RE: Plymouth Prowler: Spotted

[Sebring440]

It's a real pity the writer of this piece didn't do a little more research into the origins of the project.

From Wikipedia:

"The car prominently featured aluminum construction, in many cases adhesively bonded, chiefly in the chassis."

The company that developed this method of construction for the Prowler project, and instigated the resultant body tooling was British, and they continued and developed their method of body construction with the later Jensen S-V8 project.

[MCBrowncoat]

AlexRS2782 said:

Whenever i see reference to one of these it always reminds me of a poster that used to be on here that had one of these.

In a failed attempt to keep it covered (rather than using a cover) he managed to get in the st with his neighbours & council for attempting to build a massive fk off eyesore of a wooden framed car port at the front of his house / over the entire drive, but ended up having to remove it

Edit - Found the thread if anyone fancies a read if they're bored - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

It's even been updated recently too - turns out the car's still outside under a cover

Edit 2 - just noticed the plate - P12 DWL spaced / black capped in a lame attempt to spell PROWL

AHAHAHA that thread is effing hilarious!! Wooooow. If my neighbour put that up next to me I would be absolutely livid. Sod it if someone put that up down my street I would be livid

Seriously what is it with some people?!!

[Escort3500]

MCBrowncoat said:

AlexRS2782 said:

Whenever i see reference to one of these it always reminds me of a poster that used to be on here that had one of these.

In a failed attempt to keep it covered (rather than using a cover) he managed to get in the st with his neighbours & council for attempting to build a massive fk off eyesore of a wooden framed car port at the front of his house / over the entire drive, but ended up having to remove it

Edit - Found the thread if anyone fancies a read if they're bored - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

It's even been updated recently too - turns out the car's still outside under a cover

Edit 2 - just noticed the plate - P12 DWL spaced / black capped in a lame attempt to spell PROWL

AHAHAHA that thread is effing hilarious!! Wooooow. If my neighbour put that up next to me I would be absolutely livid. Sod it if someone put that up down my street I would be livid

Seriously what is it with some people?!!

Aargh, I remember that thread. Epic! Not sure what was worse; the car port or it’s content

[Cloudy147]

Love these! Sure, they might not have much power or drive all that well, but they look so outlandishly daft and completely left field - plus oh so rare in UK, that I think they are great.

Can't beat a little bit of crazy in motoring!

[humphra]

myhandle said:

alorotom said:

Love these, they’re quintessential modern Americana. They are massively standout and should be applauded for it!

+1. There are some real Jeremiahs on this thread! The day will come when cars are extremely homogenous, and we are not that far away. I don’t want a Prowler, or a TVR, or an Ariel Nomad, or a Twisted Defender, but I am really pleased there are those who do. Variety is the spice of motoring.

+1 from me too

[Mike335i]

Strange how there is so much hatred for these. Not a fan myself, but I love that they did something wacky. Looks like a Hot Wheels car and that should bring out the inner child in all of us who love cars.

If this had a V8 it would be celebrated. Still not worth £27k, but far more appealing nonetheless

[Hairymonster]

AlexRS2782 said:

Whenever i see reference to one of these it always reminds me of a poster that used to be on here that had one of these.

In a failed attempt to keep it covered (rather than using a cover) he managed to get in the st with his neighbours & council for attempting to build a massive fk off eyesore of a wooden framed car port at the front of his house / over the entire drive, but ended up having to remove it

Edit - Found the thread if anyone fancies a read if they're bored - https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=14...

That's 90 minutes of my life I shall never get back, but bloody hell that's funny.

How the thread gets diverted onto whether or not the OP has committed VAT fraud, the construction of the car port, are the posts concreted in properly, is there a proper pitch on the roof, will the posts rot, then onto which breeds of dog are considered 'council', on to suggestions as to how he can convert his lounge/diner into a second garage, or build a shanty-style arrangement in his back garden, then the custard test as to whether he's lying about the cost of the erection I had never heard about the custard test before this thread. Then accusations of middle-class snobbery vs people who should be more tolerant, then ways he could get the car in his existing garage (too narrow) try pushing it in etc.

My 2p-worth on this is that if I were his neighbour, I'd prefer the thing he's put up, to having a car transporter or grotty caravan parked on the drive, but I guess them's the rules.

[1974foggy]

The kid in me loves this, but i don't think i could drive around in it. I like that it exists though, although it does need a V8.

[300bhp/ton]

Why are articles like this always full of snide comments and insults. Shame on you PH!

[Sway]

I quite like these...

However, they're not a patch on the inspiration, which I still deem one of the prettiest cars ever made.

[JMF894]

Quite like it myself as a bit of fun. Agree it needs a V8 though.

It's priced, err, optimistically?

