posted 05-16-2006 02:43 PM                  

Leo,

I forwarded your Prowler graphic board to Jerry and Charlie Henry. Charlie managed MOPAR Performance Products and was the guy I gave the trailer idea to, of course Jerry's 37 Mullins trailer was the prototype.
Here are his comments.

Best Regards,

Jose'
-----Original Message-----
From: Charlie Henry [mailto:cmhenry@arounddetroit.biz]
Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 4:19 PM
To: Rybicki, Joe J; Jerry Poniatowski (DSL)
Subject: Prowler 101

Damn, that's a good lookin' trailer. I'm not sure if that's my "bra" on it, but it could be. He also has my splash guards. The car bra looks like mine, also. The small lip, at the back, where it crosses over the hood, is there for aerodynamic purposes - and it actually works to keep the cover from fluttering in the wind and abrading the paint.

Can't tell if the hitch is mine, I don't know how that luggage carrier works. I tried to do something very similar, but there was too much resistance from those who "knew better." What I ended up with, as a result, was a useless piece of crap. The Mopar hitch went through 27 iterations, before being finalized. Engineering kept reworking the rear frame design and trans cooler location. At various times, the hitch was going to be an integral part of the frame or was going to have an adapter to carry a flat tire (until they wisely decided to go with run-flats.

The trailer is, beyond anyone's shadow of any doubt, the best designed and constructed cargo trailer ever. The shape was pulled right from the cad-cam car body scan, scaled down 10% (for proper proportions) and rounded off in front. The lid, hinge points and axle location were computer designed for outstanding fit. Regular automotive weatherstripping was used - not the typical universal foam or bulb strips. The supplier had fits, trying to get the painted surfaces to pass Chrysler standards - it had to meet production line levels. Yellow was the hardest color. The pigment density needed to prevent the base from showing through was incredible. Even the shipping crate was somewhat of a work of art.

We never would have touched the passenger air deflector/speaker box concept. It would have had to go through engineering evaluation and testing to assure the mounts were sufficient and wouldn't come loose in a crash. Which probably would have required a barrier crash test.

Speaking of that... I don't recall the frames being hand welded, but can't say for sure. A very good rumor has it that the initial aluminum frame design was bit rugged. Supposedly it broke the barrier on the first impact test. Engineering was concerned (due to the lack of experience with alum. frames) that the frame wouldn't hold up. They had to "soften" the frame before NHTSA got after them about all the barriers they were breaking.

We looked at a kit to remove the bumpers - at the suggestion of a highly placed executive. For various very good reasons, we stayed away from that idea.

The following is my Display Board!

posted 05-16-2006 03:51 PM                  

The Panoz AIV Roadster is a front-engine, front open-wheeled, two-seat, V8 roadster built by the Panoz Motor Company. The car incorporates a 4.6-liter engine from Ford and is one of the first cars built mainly of aluminum, hence the name AIV, which stands for "Aluminum Intensive Vehicle."

Each model year brought subtle differences. Models from the first few years used the cast iron, 5.0-liter V8 engine from Ford's Mustang line. Starting in 1996, Panoz used the aluminum, 4.6-liter V8 engine, which was considerably lighter and increased the car's power significantly. With the weight savings, an air-conditioning system was installed with little overall weight or performance change. The last year the AIV Roadster was made was 1999