Was there a common performance upgrade for these? Like an easy to bolt on supercharger or something? I love how weird these things are, but never really see them or hear much about them
Since last year, I've seen three of them. One of them sits in an industrial park I used to scan plates in, because it's so huge. I think the owner drives it to work. The only reason outside of maybe the possibility of a wreck, I see for keeping one in a garage, is the issues with the 3.5. Otherwise you're just driving an LH coupe. It's virtually an Intrepid, it can deal with daily driving.
Same really could be said of one of its contemporaries, the SSR. It's virtually a rwd Trailblazer SS.
I’m not saying it’s justified, I’m probably wrong in assuming most stay in a garage. If these are just weird and people value weird… the price people are asking says a lot
I get you. I'm sure a lot of them do stay in the garage. I practically never see them at car shows either. I can't remember the last time I saw one at a show, and I know at one time they were damn near everywhere.
I was floored when I saw the prices. I get nostalgia and being old enough to have “fuck you im getting it” money but damn. My ‘95 Trans Am with only 110k on the odometer wasn’t even that expensive.
Yeah, they looked kinda cool but were a joke when it came to any kind of performance....and the aftermarket was just ass for it. If you wanted one with performance it was gonna be a fully custom job.
Inline six wouldn't fit. And they used the 3.5 HO because they said a v8 wouldn't reasonably fit, and the v6 made more power than most of the common engines outside of the v10.
i mean yeah there’s alteration involved, but that’s kinda irrelevant given that there could’ve been alterations done when, yk, designing the car lol. either way its just a hypothetical cuz that type of car does make sense with a straight 6
There’s a guy on YouTube who’s wedged a Hemi into one (doesn’t post much, just the off video of it at shows). Well, I say wedged, it fits fine, I’m guessing the engineers probably intended on a V8 before the accountants got their hands on the project.
The era of Boomer midlife crisis cars was pretty crazy. Prowler, Thunderbird, PT Cruiser/HHR, Chevy SSR (Chevy even made a cool BelAir concept similar to the Thunderbird).
Cant wait to see what crazy 80s revival cars they churn out for Millennial midlife crisis (maybe a Grand National remake but GM/Buick would probably ruin that).
GM did a Grand National remake a few years ago. And there's that Hyundai or whatever, that looks like a bastard child of a Toyota Cressida, Buick Century, and a Dodge Dynasty.
They did? I've seen a bunch of fakes out third party builds but nothing from GM/Buick other than maybe the Regal GS turbo but that's not really the same.
Interesting thought, but if Millennials were born starting around 1980 would they be especially nostalgic for 80s cars, or more for models from the 90s and early 2000s? I'm at the oldest end of GenX, and my teens/adolescence were in the 80s; the Grand National was definitely a standout from that decade. The Camaro and Mustang seemed to have reclaimed some of their legacies by the end of the 80s. The Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 911 were icons of the period.
as the last millenial, for me it's "anemoia": nostalgia for a time I never lived. Something about the 80s and 90s makes it seem so magical. There were unifying cultural music and fashion trends and the cars were just better. Just new enough for fuel injection and disc brakes, just old enough to be very easy to work on. No intense safety regulations forcing the belt-line up and fattening the doors and pillars. You could go buy a brand new geo metro for like $7k in cash and it'll run until your kids graduate college if you decide to hang on to it
My first few cars, starting around 1983, were all large Buicks from the late 60s/early70s. You could definitely get decent used cars much cheaper in the 80s/90s than today.
I generally prefer the angular exterior styling of many 80s cars over the rounded, squishiness of the 1990s, although by that decade interior styling and quality seemed to be markedly improving.
I'd love to see an EV conversion of the Prowler. Get rid of the powertrain completely and park a serious motor in the back, and the battery pack up front. All that torque to those nice large tires.
He goes into it in the walkaround video. I know some parts were from a Nissan Leaf. You don't need much power for those little Locosts/Lotus/Caterham 7's.
I still think this needed a 427ci big block LS with a garret turbo putting out 500 bhp and a 6 speed manual. A car this light with this much power would be insane and a lot of fun.
A neighbor of mine had one of these and I remember my dad telling me about how cool the Prowler was and man, I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I saw it lol
Spotted a purple one a few months ago myself. I don't often spot anything past the ordinary modified Corvette or older classics where I'm at so it was a nice change of pace. The owner was just happy to be out enjoying his ride.
I never really thought of these things as track monsters but you just dont see many open-wheeled cars out on the road and I just think they're neat.
