If You Have A Taste For The Odd, This Plymouth Prowler Might Be Perfect For You
It's a fine example of a model that didn't deserve all the hate it got.
Plymouth built some memorable cars before it was killed off in 2001, and the strange-looking Prowler was one of the last. Launched in 1997, then axed in 2002 after morphing into a Chrysler, the Prowler was an automotive oddity that didn't deserve all the hate it got.
A particularly pristine 2000 Prowler has just hit the market and it even comes with a matching trailer. The car, listed for sale through Bring a Trailer, has only ever been driven 16,374 miles and remains completely original. You'd be hard-pressed to find another Prowler as good as this one available in the U.S. And cruising down the coastline in this thing with the wind in your hair would certainly be memorable.
The Prowler uses a naturally aspirated 3.5-liter V6 with 253 horsepower and 255 pound-feet of torque. Those were respectable figures back in the day and should still be enough to excite. What's not so exciting is that the Prowler was only ever sold with a four-speed automatic transmission, so a car like this might not appeal to the keenest of driving enthusiasts.
The Prowler could have got a V8
A look at its Carfax report reveals the car was involved in an accident back in 2001 that damaged the left front wheel. It's been repaired and the chrome-finished wheels remain original, as is the Prowler Black paint. Aside from a few scuffs here and there, the car presents well, and has clearly been garaged for most of its life. The interior has also aged rather gracefully. Still present are Agate leather on the seats, off-center gauges, and chrome trimmings around the gear selector. Somehow, the seller has also obtained a small trailer that hooks onto the Prowler, and it comes complete with the same lights as the Plymouth and very similar wheel arches.
As memorable as the Prowler is, it could have been even better. At the 1999 SEMA Show, Plymouth unveiled a special one-off concept car known as the Howler. The Howler ditched the V6 in favor of a naturally aspirated 4.7-liter V8 and added a five-speed manual transmission, morphing it into a legitimate modern hot rod. The Howler was also equipped with a removable hardtop and had a much larger trunk than the Prowler. Not only was it way more powerful, it was also more practical. However, the Prowler was discontinued, and the Howler was never released to the public.
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