History repeats itself successfully in newest car designs

There's a buzz going around these days about new cars on the road. From the mew Beetles with their diplomatic flower holders to the PT Cruisers pulled straight from a ZZ Top video, cars seem to be spending less time waiting in showrooms and more time on the roads screaming "Look at me! Look at me!" Automotive interiors are not only packed with modern conveniences like TVs, cell-phones and navigation systems, but their exteriors are like a mixed tape of music from the '80's: Reminiscent of new age, retro and even a little bit of funk. Once separated, form and functionality are now as close together as two lovers locked in a tango.

 

Gautam Baksi Daily Driver

A leader in this pack of new carmakers has been Chrysler. From the voluptuous Dodge Viper RT/10 and Plymouth Prowler roadsters to the affordable and innovative PT Cruiser, Chrysler concept cars have really come alive in recent years. What separates this former "baby of the Big Three" car manufacturer's triumphs on the showroom floor from others has a lot more to do with public perception than with quality, craftsmanship or dependability. Upon their release, the Viper, Prowler and PT Cruiser concept cars all evoked a sense of nostalgia, elegance and supremacy lacking in contemporary designs. While many car companies were looking to the future for innovative ideas, Chrysler wisely looked to successful styles from the past betting history would repeat itself. They were right.

The whole concept car revolution began on Jan. 4, 1989. While most of us were in grade school thinking Motley Crue was the most masculine thing out there, Chrysler unveiled its Dodge Viper RT/10 roadster to the unsuspecting public at the Detroit Auto Show, oozing more testosterone than anything else in history.

From a company not then known for aspiring originality, this car was just a tempting first taste of far more to come. After unveiling the novel Viper, Chrysler used Japanese carmaker Honda's development processes as a blueprint for making the super car, which had to be designed and built completely from scratch. The lessons learned in the three years from the concept stage to the street would pay off for Chrysler through the '90's in their rapid succession of "cab forward" vehicles, Ram trucks and advanced minivan designs.

The Viper was Chrysler's modern interpretation of racer Carol Shelby's awesome 1967 A/C Cobra. Like its predecessor, the Viper first appeared with thunderous side-exhausts, few safety features, no top and no air conditioning. It offered the driver nothing short of a rough, noisy and unforgiving ride. But that didn't matter. The Viper screamed S-E-X. Its aggressive appearance and gratuitous V-10 engine was intended to evoke memories of high performance Ferrari and GT racers from the 1950's and '60's.

Subsequent Chrysler concepts that thrived in the Viper's footsteps followed the same recipe for success. As the Viper borrowed from the Cobra of years past, both the Plymouth Prowler and the PT Cruiser stole design cues from street rods of the early part of the 20th Century. The retro appearance of a Prowler is almost displaced from a page out of the "Roaring Twenties" in "The Great Gatsby." Practicality takes a distant second to style, for the Prowler is more meant for a prom queen in a parade than for any worthiness on the streets of Ann Arbor. But from its open front-end suspension to its lustrous aluminum wheels, it is a genuine slice of American automotive history rarely seen on the modern road.

As a compromise, the PT Cruiser valiantly brings the past together with amenities of the future. As eclectically put together as a duck-billed platypus, the PT is one part early 20th Century front-end with one part minivan/station wagon, all wrapped up in a practical, modern car.

The success of all three vehicles, combining blast-from-the-past styling with a little modern innovation, proves that a Prowler or a PT Cruiser on the road today owes its wheels to the success of the ambitious Viper project nearly a decade earlier. But the Viper has lived on in the public's hearts as an addition to the heritage of this country; a re-born classic worthy of mention next to names like Levi's jeans, Fender guitars and Budweiser beer. Perhaps, one day, the Prowler and PT Cruiser will, too.

- If you want to take Gautam for a spin in your Viper, write him quickly at gbaksi@umich.edu.

Courtesy of Chrysler

The Prowler revived the stylistic appearance of the Roaring Twenties' automobiles.