The Prowler was a fail in the most fundamental way: Hotrods are individual - the last thing you want is the same hotrod your neighbor drives, much less the same hotrod another twelve guys in town drive.
The Prowler did get a power boost partway through production that gave it performance similar to a S2000 or a Boxster, but yeah still mated to a 4 speed slushbox
DylantheMango@reddit
My dad has ones. I even drove it for prom. Interesting looking car. As safe as a motorcycle. Mechanically interested as a PB&J.
JesseGarron@reddit
I could kidnap so many dalmations in that
PreferenceContent987@reddit
Was there a common performance upgrade for these? Like an easy to bolt on supercharger or something? I love how weird these things are, but never really see them or hear much about them
JaxRhapsody@reddit
RIP for any 3.5 that has that slapped on it.
PreferenceContent987@reddit
Oh, I’m with you on that, but most of these probably rarely left the garage
JaxRhapsody@reddit
Since last year, I've seen three of them. One of them sits in an industrial park I used to scan plates in, because it's so huge. I think the owner drives it to work. The only reason outside of maybe the possibility of a wreck, I see for keeping one in a garage, is the issues with the 3.5. Otherwise you're just driving an LH coupe. It's virtually an Intrepid, it can deal with daily driving.
Same really could be said of one of its contemporaries, the SSR. It's virtually a rwd Trailblazer SS.
PreferenceContent987@reddit
I’m not saying it’s justified, I’m probably wrong in assuming most stay in a garage. If these are just weird and people value weird… the price people are asking says a lot
JaxRhapsody@reddit
I get you. I'm sure a lot of them do stay in the garage. I practically never see them at car shows either. I can't remember the last time I saw one at a show, and I know at one time they were damn near everywhere.
Trekintosh@reddit
No. There’s no room in there.
thejesterofdarkness@reddit
All I know if when I was looking for a sports car these were ridiculously priced, like $15k-$20k
PreferenceContent987@reddit
That’s pretty interesting. I guess it’s a very unique taste
thejesterofdarkness@reddit
I was floored when I saw the prices. I get nostalgia and being old enough to have “fuck you im getting it” money but damn. My ‘95 Trans Am with only 110k on the odometer wasn’t even that expensive.
TrainerConsistent404@reddit
Say what you will about all the bad choices they made while building these, but I still think they look rad as hell.
FatSmoke33@reddit
Yuri?
Custombi@reddit
I honestly would kill for a more modern version of this car
5lack5@reddit
Hell yeah brother
StretchFrenchTerry@reddit
Ok grandpa
August_tho@reddit
Always kind of liked these but damn, about 200hp matted to a 4-speed auto is as boring as this thing was unique.
enwongeegeefor@reddit
Yeah, they looked kinda cool but were a joke when it came to any kind of performance....and the aftermarket was just ass for it. If you wanted one with performance it was gonna be a fully custom job.
JaxRhapsody@reddit
It wasn't built for performance. Funny thing is it has a tow rating and the viper doesn't.
enwongeegeefor@reddit
HAAAA funny you should mention the viper....shithead stuffed an engine in one.
https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/hennessey-prowler-gtx
JaxRhapsody@reddit
I wonder how well the transaxle held up to that. The shaker is a nice touch.
xeno486@reddit
yeah, these would’ve been perfect with a manual and either a straight six or a v8
JaxRhapsody@reddit
Inline six wouldn't fit. And they used the 3.5 HO because they said a v8 wouldn't reasonably fit, and the v6 made more power than most of the common engines outside of the v10.
xeno486@reddit
an I6 does fit tho, the swap has been done before
JaxRhapsody@reddit
Without any alteration? Besides, Chrysler didn't have one, unless they used the Jeep 4.0, which has way less power than the 3.5.
xeno486@reddit
i mean yeah there’s alteration involved, but that’s kinda irrelevant given that there could’ve been alterations done when, yk, designing the car lol. either way its just a hypothetical cuz that type of car does make sense with a straight 6
JaxRhapsody@reddit
I agree only because I like inline sixes.
BetLeast4943@reddit
They did make a concept pickup like this called the Howler which they should have produced.
AnticitizenPrime@reddit
I remember seeing that at a car show!
jimbowesterby@reddit
Same with the ME-412, I remember thinking it looked sick as a kid.
Honestly there’s a bunch of concepts that should’ve been made from back then, like the Cadillac Sixteen.
Killahdanks1@reddit
Yeah, they couldn’t figure out how to make the car people really wanted. But no doubt the first time I saw one, it was cool.
