The Car Gods Have Blessed Me With The Opportunity To Own A Hellcat-Powered Plymouth Prowler, And All I Need Is A Mere $200,000

As a 10-year-old budding car enthusiast, the Plymouth Prowler had me hooked. Sure, Plymouth may have developed it to sell to old guys who were obsessed with vintage car design, but I didn’t realize that at the time and was also obsessed. To this day, I’m still convinced it and a Chevrolet SSR would make a hell of a two-car garage. Sadly, the Prowler ended up stuck with a V6 and an auto, both of which seriously hurt its enthusiast appeal. But thanks to our friends over at The Drive, I’ve just learned I could have a Hellcat-powered Prowler with a manual transmission, and all I have to do is come up with the money to pay for it.

Regardless of what you think of stock Prowlers, don’t pretend you aren’t at least a little interested in a Hellcat-swapped Prowler with a manual. That’s just a recipe for making an already cool car even cooler. The thing is, though, Prowlers aren’t exactly known for having generously sized engine bays, and in the past, that’s been an issue for folks who wanted to shove a V8 in there. 

Then again, you can solve pretty much any problem if you have enough money to throw around, so I reached out to Michel’s Auto Design, the shop that built HellProwler for a little more information. The good news is, they’d be happy to build one for me. The bad news is that, due to the amount of work the swap requires, I’m going to need a generous patron to write me a check for a mere $200,000 (or more, depending on the exact build spec I require). 

That estimated base cost of $200,000 is obviously a lot of money, especially for a powertrain swap on a car you can currently buy for about $30,000. On the other hand, it isn’t quite as simple a process as you might think. According to the Michels Auto Design representative I spoke with, making the supercharged 376-cubic-inch V8 and T56 transmission fit required modifying the firewall, as well as fabricating a custom bolt-in tunnel. 

Once they’d created space for the engine and transmission, they had to address cooling and make sure the A/C still worked. Apparently that required adding 11 electric fans, as well as five heat exchangers. On top of that, they also developed a custom air scoop that goes underneath the car to feed cold air into the engine without changing the appearance too drastically. And while I probably wouldn’t go with an all-black spec, you have to admit the build looks pretty darn clean, considering they shoved a Hellcat V8 where it really wasn’t supposed to fit. 

I’m sure plenty of people out there will say $200,000 is way too much money for the work that’s been done, but does the A/C still work on their 707-hp Prowler? Does their Prowler have a six-speed manual and a custom independent rear suspension? No, it does not. But if one of you generous readers feels called to gift me a mere $200,000 before you get raptured, I could be the proud owner of a Prowler that has all of that and more. 

And what could be more important than putting a smile on your favorite Hawaii-based Jalopnik writer’s face as he rows through the gears in the car of his dreams (that definitely won’t kill him within minutes)? It’s not like you’ll need the money once you’re in heaven.