posted 02-24-2005 07:18 AM                  

Today, 23 February 2005, I eMailed you and your staff an excerpt from the Prowler Owner’s Association website, www.prowleronline.com regarding our organized (Florida Kat Pack) efforts to have 150+ Prowlers participate in the 2005 Hot Rod Power Tour. I am pleased to say that we (the Prowlers) will be very well represented during this year’s event in an effort to Prowl our way into the Hot Rod History Books.
This year will celebrate 9 years since the Prowler led the Power tour in 1996. Since then a lot has happened, some events were not unexpected as Prowler production was terminated in 2002 with 11,700 vehicles produced. However what was totally unexpected has been Prowler’s rejection by the Automotive Press and the various sanctioning organizations as an American Hot Rod. Funny as this vehicle was advertised by Plymouth as “A Tribute to the American Hot Rod”.
Most dictionaries simply define Hot Rod as a modified production vehicle to increase speed ~ performance. Here we have a productions vehicle… many, many have been modified to increase speed ~ performance and more. Even if left stock, they were fashioned to resemble what most Americans perceive as a Hot Rod… a roadster with front motorcycle fenders. Today, more than ever there are numerous “new” nostalgia vehicles produced in production line fashion, introduced and honored as the original, forgetting they too are current year. These “new” Hot Rods should receive the same age discrimination as the Prowler, but they don’t. The Automotive Press loves them, but our cars seem systematically neglected and discriminated by age, the model year alone!!!
Without any Factory Sponsorship or Support in anyway, on the behalf of the Prowler Owners I respectfully request that during this years Power Tour your staff be assigned to photograph and learn more regarding the Prowler and the Prowler Owners with hopes this very deserving vehicle be included in future Hot Rod Magazine article(s). There are some really, really tricked out Prowlers out there… I think even you may be impressed. We continue to support your publications and hope this support is reciprocal and we may continue to grow Hot Rodding together.
Respectfully submitted,

I sincerely hope that every one of you, the Prowler Owners, will do what you can to support these efforts in getting the Prowler recognized (again) by the Automotive Press without any Corporate Sponsorship.

You too can write letters... make phone calls... participate in various Automotive Events with your Prowler and most of all just have fun enjoying the Prowler for what it is... A Tribute to the American Hot Rod!!! We will ALL benefit in one way or another from positive, excited Owners and the Automotive Press.

posted 02-24-2005 07:39 AM                  

Larry and Lethia

posted 02-24-2005 08:04 AM                    

It would be great to be approached by the public and asked " How do you like your Prowler ? "...
instead of the usual " What is it ? "
or " did you make it yourself "....
I guess with the limited amount of Prowlers manufactured for the Canadian Market (673), and the fact that there are so few of them east of Ontario, the lack of recognition, for me, is understandable.
But you great folks in the U.S. Should be recognized for the amazing engineering feat that the Prowler represents and the accomplishments fulfilled by the guys that made the dream come true by producing this car for public sale...

Can someone explain to me why the Prowler is ignored by the industry and why DC cannot promote the car a bit especially since they still have many untitled vehicles looking for a home ??

maybe that question needs to be asked more often in hopes that someday we will get the answer ..

posted 02-24-2005 08:45 AM                  

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posted 02-24-2005 08:50 AM                    

I think a few of them went south.... but wonder if some have come back recently....the buck is .81 now...

right now if i purchased a new Kat for 45,000 U.S. funds which is about the msrp. it would cost me 55,700 canadian funds... this is considerably lower than the 64,000 msrp that a new Kat sold for in canada.

posted 02-24-2005 10:35 AM                  

Isn't this the magazine that employs Brock Yates???????

posted 02-24-2005 04:17 PM                  

Don..

posted 02-24-2005 04:23 PM                  

Maybe he is a candidate for the "infamous" Turkey Run campaign that so many of you participated which was so professionally orchestrated and executed yielding positive, results.

Nothing can be accomplished without lots of enthusiasm from lots of EXCITED and creative Prowler Owners... keep the faith and spread the word.

posted 02-24-2005 08:14 PM                  

There are only about 100 new, untitled vehicles left on DC's unsold list. That's not very many, and quite a few of those are actually dealear owned and simply not paid off their floor plan. It's why they continue to show up as unsold vehicles. So, there are actually less than 100.

We've talked about DC's support of the Prowler many times before, but we can do it again. The Prowler was never meant to be built more than five years and it was an experimental vehicle of sorts. Some people have called it the "parts" car as it borrowed parts from other Chrysler vehicles. The car is mostly aluminum and it was used to see how a vehicle could be built using mostly aluminum, how it would hold up, etc. etc. The car was actually brought to production from concept with a minimal amount of investement using other car "parts" and experimental materials. Also keep in mind that it was a hand-built vehicle, which is why there was going to be a limited number built. Bob Lutz penned the phrase "Either you get it or you don't". Many people don't...many people do. The automotive media is not much more than writers who are not really car people. They have their own opinions which traditionally are not favorable to most cars. They think it is their job to "tear" apart a car and report their opinions. These media writers participate in "ride and drives", invited by the manufacturers. They drive the cars around a track a few times and think they know everything about the car. Most of them "don't get it" with regard to the Prowler. Obviously, enough of us did, as almost all of the Prowlers built have been sold.

