clear coat
- Prowler black clearcoat
- Prowler red clearcoat
- Prowler bright silver metallic
- Woodward Edition (two-tone black/red)
- Black Tie Edition (two-tone black/silver)
- Prowler orange pearl coat
- Midnight blue pearl coat – Mulholland Edition
- Inca gold pearl coat
- Deep candy red pearl coat
- High voltage blue pearl coat – Conner Avenue Edition (only one produced, auctioned at Christie's)
<gallery mode="packed">
File:1999 Plymouth Prowler (48762135047).jpg|Purple metallic
File:Prowler002.jpg|Orange pearl coat
File:2000 Plymouth Prowler Woodward Edition, front right, 06-16-2024.jpg|Prowler Woodward Edition
File:2001 Plymouth Prowler Black Tie Edition, front right, 07-21-2024.jpg|Prowler Black Tie Edition
File:Plymouth Prowler black in FL.jpg|Black
File:Plymouth Prowler - Flickr - Alexandre Prévot (3) (cropped).jpg|Bright silver metallic
File:1999 Plymouth Prowler (15118085727).jpg|Yellow
</gallery>
Other features
- Wheels front: 17" × 7"
- Wheels rear: 20" × 10"
- Tires front: 225/45 HR17
- Tires rear: 295/40 HR20
- Brakes front/rear: composite 11" vented disc / 13" vented disc
- Towing capacity: 1,000 lbs (braked trailer)
Pricing
thumb|right|Prowler with trailer
The original manufacturer's suggested retail price (in US$) for each model year for the Prowler:
- 1997 – $38,300
- 1999 – $39,300
- 2000 – $43,000
- 2001 – $44,225
- 2002 – $44,625
Due to limited trunk space, a $5,000 Prowler trailer option was available from Chrysler dealers. These trailers resembled the back end of a Prowler and had 15-inch versions of the five-spoke wheels found on the car. They could be ordered to match a car's factory color. The vehicles were equipped with a trailer hitch to accommodate the trailer option; however, a warning was affixed to the hitch indicating that it was not to be used to tow any other trailer, such as for a boat, camper, etc. Doing so would void the factory warranty.
Legacy
In 1998, a Plymouth Prowler was sealed in a mausoleum as a time capsule in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While similar in concept to the buried 1957 Plymouth Belvedere that had been buried below-ground near the courthouse and was heavily damaged by the failure of its vault, the Prowler was sealed in Centennial Park in an above-ground vault and sealed within a plastic box instead of plastic sheets that covered the Belvedere. Experts believe the Prowler has a better chance of surviving when the time capsule is opened in 2048 and it is returned to Chrysler.
In 1999, Chrysler unveiled the Plymouth Howler concept at the Specialty Equipment Market Association's annual car show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Inspired by hot rod trucks and based on the Prowler, the Howler featured a small, truck-like bed with a tailgate and hard tonneau cover. Under the hood, an adapted version of Jeep's new 4.7 L PowerTech V8 engine replaced the production model's 3.5 L V6. A BorgWarner five-speed manual replaced the production four-speed automatic.
Chrysler Corporation hosted a tenth-anniversary celebration on August 16, 2007, at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan, to commemorate the production of the Plymouth Prowler in 1997.