JaxRhapsody@reddit
It was a parts bin experiment that lived longer than they expected it to.
Steelhorse91@reddit
There’s a guy on YouTube who’s wedged a Hemi into one (doesn’t post much, just the off video of it at shows). Well, I say wedged, it fits fine, I’m guessing the engineers probably intended on a V8 before the accountants got their hands on the project.
JaxRhapsody@reddit
No. They said a v8 wouldn't really fit.
nasadowsk@reddit
LS swap and a manual could make it more interesting...
SirDigbyridesagain@reddit
Heresy! Put a 383 in there!
theonetrueelhigh@reddit
Shoot, a 318 is plenty, let's don't go too crazy.
Or what the hell, it's a Prowler. Crazy is in the rear view mirror and getting smaller.
DarthBrooks69420@reddit
It was Chrysler's highest horsepower engine at the time, which i find hilarious. They screwed the pooch so bad on that one.
mimaikin-san@reddit
it was more a practice to see how to produce a vehicle made largely of aluminum and not any serious endeavor
EltaninAntenna@reddit
At least it wasn't the 3-speed of the Neon...
SteveusChrist@reddit
At least that 3 speed didn't like to grenade itself like the Ultradrive.
moving0target@reddit
And Stellantis internalized every bit of the terrible decisions Chrysler would still be making.
_badwithcomputer@reddit
The era of Boomer midlife crisis cars was pretty crazy. Prowler, Thunderbird, PT Cruiser/HHR, Chevy SSR (Chevy even made a cool BelAir concept similar to the Thunderbird).
Cant wait to see what crazy 80s revival cars they churn out for Millennial midlife crisis (maybe a Grand National remake but GM/Buick would probably ruin that).
JaxRhapsody@reddit
GM did a Grand National remake a few years ago. And there's that Hyundai or whatever, that looks like a bastard child of a Toyota Cressida, Buick Century, and a Dodge Dynasty.
_badwithcomputer@reddit
They did? I've seen a bunch of fakes out third party builds but nothing from GM/Buick other than maybe the Regal GS turbo but that's not really the same.
JaxRhapsody@reddit
The Regal is what I was talking about. Oops. There's the Hyundai Vision 74 and this concept.
francis2559@reddit
Hyundai has done some interesting things. Grandeur. This is 70's lookback, but the N Vision 74 is pretty sick too.
AskYourDoctor@reddit
omg how have I never seen this. this thing is crazy lol. love the title of the article too
jimbowesterby@reddit
Yea I remember seeing it when I was a kid, looked properly slick
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Interesting thought, but if Millennials were born starting around 1980 would they be especially nostalgic for 80s cars, or more for models from the 90s and early 2000s? I'm at the oldest end of GenX, and my teens/adolescence were in the 80s; the Grand National was definitely a standout from that decade. The Camaro and Mustang seemed to have reclaimed some of their legacies by the end of the 80s. The Lamborghini Countach and Porsche 911 were icons of the period.
AnticitizenPrime@reddit
I want my 80's Saabs back.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
I’m in the US, and Saabs weren’t very common where I was in the 80s, so they always stood out.
_pcakes@reddit
as the last millenial, for me it's "anemoia": nostalgia for a time I never lived. Something about the 80s and 90s makes it seem so magical. There were unifying cultural music and fashion trends and the cars were just better. Just new enough for fuel injection and disc brakes, just old enough to be very easy to work on. No intense safety regulations forcing the belt-line up and fattening the doors and pillars. You could go buy a brand new geo metro for like $7k in cash and it'll run until your kids graduate college if you decide to hang on to it
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
My first few cars, starting around 1983, were all large Buicks from the late 60s/early70s. You could definitely get decent used cars much cheaper in the 80s/90s than today.
I generally prefer the angular exterior styling of many 80s cars over the rounded, squishiness of the 1990s, although by that decade interior styling and quality seemed to be markedly improving.
resistBat@reddit
Renault is already doing that with the 5 e-tech. Going for the 90s with the Twingo e-tech too.
theweeeone@reddit
I saw an 11th gen Thunderbird last summer and really thought the design has aged well.
yadingus33@reddit
Gimme one with a 5.7 350 and a 5 speed manual, connected to RWD and I'd never drive anything else
JaxRhapsody@reddit
The Prowler is rwd. It uses an LH car drivetrain, the transaxle is in the rear, though.
zeus1784@reddit
They killed that car with the shitty motor it had.
