How could I forget you? You sexy beast.

"RotaryLover" (rotarylover) 10/01/2013 at 17:45 • Filed to: Forgotten cars

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I was searching a Chrysler for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! and I stumbled to this car that I completely forgot!

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The Plymouth Pronto Spyder 1998 concept car was one of my many childhood love ever since I saw it on "Le Guide de l'Auto", a car talk show for the Quebeckers here, starring Jacques Duval. I played quite a lot with it in Gran Turismo 2.

Taken from Gran Turismo 2 after booting the CD after so many years!:

"Pronto", the word behind PT, means "quickly", and the PT Spyder looks like it could get you there pronto, indeed. It's a mid-engined sports car with an aggressive, animal-like look thanks to sculpted, well-defined fenders housing massive 18-inch alloy wheels. The wheels are pushed out towards the car's corners almost as far as possible, maximizing interior space and also providing a long wheelbase and wide track for stability.

Concept cars like the PT Spyder exist to test new technologies. The PT Spyder body panels are molded from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), the same material used to make plastic bottles. Not only is PET a low-cost, recyclable material, the color is added before molding. So, no painting is necessary, and scratches and nicks won't show as much as on a metal car.

The PT Spyder's fast looks are not misleading. A 2.4L 225-hp turbocharged engine mounted transversely behind the passenger compartment, drives the rear wheels through the same five-speed gearbox as is used in the Neon's ACR racing package.

This car was amazing to my eyes, no more repainting, low-cost of the materials and weight only 2700 lbs! Why wasn't it considered to be put in production? According to Wikipedia:

the concept would have needed to meet safety regulations, have better body stiffness (the A-pillar would need revision), suspension travel clearance for the wheelhouse, and rear-view mirror, among other changes.

I would also add the death of Plymouth in the mix.

I want Chrysler to do one with an updated look! I mean, just look at it, isn't it beautiful?

Sn210 > RotaryLover 10/01/2013 at 19:38

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Nice! I forgot about this too. I think someone is starting a recurring "forgotten concepts" feature on the FP, you should recommend it.

RotaryLover > Sn210 10/01/2013 at 20:31

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Definitely will!

Sn210 > RotaryLover 10/01/2013 at 20:53

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Found it!
http://jalopnik.com/the-chrysler-m…
Patrick George is going to do it every Friday; his first article was about the Chrysler ME four-twelve. Not sure when Chrysler will get back into the rotation...