Plymouth Prowler with designer Chip Foose - Jay Leno's Garage 

I bought my Prowler in July, 1998. It is a yellow 99. I still enjoy the car and get it out during the Summer.

Chip Foose is such a cool and humble guy, my favorite car designer since I was young. Truly inspiring.

My grandad designed the suspension blue prints for this car. I have a photo in my wallet that my dad used to carry before he pressed away of him holding the blueprints up for a photo. He’s even got his name on several of the patents for suspension components. I have always had such a soft spot for this car, and this color specifically. It’s just such a cool machine!

This was my father's first sports car he bought brand new in 2001 after surviving khmer rouge, escaping from Vietnam, without any adolescent education and graduating from Baylor college of dentistry. He sadly passed away 3 years after purchasing one of his dream cars but luckily the Orange prowler is still in the family and will always be a special car to us. Because of this, after building numerous cars, including one that was showcased in SEMA 2022 inside the Toyo Tires Treadpass exhibit, I must give this vehicle justice one day and swap the motor with something proper. For now the plans will be to try and stuff a viper gen 4 motor! Thanks Jay for sharing this incredible interview and shedding some new light on a forgotten vehicle.

As a kid who grew up in the 90s - I LOVED this car. They used to have little diecasts of them everywhere.

The Prowler set the 'Retro Design' trend in motion. After it came out, we got the PT Cruiser, Chevy HHR and such. Great job, Chip!

We inherited one with 260,000 miles on it!!! That black beauty was awesome! Attention everywhere.

I was an engineer for Alcoa when the Prowler was being developed. I formed all of initial frame structure at the Alcoa Research lab outside of Pittsburgh then moved production to Toledo. Fun project to work on@ I did not know that Chip was the inspiration behind the design. Cool to know. I never got to drive one myself so it was nice to watch your video of it

I officially feel old. Thanks Jay and Chip. I was 11 when these came out and I remember the first time seeing one.

“Go look at and buy a neon” lol that’s exactly what happened. My dad’s truck broke down and I begged him to get a prowler. I was so excited when I saw it in the showroom. Man I was the most hateful little 7 year old when we left in that neon later that day. Still love the prowler.

I would think Chip Foose has to be in the top ten of the nicest people in the world today for sure & not to mention his artistic talent...

Chip is so beyond the gimmicky show Overhaulin.....so nice to see and hear him speak on this episode. He has so much car knowledge to share.

So awesome to see Chip finally get some recognition for this car. Years passed without many knowing he was the spiritual designer. And this car, despite not having a V8, was a test bed for Chrysler, including building with aluminum (the v6 was aluminum and later on made 255hp, as much as their 5.9 v8) 😎

I thought the point of all those old hot rods was to modify them because they were slow…. this being under powered don’t really mean anything… it’s a canvas if you take the spirit of the originals.

Jay and Chip... two heroes that might not let down the regular kid

To this day I have an awful memory of seeing one of these in public for the first time. I was with my dad, I brought him over to show that it had an automatic and looked like a minivan on the inside. I was pointing at it and said something like "it's for people who don't know anything about hot rods but like the look" and when I turned around the owner was standing right there with her groceries, the meanest look on her face too. I felt terrible.

Still a beautiful car to this day. Classic design.

I'd heard somewhere that one of Chrysler's V8s (4.6L I'm guessing) was considered, but actually had less horsepower than their new V6. Of course the V8 had considerably more torque, but as the old adage goes, "torque wins races, but horsepower sells cars." The Prowler might be one of just a few cars in which that consideration was ill-advised, since everyone agreed a V8 was more in the spirit of the car. The 3.5L SOHC was actually a great engine, though. I had a 300M with the same powertrain and it was an excellent balance of good low end/midrange torque, but still kept pulling strong all the way to a fairly high redline (back then you usually had to pick one or the other). Sounded pretty good (again, for a V6), ran smooth, and was very reliable. I'd forgive the use of the (good) V6 in the Prowler if you could have at least had a manual. The auto used in these was also reliable and smooth, but they sapped tons of power, as most automatics did back in the day. Of course, the desirable V8 sound would still be absent, but the car would otherwise have been a pretty strong performer with the lower power loss and an extra ratio or two. At any rate, gotta at least give Chrysler credit for having the balls to produce vehicles like this. Can you think of a vehicle produced by a mainstream brand in the last 20 years that's even half as bold? I can't.

