posted 10-18-2010 03:09 PM                  

According to Chrysler's book "Anatomy of A New American Roadster".........

"Chrysler maintains a West Coast design operation ..located in Carlsbad, north of San Diego, Chrysler Pacifica is a small operation of about 20 people, headed by design chief Tom Tremont. Actual car designers number about five - three permanent and two more on rotation from CTC. This fortuitous group includes Pacifica's design manager, Kevin Verduyn. According to Verduyn, the idea for the Prowler originated during an "idea fair" held a Pacifica in May 1990, beginning with a brainstorming session for ideas of concept cars Pacifica might possibly develop. Everyone in the building participated enthusiastically as ideas were jotted down on 3 x 5 cards, then stuck to a huge board, a synergistic process which generated 150 or so thought starters. No idea was too far out, including edible cars. One of the suggestions, contributed by an un-named source, was the idea of doing a "retro" hot rod......In early November, 1990, Chrysler's top bras from "back east" (including Tom Gale, design director Neil Walling and Chrysler president Bob Lutz) were at Pacifica for another presentation. Lutz spied a small sketch from the idea fair that sparked his interest hanging on a wall in Verduyn's office. The Verduyn sketch depicted a modern-day street rod with a curvaceous yet almost trianglular body, bright blue and slung between fat tires that were colored outrageously yellow. It was this illustration (and serendipity) that kicked off the model that ultimately let to the Prowler. Concurrently, the designers were dispatched to local but well-respected hot rod shows at Temecula and Hemet to immerse themselves in rodding culture."

It is possible, of course, that after the preliminary design sketchs and going to some of these hot rod shows, they saw a Chip Foose vehicle. We all know that it was based loosely on a '34 Ford and there are lots of hot rods like that out there to be seen. According to this book, the idea and design was already there, but it sounds like they were looking for ideas of refinement.

This picture is of Kevin Verduyn's sketch.

This is the preliminary design.....

If you do a search here using Chip Foose as the search words, you'll find several discussions on this topic.