2001 Chrysler Prowler A car on parade in its own driveway. By Denise McCluggage, New Car Test Drive .com

The Prowler could only have been created in an atmosphere where car guys called the shots - car guys who could look back with personal affection on the early American hot rods and at the same time look forward to technological advances in the manufacture of the automobile.

Chrysler executive Bob Lutz and Tom Gale, then head of design - car guys extraordinaire (and both now gone from Chrysler) - were uniquely situated in the early '90s to unite those seemingly disparate visions into a sincere homage to the hot rod and at the same time create a test-bed of non-traditional materials. (The Prowler is the most aluminum-intensive car built and puts magnesium, urethane and polymers to work as well.) Lutz and Gale could say, "build it." And they did.

One model is made - a two-seat, manual-top convertible with rear-wheel drive and automatic transmission with AutoStick.