It aged like wine. The only thing I would change is the gearbox, for a manual one with clutch and everything. A V6, retro-styled car an manual can be a hell of a fun. Loved it at first sight as a kid in the 90s, loving more now as an adult. And that purple color... jeeez. Wonderful. Thanks Chip and Jay!

Used to work with a guy, a higher up, who had one of these. He looked like a cross between Ned Flanders and Mr. Belvedere. Gave out big creepy 6’3” nice guy hugs that included a strong pull in and musty moist BO. Back slapping bad joke teller to boot. Car fit him perfectly!

Chip is a legend. So is Jay in his own right.

So happy to finally catch an episode live. Love Chip Foose, we haul a lot of his stuff. Nice to see him on the show!

The biography of Chip Foose is a very special one. I did not know about his ties to the Prowler, but I did know, he learned from Boyd Coddington way back in the day...

The 1999 Prowler was actually fast for the day! The 0-60 time is 5.6 secs. And the quarter mile time of 14 secs. That’s actually at the SAME times as the 99’ mustang GT, 99’ Camaro Z28, 03’ 350Z, etc and faster than the other so-called sporty cars in its price point! Plus the cars Jay mentioned ARE NOT direct competitors of the prowler 🤔

Chip and Jay, you guys are legends. As a proud 1997 purple plymouth prowler owner with 16k miles, this is an absolutely gem of a cruiser and collector car that I have in my collection. The history behind this car with Chip Foose and Tom Gale and how it was built is fascinating. I appreciate you guys doing a great episode. Keep them coming!

There were plenty of 6 cylinder performance cars before the Prowler came out, so I'm not sure why it was ok for them and heresy for the Prowler. Some of these cars include the Grand National, '89 Turbo T/A, Stealth R/T, Taurus SHO, NSX, M3, 300ZX, Supra and plenty more. The Prowler V6 was every bit a Hot Rod engine too. It featured 10.4:1 compression ratio, aluminum SOHC heads with 4 valves per cylinder, a long ram intake manifold with sequential multi port fuel injection and distributorless ignition. The power was underpinned by a stout bottom end that included forged crank, forged rods, full floating pistons and 6 bolt main caps, that's right 6. It had 4 bolts coming in from the bottom and 2 more cross bolted in through the side of the block(just like the old 427 Cobra Demand blocks). No turbo, no supercharger, no vvt and it still put out a hair less than 1 NET hp per cubic inch. That was the first year Prowler. After the initial year, they added an aluminum block, and a sophisticated valved intake manifold with twin throttle bodies. Was it quick? The first year did 0-60 in 7 seconds flat and the 1/4 mile in 15.4. The refreshed 2nd gen engine was good for 5.7 0-60 and 14.3 1/4 mjle. How does this compare to the competition? '96 Mustang GT 0-60 6.7, 1/4 15.1, 1999 Z28 conv. 0-60 5.5, 1/4 14.0, 1999 SVT Cobra 0-60 5.4, 1/4 14.0, 1999 M3 0-60 5.6, 1/4 14.3, 1996 Porsche 911 0-60 6.3, 1/4 14.3, 1993 Ferrari 348TS O-60 5.5, 1/4 13.9 1996 Acura NSX(auto) 0-60 5.8, 1/4 14.3. Obviously the performance was plenty competitive. The biggest mistake that Chrysler made with the Prowler was overestimating the intelligence of the car community at large. The press and the public got hung up on the lack of V8, and failed to see the substance and competence that was actually there. Unfortunately, judging by most of the current reviews and comments, nothing has changed to this day.

