Alex Unleashed on Cars- Plymouth Prowler (Hot Rod for All Seasons)

It's fair to say that nothing looks quite like the Plymouth Prowler. It was designed during the period when Chrysler was creating a multitude of retro inspired cars including not only the Prowler but also the Atlantic, Phaeton (not to be confused with the VW Phaeton), Dodge Copperhead (also known as the Dodge Concept Car in Gran Turismo 2) and Plymouth Pronto (which served as the basis for the Chrysler PT Cruiser), with the Prowler designed as a follow-up to the Dodge Viper, with the Prowler being unveiled in 1993, but instead of being a no-frills spiritual successor to the Shelby Cobra, instead, this was designed as a car that could be used every day.

So, despite the bonkers hot rod looks, inside and to drive, it's very different, it only has an automatic tiptronic style gearbox with left for up and right for down, which means that despite having a healthy 3.5 litre V6, performance is not as extreme as the styling, in fact, a rather mundane Vauxhall Calibra Turbo would easily best it in a straight line, it's not so much a red hot rod as a purple mild rod.

What's more, despite the open wheels and transaxle layout (engine at the front, gearbox at the back) it does not handle like a Caterham, the steering is slow, it has no ABS, and is rather understeerey through the corners. That said, it has a lot of grip thanks to race car suspension with inboard Koni shock absorbers.

On the inside, the interior is cheap and plastic but you get a central rev counter and a speedo in the centre of the dash like on an early Mini. You also get a lot of equipment: CD player, a heated cloth roof, aircon, leather seats, airbags, cruise control, remote central locking, adjustable steering wheel and electric windows, try and find an equivalent from the time for the same money with that much kit.  

But a more important question than whether it was any good is, what if this car had been sold in Britain? Considering the wave of US cars that were imported here in the 90s (Jeeps, Viper, Corvette etc) there were plans to sell it here as a Chrysler but they fell through in late 1997. 

As to whether it would have been successful or not, I doubt it, whilst it was civilised and cost the equivalent to £24,000 (Alfa Spider money) the Prowler is a bit too brash and outlandish. Plus, we kind of had our own Prowler, in the form of the Morgan Plus 8. 

When you stop and think about it, both are very similar, They both look like old cars from before World War 2, they both cost less than £30k, and neither is targeted towards the keen driver (the Plus 8 does 0-60 in 6.8 seconds and tops out at 121 MPH) but they have similar appeal, they're for people who want to drive a car that looks as old as the valleys but can at least go like a modern car. Both also got upgrades in the form of the 4.6 Plus 8 and a more powerful Prowler in '99.  

For 1998, Plymouth unveiled the Howler, it featured a pick-up esque rear load bay, removable hardtop, a 5-speed manual gearbox and a 4.7 litre Jeep V8 that would give it the performance to mix with the Camaro Z28s and TVR Chimaera's of this world, but it remained just a concept.

The Prowler sold just over 11,000 units over 5 years, with the car built in the same factory as the Dodge Viper, with one being preserved in an Oklahoma time capsule, set to open in 2048. 

In the end the Prowler is a bizarre yet fascinating car that nearly ended up on UK shores but in the end remained another US exclusive, so, did we miss out? Not really, a sports car this is not, but if you want to turn heads, you'd need to show up to work on Concorde or something else similarly out of this world.

Year Produced: 1997-2002

Engine: 3.5 Litre V6

Top Speed: 118 - 126 MPH

0-60: 7.2 - 5.9 Seconds

Power: 214 - 253 BHP

Torque: 221 - 255 Ib/ft

Weight: 1270 KG

Rivals: Mercedes SLK230, Alfa Romeo Spider, Ford Mustang V6, Morgan Plus 8