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Better than the mid-engine Vette/Ute mule, it’s the Prowangler.
42 Comments on “It’s A Jeep Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand...”
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You’re right.
I don’t understand.
I’d like to see this applied to a PT Cruiser. Prowler front end, Cruiser back end, huge engine in the middle. Then lose the Cruisers rear doors and put a pickup bed there for the ultimate Retro New El Camino Hot Rod.
You need to check out the latest Hot Rod magazine.
It contains a chopped/sectioned/channeled 59 El Camino/Chevy SSR mashup that sounds just as bizarre as it looks.
Though it does exhibit better execution than this Wrangler/Prowler thingy.
Not a “Jeep thing” it’s a weird thing
Supposedly, they are making the 6.2-L Supercharged HEMI a crate order option and HAUK is building Wranglers with em.
hellcatwrangler.com
Start Wrangler. Shift into drive. Mash pedal. Watch Wrangler flip onto its roof.
Profit?
There are plenty of Wranglers with 6.1 HEMI and superchargers. This isn’t exactly new.
And I’m sure they land shiny s!de down from time to time.
Maybe an old cj with leafs on all four corners but they’ve done quite a bit to counteract rollovers.
4X4… It will not flip. Inexperience and / or a shortage of brains will get a wrangler to flip, not a V8
Wait what? It won’t tip because it’s 4×4 but a regular 4×4 jeep will tip but a v8 jeep won’t?
Well, AEV puts Hemi’s in their Brute. And frankly, if it weren’t for CAFE regs, I think Chryco would have stuffed V-8s in Wranglers a long time ago. AMC put 8’s in the CJ’s, but they were pretty harsh. The one I test drove had manual steering and driving it on a bumpy country road scared the hell out of me.
I ended up with a Laredo with that bulletproof inline 6 and a manual transmission…and I MISS her!
I remember reading an interview with Jeep engineers that said that the reason they don’t put V8s in Wranglers is cooling. Something about the iconic grille being really bad for airflow.
Of course, they used to offer V8s back in the day, but those engines put out a lot less power/heat than the current V6.
That doesn’t mean that other suppliers don’t offer aftermarket conversions. Those kits are neat showpieces, but they won’t be able to tow all day in Death Vally like a production car would.
Sounds like bunk. While my CJ’s V8 is low on power compared to a modern mill, it puts out heat in spades.
While the Seven Slot Grill(c) has gotten successively shorter, wider, and more angled back in each generation since mine, there is still a big hole in the front. If engineers can cool a production sports car V8 sufficiently so that it can survive a summer track day with ease, it could be done in a Wrangler.
As with all the enthusiast Jeeper pipe dreams (V8, diesel, base “off-road” model, truck version, J8 civilian version, etc), they’ll happen when FCA stops selling 100’s of thousands to the rest of America. Or, they still wont.
I had the “honor”of going for a drive in a 6.2l Corvette engined Wrangler once. It was a race prepared vehicle and took part in the Australian Outback challenge. I did not flip onto it’s roof while accelerating up a very steep sand dune… It did blow my mind though ;-)
Groovy.
Ugh, a Prowler and a Wrangler had a bit too much to drink (E85??), made some poor decisions, probably woke up to a “coyote morning,” and nine months later… SURPRISE!!
Yep I’ve driven a Jeep, your damn right I don’t understand. Kill it with fire!
+1000000000
Let me guess you drive a volkswagen
I have a Volkswagen AND a Wrangler – does that make me a freak?
Oh, and that atrocity-on-wheels is so many kinds of wrong I can’t count them all…
My eyes! The goggles do nothing!
If you search on YouTube there is a little (amateur) series with a guy’s journey to take the 3.5L out of his Prowler and put a 6.1 HEMI into it. Pretty neat.
This Wrangler/Prowler, I don’t get except that noone has ever done it?!
I think a pentastar swap would do plenty to liven up a prowler without showcasing to many of its faults like a V8 might.
Still better than the new Cherokee.
Production Prowler mule circa 1995…
http://autosofinterest.com/2014/04/18/mean-lookin-mystery-mule/3/
The picture is a test mule of the original Prowler. I don’t remember it being orange, but I do remember the smash up from 17-18 years ago.
Yeah that’s the one!
Personally I they should have built the Plymouth Pronto Cruiser or Spyder concepts. They were far more stylish and practical.
Yeah, right…
Ugly is as ugly does… or something like that.
Honestly, it’s not Jeep thing. I owned a CJ-7 and Jeep things are like the casual wave you get from other CJ owners (you don’t know and will probably never meet). Jeep things are off-roading in your fancy Grand Cherokee, even if it’s just climbing a curb in a parking lot and parking in the grass. Jeep things are driving bare-bones- crank windows, manual tranny, vinyl buckets, center-mounted speedo (I never really used it anyway- I had the tach to know my speed), and 4WD.
Whatever that is pictured is Frankenstein’s monster.
I remember that back in the day in the “spy shots” section of the car magazines. I wonder what happens to those mules when they are finished with them?…..probably destroyed I imagine. I’d commute to work in that just to be different.
Why not just go to your local salvage yard and duct tape bits from other cars to yours, then you can drive around and people will think you have a mule, or they’ll think your nuts. I’m betting on the later
That’s not a jeep thing….that’s a mess.
The best part is how the Wrangler graft is painted to match on this test mule. Would drive.
Cannot be unseen.
Seriously, this isn’t a photoshop by some bored 15 year old? This thing was a real mule?
Test mule… No. Custom fail is what it is…
Does it still exist? If so, get some close-ups.
Does it still exist? If so, get some close-ups. Time for another episode of Vellum Venom.
Every time I look at it, the theme from the old “Muensters” TV show kicks in.
John
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