posted 11-08-2001 08:05 AM         

Anyone else hear of this?

posted 11-08-2001 09:42 AM         

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GaryC@ProwlerOnline.com

Diesel Ram Truck: 481.5 HP/ 951.2 Ft Lbs of Torque
13.80ET 99.82MPH

I hope that this is true .we want to buy a T-Bird but all the dealers want 4k to 10k over MSRP

Another thing that sucks is that T-Bird is not available for ford employee discount.........

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posted 11-08-2001 10:15 AM         

What I read, Ford wants the buyer to sign an agreement to "not sell the Tbird for six months". The dealer can still sell for whatever the market bears...

Here's a link to USA Today article...
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2001-11-06-tbird.htm

posted 11-08-2001 02:49 PM         

It looks like I have been invited to comment so...

Last weekend I loaded up the cat and dew drop and headed down to the Poway Ford Dealer's place to look at one of these new machines.

Pulled in with the Cat a saw seven or eight guys standing around with their feet up on the bumper of some cars, talking about how good it all is and assumed that I was in the right spot. Seemed like a proper Ford Dealer.

Parked the machine, got out and was greeted by someone who strolled out of the seance and hardly spoke English asking which one of these beauties I wanted to drive home in.

I ignored him sauntered over to the Bird and began the examination. The one that I saw was white, black interior and was MSRP'ed in the $39,xxx range. They had an additional sticker on it marked $58,xxx.

The inside was better then I thought that it would be except that it had a K-Mart ashtray insert that might have cost $1.95. I don't smoke so this was not a problem to me but it left a bad overall impression of the quality of the offering.

The Bird that I looked at had another sticker that said that it had been selected by Ford for additional testing and they had put 367 miles on the car. Given the color, the price, the high initial mileage and the attitude of the salesrep, the need to continue a meaningful dialog was not strong.

The salesrep told me that he would like to put me in this beauty and told me that "if I had enough equity in the Prowler and my payments weren't too high, he could have his finance guy try to get me qualified." Now, for the most part you guy's don't know me, but Gary does, so all I'll say is I really don't think that I would need the services of his finance guy at all. I thanked Mohomad, got back in Cat, and laughed with Dew Drop all of the way home.

On another note, maybe, because it was too much white, the car's outside proportions seemed awkward. I really can't say what it was, but something seemed awfully "Taurus E" about the body.

Anyhow, I'm not saying that I wasn't interested, just not interested with that dealership, sales person, color, price and attitude. Incidentally, a close friend of mine was also interested in a new Excursion and I would encourage him to go elsewhere.

Gotta run as Henry Jr. is calling and wants to talk about the economic conditions and the future at Ford. Boy will I have an earful for him!

Scot

posted 11-08-2001 07:41 PM         

It is my understanding what I read Ford Motor Company does not want these cars sold to Brokers to mark them up and resale. Something that has caused alot of unhappy Prowler owners or want to be owners and dealers who still think the cars are worth 55K +.

Here in central Indiana I have heard of a few for little over sticker.

Out of all the birds I have seen the Black with red interior looked the BEST.

As far as looks...I think it looks like an overgrown MGB.

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Larry & Sue Mayes

posted 11-08-2001 10:11 PM         

I see little difference between a broker & a dealer selling over sticker. Why penalize the broker if the dealer is selling over sticker????

posted 11-08-2001 10:42 PM         

Interesting.....about the plane and the boat. Actually, please verify with Gary "C," but I do have a 42 foot boat, a 16 foot ski boat, a 10 foot 3 person Sea Doo and an 8 foot dingy. I recently sold two airplanes, a single and a twin, although I still have the hanger. I would not hire that "salesrep" as shark bait!

There are those around me that feel that I have a piston fetish and for all practical purposes they are probably right. I thought that the 2002 Thunderbird might be an interesting acquisition so that was my motivation in going to see it.

Several months ago I posted and asked all what their thoughts were on buying one of these cars and the answers were diverse but encouraging. I thought that perhaps it might be time.