2850lbs and 260hp was actually pretty good for 1999....the s2000 was 2800lbs and had 240hp. The Corvette c5 had 340hp BUT it was also 3300lbs....the Camaro SS was 3400lbs and 320hp

Chip is so insanely talented. His design influence has had a bigger impact than most people realize.

Thanks to Jay and Chip for all theyve done for the car community.

you can't have performance in a V6 and an automatic .... Buick GNX .... GMC Typhoon Syclone ... Ford GT ... Mustang ...

I helped build this car. It started out in the Norwalk, Ohio Mayflower Plant that made truck cabs for Mack and Freightliner. Old biker guys hand jigged them up. My company Henkel supplied the structural foam that made it crash test worthy. Terracore.

I've always thought how cool it is the way Chip speaks so professionally about Boyd. The same Boyd who had nothing good to say about Chip until the day he died.

This car was a model car kit that I remember building as a kid, it will be forever stuck in my head

It cracks me up that Chip laughs like the old heads he's been around his whole life. I met him at a Show and Go in Riverside -- super nice guy.

Both these guys are so talented, but they could not be more down to earth.

Growing up in the 80's and 90's THIS car was my dream everyday driver. even if it was majorly underpowered, I think it appealed to many younger (90's) modern wanna be modern hot rodders like myself.

This was one of the more interesting vehicles I worked on back in the day. I worked on the airbag crash sensor calibrations while working for TRW. It was quite exciting when we received the drawings of the chassis and had to figure out the best placement for those crash sensors.

We bought a LHS with the 3.5 engine, and it was a very good car-good performance, and good mileage-and that was in a heavy car-these Prowlers were cool-congrats on your design, Chip, and thank you Jay for bringing these videos to us!

Chip is one of the inspirations for me going to school for Industrial Design. He is way beyond just a figure in the automotive world, he has always had an amazing sense of vision, and a wonderful sense of blending greatness from the past with modern possibilities. Thank you Chip!

Had Plymouth simply made a 5-speed manual trans an option I doubt they'd have sold too many more but it would have been MUCH more fun, would have vastly improved the reputation of the Prowler and the 5MT versions would now be highly coveted and selling at a substantial premium.

Always loved the Plum-Crazy Purple!!!

Just ran into Chip over in Maryville TN this afternoon, super nice guy.

This is fantastic, as someone from the UK I was only ever aware of this car from pictures and so on, and I wasn’t a particularly big fan at the time. But as time has gone on this car has grown in to an incredible looking vehicle. It looks way more ‘modern’ than 1999! Brilliant

I have always liked these,and the Cross fire

I saw a prowler at a show lowered with a supercharged v8, the thing was a beast and the lowered stance and they widen the wells it looked awesome. I always liked the looked of these. Alot of potential

I think the Prowler has aged so well !! It looks better today than it did in the 90's . A true collectors car that will only go up in price 😊

Thank you Jay, for this amazing episode, as the proud owner of a yellow 2000 Plymouth Prowler , i must admit it took me actually driving one to realize how much fun and understated the car is. It is def no daily commute vehicle reference the almost non existent trunk space but as a weekend driver its an amazing piece of machinery. thank you all who were involved and made this car happen, we are forever in your debt.

2 legends, 1 car. 😁 But it's so cool to learn that Chip actually had a hand in the design of the Prowler. And that it started his career. 😎🤟

I love chip.. his line quality is top notch, and he's got a mind for proportion like no one else

Hello Chip , J' You Forgot The '1982' BUICK Grand National V6 about 270hp Quarter Mile About 13/14 Seconds If My Memory Serve Me Right They Were Black In Color. I'm So Old Like That I and Parnelli Jones On Gardena Race Track Same Time (Modified Jalopy) About 1953 On A Sunday Televise Today Parnelli Lives In Pacific Palisades Ca I Think. Chip I Miss Your Show Chip, Thank You So Much Along With Your Employee. Angeles 12 T38 Bill

I've always felt the Prowler was under appreciated, though I'm one of the people that think a manual trans should have been an option and it should have had a V8. That isn't me saying the car didn't have it's niche, and I felt it served it quite well. Very awesome seeing Chip Foose on the show. Thanks Jayu!!!

