Vehicle Description
1999 Prowler Only 12,147 Miles! Purple, and Exceptional!
Have you always wanted a hot rod, but would prefer the reliability
and turn-key ease of operation of a modern car? If so, check out
this 1999 Plymouth Prowler. It's got the "bells and whistles"
you've come to expect in a car combined with the style and "fun
factor" of an old hot rod. Plus, it's only got 12,147 miles on it.
The Prowler debuted with the Dodge Viper in 1993. The production
car was introduced in 1997. The Prowler was Plymouth's first unique
model since the 1969 Barracuda. This factory hot rod was engineered
to meet crash and safety requirements but maintained the look of a
1930s roadster.
The Prowler was made primarily of aluminum and plastics and weighed
2883 pounds. Power came from Chrysler's 3.5L SOHC V-6. It was
initially rated at 218 horsepower. In 1999, the power was bumped up
to 253 hp. All Prowlers got automatic transmissions.
There were 3,921 Prowlers produced for the 1999 model year.*
*Hagerty, "History of the 1997-2002 Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler", The
Hagerty Group, LLC,
https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1999-plymouth-prowler.
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Chrysler engineers were given free rein to design whatever they
wanted in a "hot rod" or "Sportster" type vehicle. Chrysler's
design and international director Thomas C. Gale said his "love for
1930s-era hot rods inspired Chrysler's latest design triumph, the
retro-styled Plymouth Prowler."1 #fn1 Gale, "who has a hotted-up
1932 Ford in his garage..." [approved] the rod-inspired Plymouth
Prowler as the company's follow-up show-stopper to the Dodge
Viper.2 #fn2 An early influence is credited to a Chrysler-sponsored
project at the Art Center College of Design that resulted in a
thesis by Douglas "Chip" Foose that included drawings of a
retro-roadster.3 #fn3 Foose "designed it as a coupe for Chrysler to
begin with but modified it to a roadster version."4 #fn4
One of the most striking design features of the Prowler is the
open, Indy racer-style front wheels. The Prowler featured a
powertrain from Chrysler's LH-cars, a 24-valve, 3.5 L Chrysler SOHC
V6 engine producing 214 hp (160 kW; 217 PS) at 5850 rpm. For the
1999 model year, the engine was replaced with a more powerful,
aluminum-block, 253 hp (189 kW; 257 PS) at 6400 rpm version of the
engine. Both engines were coupled to a four-speed Autostick
semi-automatic transmission. The transmission was located at the
rear of the vehicle and joined to the engine by a torque tube that
rotated at engine speed, an arrangement similar to that used by the
C5 Corvette, Porsche 944, and Alfa Romeo 75, and helped to
facilitate a desirable 50-50 front-rear weight distribution. The
Prowler was the first rear-wheel-drive Plymouth since the 1989
Plymouth Gran Fury and would stand as the last Plymouth model with
that layout. While criticized for having only a V6 engine,
Chrysler's High Output 3.5 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, Prowler's lightweight helped to
achieve rapid off-the-line acceleration.
The car prominently featured aluminum construction, in many cases
adhesively bonded, chiefly in the chassis. The body was produced in
Shadyside, Ohio, and the car was assembled by hand at the Conner
Avenue Assembly Plant (CAAP) in Detroit, Michigan.
Unlike the Dodge Viper, the Prowler was equipped with many features
that allowed it to be used as a daily driver. These features
included keyless entry, power windows and door locks, dual airbags,
leather-trimmed bucket seats, air conditioning with manual
controls, an AM/FM stereo with cassette player (a multi-disc CD
changer was an available option as well) and a high-fidelity sound
system, a leather-wrapped steering wheel with audio system controls
mounted on the rear of the wheel, a color-keyed instrument panel
bezel painted to match the exterior color of the Prowler (a similar
feature found on the Chrysler PT Cruiser, which was also originally
intended to be sold as a Plymouth), digital odometer and full
instrumentation, and, on later models, a speed-sensitive volume
control activated via a switch mounted on the Prowler's instrument
panel.
(Credit to Wikipedia)
VIN: 1P3EW65G8XV500448