Chrysler made the decision to not get as involved with the Prowler as they did with the Viper......mainly because it was a short-term vehicle. They did very little advertising because they were not going to be able to build as many cars as people wanted to buy. When I ran the Plymouth Prowler Roadshow for Chrysler, I experienced a negative attitude from the dealers. The third year of the program was turned into a dealer program, offering the roadshow to the dealers for a fee. It could be used for special sales, etc. to help draw people into their dealerships........not just to sell Prowlers but to help sell Plymouth vehicles. Prowler was built with the hope of giving the Plymouth brand a boost as Viper did for Dodge. Unfortunatley, it was not that successful in that respect. When contacting dealers to offer the roadshow, many of them flat refused and said, "why should I bring a Prowler here....I can't get any to sell and I don't want customers mad at me because I can't get them..
They were missing the point of using it as a draw to sell their Plymouth/Chrysler brand vehicles. Most of the dealers "didn't get it" either.

People always complain about what they feel is a lack of support from Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler. There was more support from Chrysler behind the scenes than most people understand. They have actually done a lot for the Prowler community based on their limitations. Bob and I personally were always going to bat with DC to get support in many ways and many times we were successful. The people who worked on Prowler Team were obviously passionate about the car, but many times their hands were tied by upper management as to how much and what they could help us with. When Daimler came into the picture, it was worse. Think about it. The Germans never had a "hot rod" culture and did not understand the car at all. They didn't care. They understood Viper (speed)........but not Prowler. We were fighting a losing battle with Prowler. Daimler looks at everything as "business" and what is economically feasible for the corporation. They based their decisions on that. Not passion for a car they didn't understand.

The media and the industry is the same. You won't get people to change their minds about something they don't understand..........they just don't care. I've had many conversations with Gary Meadors of GoodGuys about not allowing Prowlers in a lot of their venues. I always presented the point about "kit" cars and how they aren't any different than Prowlers. They weren't originals.. etc. etc. Once a mind set is established, it's pretty difficult to change that. Media think their opinions and what they write is above everyone else. Pushing opinions on them that they don't agree with can cause more harm.

In the big scheme of things, does it really matter? Prowlers can participate in the Power Tour, they aren't being excluded like they are in other venues. We love our cats and we have fun with them. They do draw interest wherever we go. There will always be old "hot rodders" who resent the cars..........I don't really care what they think. I used to tell the guys who came to my display and harass me about the Prowler that Prowler was built for people who did not have the money to invest in restoring an old hot rod (which we know can be a LOT), the time to do that or the talent. I also told them that a lot of the hot rod owners bought the cars they owned and that they didn't restore them by themselves, so they really are no different than Prowler owners.

Bottom line is.........magazines publish things that they feel are going to sell their magazines. If they don't have a big interest in Prowlers......I guess they won't do it. It would, of course, be nice if they did.....

Some time ago, I went through boxes and boxes of all the automotive magazines that Bob has subscribed to since the early 60's. I was looking for Prowler articles and Prowler covers of the magazine. I turned up over 100 magazines that either had Prowler covers, ads or articles. So, not all the magazines ignored Prowler. There was a huge media blitz (not all favorable) when it came out as a concept vehicle until it went into production. Since it's no longer being built, I guess they feel "out of sight....out of mind".

posted 02-24-2005 08:14 PM                  

quote:

---

Can someone explain to me why the Prowler is ignored by the industry and why DC cannot promote the car a bit especially since they still have many untitled vehicles looking for a home ??

---

There are only about 100 new, untitled vehicles left on DC's unsold list. That's not very many, and quite a few of those are actually dealear owned and simply not paid off their floor plan. It's why they continue to show up as unsold vehicles. So, there are actually less than 100.

We've talked about DC's support of the Prowler many times before, but we can do it again. The Prowler was never meant to be built more than five years and it was an experimental vehicle of sorts. Some people have called it the "parts" car as it borrowed parts from other Chrysler vehicles. The car is mostly aluminum and it was used to see how a vehicle could be built using mostly aluminum, how it would hold up, etc. etc. The car was actually brought to production from concept with a minimal amount of investement using other car "parts" and experimental materials. Also keep in mind that it was a hand-built vehicle, which is why there was going to be a limited number built. Bob Lutz penned the phrase "Either you get it or you don't". Many people don't...many people do. The automotive media is not much more than writers who are not really car people. They have their own opinions which traditionally are not favorable to most cars. They think it is their job to "tear" apart a car and report their opinions. These media writers participate in "ride and drives", invited by the manufacturers. They drive the cars around a track a few times and think they know everything about the car. Most of them "don't get it" with regard to the Prowler. Obviously, enough of us did, as almost all of the Prowlers built have been sold.