Two of my absolute favorite car guru’s and enthusiasts! The King of Art & Design Chip and the King of Art & Design Appreciation Jay!

I agree with Jay & Chip 100%. The car really is a pleasure to drive and is surprisingly nimble. I was a Senior Manager at JTE (Jeep and Truck Engineering) at that time and it was the old AMC/Jeep Engineering team working for Francois Castaing plus Tom Gale and his design team. Everyone had their own project car or Jeep or race car at home in their garage. So working on cars like the Viper and Prowler was a labor of love. Everyone wanted to put a Hemi in the car but the financials didn’t work out creating a whole new power train for the car. So we used the power train out of the Chrysler 300 which meant we could piggyback on that cars expensive EPA government certification.

I met Chip briefly through a WD40 promotion when I worked at NAPA Auto Parts. Boyd Coddington was a very talented man and Mr Leno is amazing too.

Great now I'm regretting not buying one a couple weeks ago!

A gutsy move by Chrysler but full credit to them for making this Prowler happen. V6/Auto. aside, it's still a fun car and looks great. Watching Jay and Chip chewing the fat I can do all day. Thanks Jay, great job giving this car a little love today.

Back in the day I was returning from a weekend at Winternationals. My mother in law mentioned Boyd’s was a few blocks from her house so I stopped and checked it out. He had just opened a showroom, lots of cool cars, the Hertz GT Mustang is one I really remember. Anyhow, the t-shirt I wanted was not in my size, guy tells me they have more around the corner at the actual shop. I go there, secretary sells me the shirt, asks me if I want to go back and look around, of course! I remember the checkerboard floor, the biggest Snap-on box I’d ever seen, cnc machine cutting on its own, I get out to the back and there’s a guy working on what would become the Roadstar. He was working through lunch and the only one there. He proceeded to tell me what he was doing and show me Michael Anthony’s Blazer project, and several other cool cars. I wonder now if that was Chip? It was an awesome experience, if that was you Chip, Thanks!

Love the chemistry between you two and how you bounce jokes and exaggerations off each other, this was a delight to watch! I was 10-14 years old during the era of the Copperhead, Prowler, GT90, and other concept cars were in magazines. I didn't care what engines or powertrains they had, they were just plain cool. Fast forward 25 years and I still think they're just as cool lol

There was a guy in my South Florida neighborhood who bought one of these 20 years ago.... Let's just say we gave him the nickname "wanka", and for good reason.

Speaking of the 'Prowler Song' AND Purple Rain! Jay's friend, the late legendary musician Prince, bought an exact, stock purple Prowler that year in 1999 and thematically featured in his promotional photos for an album release that year. I think they still have it at Paisley Park Studios. That should also mimiize Jay's poopooing The Prowler! I spotted two in the valley recently, an orange Prowler parked at the Pick Your Parts and another just today, in the valley, a GOLD one with a nice mean little dent on the driver side towards the lower rear edge near the rear fender, but, still looked great. The car design trend back then was starting to steer towards modern retro with the New Beetle release around the same time. Foose's work is amazing. I may have seen and admired his work, I used to go often to Art Center to get inspiration and admire all the design work across different areas of study around that time. The models and car design illustrations were fantastic. I would then apply that level of work as inspiration to take things next level back at the slightly less expensive competing art and design college llackluster education I was getting ...!

Two of my favourite car guys...in a Prowler? Okay! I knew Chip's background with this car, so that wasn't surprising. What did surprise me is that this car has aged better than I would've expected. Update the engine with a twin-turbo setup and a Tremec, remove those bumpers, and it would be pretty fun! Thanks for coming out and giving us some personal background on the car, Chip! Great to see you! And as usual, kudos to Jay and The Crew for another great episode! ✌️❤️🙂🇨🇦

My dad was a Plymouth guy. When I was a little kid his pride and joy was a 1959 Plymouth Savoy. It had really, really big fins in the back!

Saw Chip Foose on the 55 freeway in Orange County CA years ago, gave him a thumbs up he smiled and waived. He was in a Ford F150 Harley Davidson Edition.

