take 5
PROWLERS
The word Prowl is a very predatory and means to move in a stealth like quiet mode normally in like an animal situation looking for its next meal. The word Prowler usually refers to a person that moves quietly, stealth like and secretly looking to commit a crime more often than not it’s a break and enter followed by a burglary. Police, older people, comic books, movies and even tv shows like Scooby-Doo have long been using the name “Prowler” referring to a person. Companies have also adopted the name Prowler, however their use of the name more often than not refers to an animal on the hunt looking for its next meal.
ARCTIC CAT PROWLER SIDE-BY-SIDE With the highly lucrative off-road market experienced a growth spurt in the 1990s and with motorcycle manufacturers leading the market and the important market share of vehicles. This growth spurt had the three of the four snowmobile manufacturers (Yamaha was already manufacturing ATVs) scratching their heads on why they were not already in the lucrative market like the motorcycle manufacturers were. This was a no-brainer decision as snowmobile manufacturers as Yamaha was already doing it. They all had strong dealer networks, supply chains, engineers, designers, factories, etc. and in 1996 Arctic Cat made the headfirst jump into the ATV market with success. Nine years later in 2005 they introduced their first side-by-side, the Prowler. The Prowler was a utility/farm use side-byside that featured two bucket seats, raised floorboards, 12.5”” inches of ground clearance and 10” of suspension. Other key features included a tilting cargo bed that was fully composite and could hold 600 pounds. Since Arctic Cat introduced the Prowler it remained in the line-up until 2017 when Textron purchased the company and renamed the vehicle. However, in 2019 both the Arctic Cat brand was reintroduced and also the Prowler name which now features three models, the Prowler Pro, the Pro Crew and the Prowler 500.
ARCTIC CAT PROWLER SNOWMOBILE Back in 1990 Arctic Cat came to the market with a new breed of Cat, featuring a 440cc liquid cooled engine producing around 65HP. The Prowler was designed to be a trail sled and later a special race model was released. It didn’t fair off to well against the competition on closed course racing or cross-country. The faring mounted windshield on the Prowler was the first snowmobile that Arctic Cat would try this on before moving it across the line-up to other models like the EXT, Pantera, Wildcat and Thundercat. Thankfully they abandoned the faring windshield for the model year 1994 and soon after they abandoned the Prowler snowmobile. While there was nothing really wrong with the snowmobile, customers opted for more appealing Arctic Cat models in the mid horsepower trail class like the Cougar, EXT and ZR.
PLYMOUTH/CHRYSLER PROWLER CAR
This car had a futuristic feel to it with a throwback look and it all based off a 1993 concept car. According to automobile guru’s the design came from a loose leashed engineers that were allowed to do anything they wanted to capture and deliver a “hot rod” from years ago. It does have a lot of “updated” similarities to the hot rod cars from the Capone era. However, it’s important to also note that also in 1993 when the concept was originally released it would have been on the heels the blockbuster movies Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992). If you take a long look at Batman’s car you might be able to draw some similarities. The Plymouth/Chrysler Prowler most powerful available engine was a 253 horsepower V-6 which gave the rear wheel drive, indy inspired, open wheel front wheeled car enough acceleration to keep drivers entertained. However, many wished that a larger big block V-8 engine would have been offered and production ultimately ended after five years. Production only ran from 1997 to 2002 for a total of 11,702 Prowlers.
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ON SNOW MAGAZINE • VOL 36 • ISSUE 3