JaxRhapsody@reddit
They didn't even expect it to last as long as it did. They planned on maybe 2000 units sold in total.
vespers191@reddit
I'd love to see an EV conversion of the Prowler. Get rid of the powertrain completely and park a serious motor in the back, and the battery pack up front. All that torque to those nice large tires.
AnticitizenPrime@reddit
Wish granted! Kinda.
Here's a walkaround of the car:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1MBQ4f1jPk&t=3s
It's a 'Locost 7', which is a home-built replica of the classic Lotus 7, built with an electric drivetrain.
I know the Prowler is supposed to be an homage to 1930's American hot rods, but when I look at them I see the Lotus/Caterham 7.
Weasel-Man@reddit
what's the electric drivetrain? damn that thing zips
JaxRhapsody@reddit
They don't weigh much. They usually have a four banger in them, unless Dunkervort gets their hands on one. I think a base Caterham is like 2200lbs?
AnticitizenPrime@reddit
He goes into it in the walkaround video. I know some parts were from a Nissan Leaf. You don't need much power for those little Locosts/Lotus/Caterham 7's.
BusAvailable@reddit
Saw one myself the other day!
Double-Efficiency538@reddit
Always looked cleaner with the bumper removed and indicators incorporated behind the grille.
Weird-one0926@reddit
That is weird, it still has the front bunperettes
airfryerfuntime@reddit
Most of them do.
Steelhorse91@reddit
Look way better with the delete kit, but I guess it turns a 10mph whoops that would leave next to no damage, into broken suspension arms or worse.
airfryerfuntime@reddit
That's one of the reasons. Collectors also want them as original as possible.
theonetrueelhigh@reddit
I'm sorry for your loss. Feel better soon.
Sixflags14@reddit
HELLLYAAAAAA🤠
sarg7ant@reddit
I still think this needed a 427ci big block LS with a garret turbo putting out 500 bhp and a 6 speed manual. A car this light with this much power would be insane and a lot of fun.
Roneyrow@reddit
Reminds me of midnight madness
Competitive_Juice116@reddit
looks like the chinese knockoff of a lotus 7
HopeEmotional8105@reddit
Man the body on this car is long than I thought
Nannyphone7@reddit
This poor car. The looks promising far far more than the pathetic soccer mom engine could ever provide.
Take-Me-Home-Tonight@reddit
Always loved the look of them. But if I ever get fuck you money is reach out to someone like Chip Foose and get something like the Hemisfear.
Nozzoe@reddit
A neighbor of mine had one of these and I remember my dad telling me about how cool the Prowler was and man, I can't tell you how disappointed I was when I saw it lol
Acceptable-Elk-8372@reddit
I always thought this was a neat vehicle
reagor@reddit
Gotta take those stupid bumperettes off
_Juliet_Lima_Echo_@reddit
You ever meet someone who owns one of these abortions?
They make Crossfit enthusiasts sound normal.
Remarkable_Main3912@reddit (OP)
Yeah I talked to the owner he was nice
majora9109@reddit
Spotted a purple one a few months ago myself. I don't often spot anything past the ordinary modified Corvette or older classics where I'm at so it was a nice change of pace. The owner was just happy to be out enjoying his ride.
I never really thought of these things as track monsters but you just dont see many open-wheeled cars out on the road and I just think they're neat.
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
The price on the sign….
Kid_Vid@reddit
That's a pretty cool color though! I do like the look of the car. It's nice to see some different shapes on the road.
StretchFrenchTerry@reddit
You may also be a weirdo.
RobsHereAgain@reddit
Probably one of the weirdest parts bin cars next to the pt cruiser and Pontiac Fiero
cryssyx3@reddit
my dad and brother have probably 7 fieros between them
TouchingTheMirror@reddit
Sounds like a family intervention is overdue….
PartyDad69@reddit
My favorite car when I was 10 years old. Had a massive poster of a purple one on my wall for years
brickyard15@reddit
I forgot these existed. One of my favorite hot wheels was a prowler
UglyLikeCaillou@reddit
CLEAN!
tetzy@reddit
The Prowler was a fail in the most fundamental way: Hotrods are individual - the last thing you want is the same hotrod your neighbor drives, much less the same hotrod another twelve guys in town drive.
_Juliet_Lima_Echo_@reddit
Also Hoyrods are Manual and have power. It also missed those marks.
Saber15@reddit
The Prowler did get a power boost partway through production that gave it performance similar to a S2000 or a Boxster, but yeah still mated to a 4 speed slushbox