Chrysler made the decision to not get as involved with the Prowler as they did with the Viper......mainly because it was a short-term vehicle. They did very little advertising because they were not going to be able to build as many cars as people wanted to buy. When I ran the Plymouth Prowler Roadshow for Chrysler, I experienced a negative attitude from the dealers. The third year of the program was turned into a dealer program, offering the roadshow to the dealers for a fee. It could be used for special sales, etc. to help draw people into their dealerships........not just to sell Prowlers but to help sell Plymouth vehicles. Prowler was built with the hope of giving the Plymouth brand a boost as Viper did for Dodge. Unfortunatley, it was not that successful in that respect. When contacting dealers to offer the roadshow, many of them flat refused and said, "why should I bring a Prowler here....I can't get any to sell and I don't want customers mad at me because I can't get them..
They were missing the point of using it as a draw to sell their Plymouth/Chrysler brand vehicles. Most of the dealers "didn't get it" either.

People always complain about what they feel is a lack of support from Chrysler/DaimlerChrysler. There was more support from Chrysler behind the scenes than most people understand. They have actually done a lot for the Prowler community based on their limitations. Bob and I personally were always going to bat with DC to get support in many ways and many times we were successful. The people who worked on Prowler Team were obviously passionate about the car, but many times their hands were tied by upper management as to how much and what they could help us with. When Daimler came into the picture, it was worse. Think about it. The Germans never had a "hot rod" culture and did not understand the car at all. They didn't care. They understood Viper (speed)........but not Prowler. We were fighting a losing battle with Prowler. Daimler looks at everything as "business" and what is economically feasible for the corporation. They based their decisions on that. Not passion for a car they didn't understand.

The media and the industry is the same. You won't get people to change their minds about something they don't understand..........they just don't care. I've had many conversations with Gary Meadors of GoodGuys about not allowing Prowlers in a lot of their venues. I always presented the point about "kit" cars and how they aren't any different than Prowlers. They weren't originals.. etc. etc. Once a mind set is established, it's pretty difficult to change that. Media think their opinions and what they write is above everyone else. Pushing opinions on them that they don't agree with can cause more harm.

In the big scheme of things, does it really matter? Prowlers can participate in the Power Tour, they aren't being excluded like they are in other venues. We love our cats and we have fun with them. They do draw interest wherever we go. There will always be old "hot rodders" who resent the cars..........I don't really care what they think. I used to tell the guys who came to my display and harass me about the Prowler that Prowler was built for people who did not have the money to invest in restoring an old hot rod (which we know can be a LOT), the time to do that or the talent. I also told them that a lot of the hot rod owners bought the cars they owned and that they didn't restore them by themselves, so they really are no different than Prowler owners.

Bottom line is.........magazines publish things that they feel are going to sell their magazines. If they don't have a big interest in Prowlers......I guess they won't do it. It would, of course, be nice if they did.....

Some time ago, I went through boxes and boxes of all the automotive magazines that Bob has subscribed to since the early 60's. I was looking for Prowler articles and Prowler covers of the magazines. I turned up over 100 magazines that either had Prowler covers, ads or articles. So, not all the magazines ignored Prowler. There was a huge media blitz (not all favorable) when it came out as a concept vehicle until it went into production. Since it's no longer being built, I guess they feel "out of sight....out of mind" and it isn't consider old enough to be "historic" or "classic".....yet!

posted 02-24-2005 08:47 PM                    

But you great folks in the U.S. Should be recognized for the amazing engineering feat that the Prowler represents and the accomplishments fulfilled by the guys that made the dream come true by producing this car for public sale...

great response CJ....

I guess we all are a special breed of people , driving a special breed of car...
I can't find one thing wrong with that !!

if they don't get it.. and we do...

then we are lucky !

(I still want them to do something about my wheels)

posted 02-25-2005 08:55 PM                  

quote:

---

"out of sight....out of mind" and it isn't consider old enough to be "historic" or "classic".....yet!

---

That's the point exactly... what are we as Prowler Owners doing to ensure we do not continue to remain "out of sight" of the Automotive Media???

We need more... lots more Prowler Owners participating, beyond a keyboard and among ourselves, to guarantee the Prowler is not "out of mind" either!!! It just so happens that the Hot Rod Power Tour will afford us just such an opportunity, so do your part and join up today.

As for "Historic" we can't mess with Mother Nature as Birthdays seem to come all too soon lately. I'm not sure, but I think the State of Florida will not allow me to drive when the Yeller Cat officially becomes a "Historic" vehicle. Something to think about... how old will you be in 2025?

15 February 2002, the Prowler became a "Classic" as production was ended... there will never be any more!!!

Be prepared to jump in several organized efforts being planned for the future... if we as Prowler Owners don't do it, who will???

I think you know the answer... NOBODY, so it will be left up to you and me!!!

See you soon Prowlin' in my "Classic Hot Rod",

Jay