[Jon_S_Rally]

Totally ridiculous and pretty naff, but I'm glad it exists. Given the direction the industry is taking, with boring boxes, big touchscreens and zero driver involvement, cars like this should be celebrated. We'll never see anything so interesting again I suspect.

[300bhp/ton]

1974foggy said:

although it does need a V8.

Why?

Period hot rods would have had 4 pots in the originally. And at the time of the Prowler the Chysler V8 would have been bigger, heavier and maybe not much more power than the V6 they used.

[J4CKO]

Jon_S_Rally said:

Totally ridiculous and pretty naff, but I'm glad it exists. Given the direction the industry is taking, with boring boxes, big touchscreens and zero driver involvement, cars like this should be celebrated. We'll never see anything so interesting again I suspect.

So nothing made now is as interesting as a retro styled pastiche of a hotrod with a V6 engine and auto box ?

I quite like that they made it, don't want one but look at what you can buy now, do you really think this has more "driver involvement" than an M2, Alpine A110, Cayman or even a Fiesta ST ?

[300bhp/ton]

J4CKO said:

Jon_S_Rally said:

Totally ridiculous and pretty naff, but I'm glad it exists. Given the direction the industry is taking, with boring boxes, big touchscreens and zero driver involvement, cars like this should be celebrated. We'll never see anything so interesting again I suspect.

So nothing made now is as interesting as a retro styled pastiche of a hotrod with a V6 engine and auto box ?

I quite like that they made it, don't want one but look at what you can buy now, do you really think this has more "driver involvement" than an M2, Alpine A110, Cayman or even a Fiesta ST ?

Apart from the Apline, yes I think it has more longer term appeal than the other cars you mention. It was never built for outright performance, it was built to built to look great, have enough performance and to cruise about it while being easy to drive. It achieves this perfectly.

If you own such a car, you'd never not be able to drive it without smiling.

[J4CKO]

300bhp/ton said:

J4CKO said:

Jon_S_Rally said:

Totally ridiculous and pretty naff, but I'm glad it exists. Given the direction the industry is taking, with boring boxes, big touchscreens and zero driver involvement, cars like this should be celebrated. We'll never see anything so interesting again I suspect.

So nothing made now is as interesting as a retro styled pastiche of a hotrod with a V6 engine and auto box ?

I quite like that they made it, don't want one but look at what you can buy now, do you really think this has more "driver involvement" than an M2, Alpine A110, Cayman or even a Fiesta ST ?

Apart from the Apline, yes I think it has more longer term appeal than the other cars you mention. It was never built for outright performance, it was built to built to look great, have enough performance and to cruise about it while being easy to drive. It achieves this perfectly.

If you own such a car, you'd never not be able to drive it without smiling.

Yeah, but you are the bloke who "Likes American Stuff", you have a tolerance to it beyond what I could muster, it wouldn't last long with me, I dont hate them and like individual cars but its just got a slightly cheesy aura about it, sort of PT Cruiser meets ZZ Top thats been sanitised, would look ok ratted and de flamed.

[hondansx]

Mike335i said:

Strange how there is so much hatred for these. Not a fan myself, but I love that they did something wacky. Looks like a Hot Wheels car and that should bring out the inner child in all of us who love cars.

If this had a V8 it would be celebrated. Still not worth £27k, but far more appealing nonetheless

Agreed - don't see the issue with them! They're a bit of fun.

[300bhp/ton]

J4CKO said:

Yeah, but you are the bloke who "Likes American Stuff", you have a tolerance to it beyond what I could muster, it wouldn't last long with me, I dont hate them and like individual cars but its just got a slightly cheesy aura about it, sort of PT Cruiser meets ZZ Top thats been sanitised, would look ok ratted and de flamed.

I like lots of cars.


The Prowler was a homage to this sort of thing:




But built as a modern car to modern safety standards and regs. Meaning you could use it daily in all weathers if you wanted too. And would be no more hassle to own or run than your average saloon car of the same era.


At the time of the Prowler people like Boyd Coddington and others were being very successful with re-imaged hot rods in a smoother sleeker style than the classic ones.




But bespoke cars like this would set you back a huge amount of money compared to the Prowler. And obviously aren't production cars in the same sense.


Chrysler weren't the only ones to want to have a slice of this rich market.

Others offered similar "themed" vehicles.




And too a lesser extent:

[irocfan]

Love it! Something different to the normal bland corporate offerings. Saw this on sale while I was looking for my next car and was sorely tempted, however I'm not a fan of black cars (had this been in purple I might have been tempted). The other issues for me:
No V8, I know it doesn't need one but I'm kinda hooked on them
That the boot is comically small, I don't really care about practical - but this takes things to a new level

[K50 DEL]

Yep, chalk me up as another fan.... though I wish it was V8 and manual.

That said, I certainly wouldn't pay that much for one... half that figure would be tempting though.