I remember as a kid they had this car inside of Paradise valley mall in North Phoenix Arizona. They where showing it off.I remember walking around it thinking "cool car". Paradise valley mall got torn down and replaced with condominiums recently. sucks all those memories gone...

The great Chip Foose. Thanks for everything you've done over the years.🥶

The design of this car will be unique at all times. Wonderful car!!!

Lighter and more power than the z3 or boxster at the time! Better looking too! Autostick was Chryslers pdk back in the late 90s, no joke! Dont knock em till you try one!

Jay Leno: kind of trashes the Prowler the WHOLE time…. The guy who invented it (who is RIGHT THERE with him 😮

This car looks so good for a car that was made in the 90's. Especially coming off the boxy era of 80's car designs. I grew up in the 90's and I don't recall ever seeing one, but they were probably not very common in Canada. I think it would be fun to own one of these if you are someone of my generation. A few tweaks to the engine, maybe do a supercharger mod and improve the injection system (as Jay alluded to), it would be tons of fun to drive.

This and the PT Cruiser are both brilliant designs in their revival of some of the most beautiful design language in automotive history. If you don't love the 30s cars, you may just not get it. Us street rod lovers get it.

I was 12 when that came out and it was instantly my favorite car. It actually is what got me interested in cars, my school bus had a stop right by a chrysler dealership with one of these in the front showroom. 2850 lbs, 255 hp and the looks of a 30s chopped hot rod, I still think they're pretty amazing cars.

I can't wait! Ever since they came out I've wanted one to build. Chip is awesome so many of his builds are iconic and the work he's done for car lovers everywhere is heart warming

Slap a 426 hemi and a blower on there ,now your talking 😂 Maybe a 3.5 with a pair a turbos in there .Yes indeed .The prowler does have nice lines though,looks like an updated 32 roadster. I never realized that Chip designed it either ,killer job .

Hey Jay! I used to see Prince driving his around Chanhassen/Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota during the Summer Time, he seemed happy with his.

So nice to see Chip again! I never knew of his involvement with the Prowler. Good time listening to this pair sharing their thoughts on the car.

Thanks for the show with you and Chip guys have a great week bild one with a v8

That was thoroughly delightful. 31 minutes? They just flew by. Kudos to all

Fuse, $30k in 99” isn’t $30k in 2024. It’s actually about $60k & in Branden’s economy maybe 🤔 $80k 😄

My friends 72 Z28 was automatic transmission and it also used to chirp the tires when upshifting just like this Prowler. I heard it many times as I was usally sitting shotgun and drinkin a Beer...

That car is beautiful. It looks absolutely stunning.

I had a purple 1999 Prowler. Took it on the Hot Rod Power Tour in 2012, loved it!

Thank you Mr. Leno for another amazing car review and also for having the legend Chip Foose on your show. You two are my favorite car people and I watch anything that you guys are a part of🙏🏽

This car so missed its mark so badly. Should've had a V8 in it with exposed headers like any "normal" Roadster model. Guarantee with those 2 simple changes that car would've easily sold double the amount and then some.

Bravo J&C《☆》Dodge should bring it back with the Hurricane 6 engine & aTremek 6 speed Trans✌🏼😎☯️

Great to see Chip again. What a team Jay and Chip would make. Almost too much talent in the room! It takes big balls to push the envelope in a big corporate environment. Chip rules

omg it's Chip! Hes an awesome guy, very very humble. Good to see Jay and Chip together

I was working at LaBrea Chrysler Plymouth Jeep when they released the Prowler. They sent in about 20 cars for the press to drive and us to keep going while they did. Petersen publishing was right down the street and the dealership was filled daily with U.S. and foreign journalists driving and writing about it. It was a defining period of my life.

Chip speaks highly of Boyd Coddington but I remember Boyd firing an employee on an episode of American Hot Rod for designing wheels part time for Chip. I remember him asking the employee how he could go to work for a guy who tried to ruin his business..

