2001 Plymouth Prowler

2001 Plymouth Prowler Convertible We live in an automotive era full of wonderful things, fantastic technical developments, where even the most mundane family crossover could absolutely spank most of the sports cars of our pasts. And yet, at the same time, for all the inane lip service carmaker PR teams give to the ideas of driving satisfaction or performance bred or dynamism or the constant references to some bastardized idea of DNA, no modern company has the 'nads to build anything as remotely bonkers as the Prowler was. Jason Torchinsky in The Autotopian  For consignment, a 2001 Plymouth Prowler convertible with a title verified 1,775 actual miles. Of the 11,000 Prowlers built between 1998 and 2002, just 1,039 of them were Prowler Orange and in our house, orange Prowlers peel out of here faster than most of the other 11 colors offered. This car has been personalized with lots of custom parts. Exterior Prowler Orange Metallic Pearlcoat has been compared to chili oil and if you google images, that comes close to describing this deep translucent hue of burnt orange. The narrow eyed Prowler has open front wheels, part of its exotic offering, with body colored fenders that turn with the wheels. Here's a front end with custom headlights, grille, and marker housing as the bumpers have been deleted allowing full view of the chrome suspension. Staggered size chrome 5 spoke wheels present a raked stance on a level ride and original tires. When you follow this car and its super wide back end, you'll note custom stainless filler plates, plate holder, and exhaust along with rear bumper delete, all below a custom wing molded into the decklid with integrated third brake light. The canvas top, wheels, and paint are excellent on the car and imperfections we find include various spots of cracking paint on lower cladding, chips on the rear fenders where gravel guards are normally found, a paint line edge on the door sill, and chin scrapes.  Interior The bad boy exterior gives way to a clean and practical interior that starts with smooth door panels dressed in black plastic and leather, here with custom aluminum faceplates. Padded and stitched leather bucket seats reveal a bit more style with rollbar style tops and the Prowler, a big cat of some kind, embossed on the seat back. That cat shows up again on the steering wheel which is leather wrapped and shares the column with an AutoMeter tachometer. The factory gauge cluster is housed in a color keyed skateboard shaped plastic housing in the center of the dash, old school hot rod style. Molded plastic makes up the remaining dash and has an integrated AM/FM/Cassette/multi CD radio with EQ and simple climate controls. A little bit of flash is found on the base plate of the shifter in the center console which is mirror-like chrome surrounding a Hurst shifter, while a built-in cupholder nearby lets you know you're not in the 50's anymore. Low pile charcoal carpet nicely covers the floor, protected by Prowler mats with orange writing, and carpet covers the rear canvas top storage space.  Drivetrain Under the hood we find a clean 3.5 liter V6 rated at 254 horsepower and tied to an 4-speed automatic transmission with Auto-Stick and true to hot rod greatness, keeps power at the rear axle with 3.89 gears. Yes that's right, the transmission is in the back for a balance ratio closer to 50/50.   Undercarriage A chrome grate over the transmission cooler sets the stage for a clean underside where parts of the dual exhaust shine with mirror-like stainless steel. Coil over suspension is found front and rear and power disc brakes also bring us into the 21st century and are employed on all four wheels.   Drive-Ability A comfortable cabin, adequate power, and all the bells and whistles only dreamed about in the 50's hot rod era, this Prowler presents as a modern show car with airbags that can be driven anywhere. And all of those bells and whistles work as intended with no errors.