With only 574 miles on a 2001 Prowler, some significant gray hair and my 19 year-old daughter as a chauffeur I would have thought that the dealership would have had enough "smarts" to send out a qualified professional. I never expected that they would insult me by saying that they might consider taking my Prowler on trade when in fact I had indicated no such desire. BTW, he asked me what kind of car and what year it was! My license plate reads "01 Prowl!

As an interesting side note if you look at the listed cars that I still own, I have 7 cars that are two passenger models so it might seem reasonable to assume that I would consider one more. While I do own a couple of multi passenger cars I do really like the two passenger models better.

Anyway, this experience was unpleasant and the dealership was less than professional. As an example, I asked the idiot what other colors they came in and he said he did not know. I asked if he had a color chart and he escorted me into the showroom,looked around for 10.4 nano-seconds and said no. After he went on to help some other people I simply opened the 2001 selection book on the shelf and identified and examined the color chart, saw the desired color and left for greener pastures.

Ford, this dealership and the owner will not survive with this type of sales assistance. The dealership's name is Perry Ford in Poway, CA.

Scot

posted 11-08-2001 11:54 PM         

1. When it was announced that the Plymouth Prowler was going into production, letters were sent to all Plymouth dealers stating:

a. It would not be a dealer ordered vehicle. It was being done by allocation. (This was the job Bob did for the Prowler team......dealer allocation of cars.)

b. They were not to take names and/or deposits to be on any "list" to get the car. At that time, the dealers did not even know whether or not they would be getting a Prowler.

c. Chrysler did not have a "list" for anyone to get on in order to receive a car.

d. Chrysler announced the MSRP of the Prowler to be $39,000 plus tax and freight.

e. They asked the dealer not to gouge the consumer and to sell the Prowler at the MSRP.

As you may know, the motorsports company that I worked for built and administered the Plymouth Prowler Road Show for Chrysler. As the Program Manager for this road show, I attended many events with the show. I answered questions and handed out literature to consumers. Many people indicated that they had already given dealers their deposits, that they were on Chrysler's "list" and that the dealers had already told them they would be selling the car for $10,000 - $20,000 more than MSRP (sometimes more).

My point is......the dealers do not always follow the edict coming down from the manufacturer. Some of the dealers did follow the rules. The manufacturer has no legal recourse with dealers who sell at inflated prices over MSRP.

Chrysler management did stick to their promise to introduce the car under $40,000 as planned. The dealers, however, did whatever they chose to do. A lot of discussion has emerged lately with regard to the demise of the Prowler and the reasons for it. The dealers, in my opinion, have contributed greatly to the large numbers of cars in inventory. There are a lot of people out there who believe that the price of a Prowler is $70,000 or over.

I, for one, won't be surprised when the same scenario surrounds the new T-bird.

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CJ - The One and Only - 1999 Black
Mopar Exhaust System
Splash Guards
Matching Prowler Trailer
PProwler Vanity Plate

posted 11-09-2001 08:59 AM         

CJ - Well explained and understood! I will only differ about the part that the manufactuer has no recourse about dealer pricing. The allocation was the key word, gouge the consumers, no or little allotment. This should have been enforced by DC, but knowing the big dealers selling one thousand DC cars per month can't be told no more Prowlers. I found it interesting that my one C/P dealer in Lincoln, Nebraska (pop. 200,000) was getting as many cats as all the Plymouth dealers in Omaha (pop. 500,000), 55 miles away. Lincoln dealer was selling for MSRP with no ups. JMO

posted 11-13-2001 12:03 AM         

I'm too sick and too tired to argue again about this right now...:

I will only differ about the part that the manufactuer has no recourse about dealer pricing. The allocation was the key word, gouge the consumers, no or little allotment. This should have been enforced by DC, but knowing the big dealers selling one thousand DC cars per month can't be told no more Prowlers.

Seems we had this discussion a long time ago about this issue. I tried to find it in the archives, but it could have been on the other board. Anyway, state laws vary and DC cannot tell the dealers what to do. They do not have any recourse. Maybe I can get Bob to explain it again.

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CJ - The One and Only - 1999 Black
Mopar Exhaust System
Splash Guards
Matching Prowler Trailer
PProwler Vanity Plate

posted 11-23-2001 05:24 PM         

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