I use Jay Leno's Garage Radiant Ceramic Car Sealant to put the final polish on my SR-71 Blackbird Titanium Rings. Thanks JAY !

I love that car

Surprised to see Chip on the show, but it was great, to follow their conversation, pretty natural humour all round. Must admit, I quite like the car too; V6 and all. Thanks Jay!

It was a cool design but that cheap plastic Dodge Neon parts bin interior and V6 killed it. I also remember the people who showed up to the car shows back then were not even car people. They just bought it as some bragging right or talking point.

I was a freshman in high school when this car debuted, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. The VW Bug coming back kick-started the retro craze that would happen over the next 10 years, and I'm glad a lot of the retro vibes stuck around. However, the big problem with both the Prowler and the reintroduced Ford Thunderbird is they were marketed to Boomers, not teen and young adults like the original cars had been. I forget what they were charging for the Prowler when it came out, but it was too damn much. Same with the Thrunderbird, debuting - if I recall - at a whopping $53K, which at the time was about $8K more than a Cadillac Escalade ESV, for comparison. Nobody under 50 could afford them, and people like my dad who grew up with the originals, knew it was overpriced, so very few takers. If they had been smart, they would have made the Prowler bare bones, basically a kit car, sell it for like $10K, and then have a huge aftermarket of parts so people could build them out over time. Of course, that would make sense, and NOT require a college-educated marketing team, so of course we can't do that. That would work too well. So instead, I mostly saw cheap rice buckets in our autos 101 class, and we learned by working on students' cars, rebuilding engines, upgrading brakes, changing out the exhaust system, etc. I don't get why these car companies try to sell their cars for absurd prices, then they're like, "I guess people don't want it," and they discontinue it like my 2020 Chevy Impala Premier, which is a DAMN GOOD car, but the dimwits launched it new for some absurd price like $45K or something. I bought mine in 2023 for $25K, obviously used. A more reasonable price would have been $32K new. They would have sold at least twice as many, I'd wager. It's a great car, but never in a million years would I say it's a >$40K car. So naturally, instead of selling them for a reasonable price, they discontinued the Impala like the dumb nitwit jackasses they are, and instead opted to push the sardine can Malibu. SMH. My Impala is the first car I've sat in where I DON'T need the seat all the way back (I'm 6'4") to be comfortable. Anyway, car companies seem to get further and further out of touch with the consumer every year. The prowler should definitely come back as a bare-bones kit car, and again, no more than $10K. It would be absolute fire, and people could make all sorts of cool builds. Appeal to us PC gaming guys and us AR-15 guys; make it modular, and super customizable! it would be so much fun to build out a custom hotrod, and that's exactly what I thought the Prowler was all those years ago, then saw the sticker price.

If there was anybody throughout time I could sit down and have a few hours to talk with, it would be Jay Leno. So much history and passion for cars

I was never a fan of the design of these too much but oddly enough I always really liked the drivetrain lay out and was fascinated by it. I remember going to the LA autos show when these were revealed and loved how they were able to take a drive train normally used in their FWD platforms (concord, LHS, 300m, etc) and basically stretch it out to make a rwd platform. They were able to take that normally FWD transaxle and modify it for rwd and use the same 3.5L DOHC 24v V6 that it was normally paired with. Such a cool idea which allowed them to use mostly already existing parts from other cars they're already manufacturing. Then pair that with aluminum chassis and cool pushrod cantilever front suspension and you have some really awesome potential there for a great performer. I just wish it looked different. But I have always loved the engineering, very very different than what you'd expect to see from an american car company. Seems more like something Alfa Romeo or Jaguar would do with that transaxel and all.....

I just saw one cruising up i35 north in Iowa on Thursday. Some old guy with a temp tag. Was a 2 tone silver and black.

I’ve always loved the look of the Prowler

Some day I’d love to have a Prowler, an 02-05 Thunderbird, and a manual transmission SSR.

Chip you are very humble. I love the fact that you did the drawings for the prowler. Its nice

I visited the usa in the 90s, and the most striking car I found was this one... nice episode!