posted 06-21-2005 02:40 PM                  

Recently I remenbered Joes story and with all the "Trailer" discussions on POA recently, I asked him to write up the story. I printed his story below. At the end, I have added some pictures Joe sent me. I may have a few more comming.

Maybe someone here on the board can add some additional information to the 'Trailer Story"!

HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRAILER ACCESSORY
FOR THE PLYMOUTH PROWLER
BY JOE RYBICKI

A long long time ago and far, far away ……(unless you lived in Detroit).................

During the winter of 1996, I received a call from my friend Charlie, who at the time was manager of MOPAR Performance Products. Charlie, my self and my best friend Jerry Poniatowski graduated from the University of Michigan at the same time and were always considered “car crazy”. The difference between us is that Charlie has lived the dream, that we all would die for. Charlie’s father was curator of the historic automotive division of the Henry Ford Museum at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan for nearly 50 years. He was a noted automotive historian and therefore due to his contacts in the automotive world was able to steer Charlie into incredible automotive engineering jobs at various Detroit car companies. Prior to that, Charlie was a racecar driver of some renown.

Charlie worked with Carol Shelby on the Viper project, naming his first child, a daughter, Shelby after the automotive legend. For six months out of the year, Charlie had two responsibilities, one to put on the Mile High Dragster Nationals at the Vandemere Speedway in Denver, Colorado and another significant drag event in New Jersey, later in the year. The rest of the time, Charlie managed the division of MOPAR Performance Products.

As I was saying, during the winter of 1996, Charlie called me at work. I’m a senior staff engine at Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colorado.
I have been a design engineer for all three of the major car companies in Detroit and have been building street rods since high school, along with restoring antique cars and a few vintage Corvettes. Charlie’s question to me was to come up with ideas for accessories for the soon to be released Prowler. Previously, Charlie had sent me preproduction prototype pictures of the purple colored roadster, so I was knowledgeable of its design and operational features. Immediately, it came to my mind, that owners of the car would inevitably want to tour or take long distance rides and since trunk space was virtually nonexistent, top retracting into the rear of the roadsters body behind the drivers compartment, a trailer option would be just the ticket for the Prowler.

Many years ago, my best friend Jerry built a 1937 Ford Slant-back two door sedan street rod, small block Chevy powered, of course. The car is completely stock on the outside and on the interior, except for the modern day drive train and suspension modifications. It is a show quality car, having been displayed at the 50th Anniversary Detroit Autorama Car Show.

Trunk space was at a premium in that vintage Ford, so Jerry purchased a 1937 Mullins Trailer to pull behind the 37 street rod. He, his three sons and I often

motored from Detroit to the Street Rod Nationals in Bowling Green, Kentucky and we needed the room for luggage, a cooler, folding chairs etc.

The Mullins trailer is a teardrop / art deco type of design, that is lightweight, aerodynamic and provides significant storage volume. Jerry painted the trailer 1937 Ford Washington Blue to match the car and put the same tires and wheel treatment on the trailer, so it would match the street rod. My idea to Charlie for the Prowler accessory was a similar styled trailer.

I suggested to him that a Mullins-like trailer scaled to the Prowler’s proportions, painted the color of the car, with cycle fenders and a tire/wheel combination to match the car, would be very usable accessory. I further suggested that our mutual friend, Jerry, could provide the prototype, since he lived in Wayne, Michigan, a short distance to the Chrysler design studios, and Jerry’s trailer could be used as the basis for the design.

Taking that cue, Charlie called Jerry, Jerry drove the Washington Blue, 1937 Ford street rod with matching Mullins trailer into the Chrysler design studio in Rochester Hills, Michigan where the trailer was to reside for the next four months. Chrysler designers scaled the trailer down to the Prowler’s proportions, painted it the color of the car with cycle fenders and tires and wheels to match the car, and as they say, that’s the rest of the story behind the optional Prowler trailer.

Sometime afterwards, Charlie, who no longer works for Daimler-Chrysler, informed me, that to save cost, he suggested that the trailer’s tire/wheel combination, utilized a hub-cap wheel insert, that would be designed to simulate the Prowers wheels, but Chrysler’s executives thought that would be too “cheap looking”, since they were sparing no cost to create the first ever production street rod made by a Detroit automotive company, they wanted to do it right and they did.

For the use of his trailer, my friend Jerry was invited to the Prowler’s initial press release celebration at Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit, Michigan, where he met the president and other top officials of the then, Chrysler Corporation and receive numerous gifts and momentos of the historic Prowler press release event.

THE END

PICTURES!!!

posted 06-22-2005 10:39 AM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by RPL:
Charlie Henry.....still communicate with him. Have him tell you about the other silly ideas that we wanted to do but weren't able to for one reason or another. Chrome front suspension, bumper "show plugs" to fill the holes left by removing the bumpers for "auto shows", hard top and etc.

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It makes one kind of wonder. Even when you include the Corvette (50 years) & Mustang (41 years), is there a manufactured car out there that is as documented as the Prowler. We should all be proud of the recorded/documented history in 12 remarkably short years!

Also, from a personal perspective, the legacy and assistance of P.O.A. is priceless..........

posted 06-23-2005 05:29 PM                  

quote:

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Originally posted by Leo:
...Charlie, ... informed me, that to save cost, he suggested that the trailer’s tire/wheel combination, utilized a hub-cap wheel insert, that would be designed to simulate the Prowler's wheels, but Chrysler’s executives thought that would be too “cheap looking”, since they were sparing no cost to create the first ever production street rod made by a Detroit automotive company, they wanted to do it right and they did.

---

Great story! But I'm confused about the part quoted above. The original trailer DID use a hub-cap wheel insert. My purple (built 1/98) has the steel wheels and plastic simulated-Prowler wheel covers. Later the real aluminum 15" wheels were used on the trailers.

So, in this context, what did Charlie mean by "they wanted to do it right and they did."????

posted 06-30-2005 08:04 PM                  

Bump.

Leo: Any chance you could get a comment from Joe on what he meant by the paragraph I quoted above?

posted 07-01-2005 01:29 PM                  

I'm not sure about the switch with the trailer wheels, but I'll ask my hubby when he gets here tonight.

posted 07-02-2005 02:47 PM                  

Ed - The painted wheels look just like the painted wheels for the car, only in 15", and without the little blemish in my pic.

posted 07-02-2005 03:54 PM                  

Any one out there have a pair of painted wheels?

posted 07-02-2005 07:59 PM                  

Count me in as someone looking for a pair of 15" painted aluminum trailer wheels.

posted 08-04-2005 02:09 PM                  

Bump, just so this topic won't get forgotten.

posted 08-04-2005 03:37 PM                  

The plan is to make this stuff available to owners rather than see it lost to the scrap pile. I posted the wheels and tires in the classified ads. Most are spoken for but you never know. Still have some steel wheels which would make a nice, low cost spare for your tailer. Another idea is to use one along with a plastic wheel cover attached to your garage wall as a hose/cord holder.