Comments from Laddie Roussel
Plymouth Prowler Club
State Director, Louisiana
Mandeville, La.

Day 1 for us - Tuesday June 6, 2000

We left Mandeville around 12:30 and arrived at Sam’s town at 6:30 pm. We
traveled 375 miles and may two stops along the way (Brookhaven &
Grenada). When we arrived there were about 400 to 500 cars in the Power
Tour parking lot… We checked into Sam’s Town hotel. The Power Tour
registration had closed for the day. Our Prowler was the 3rd one there
(Julie Red from Ca. & Jim yellow from Mn.). There were about 15 PT
Cruisers. Five or so were modified. Some had the Mopar wheels &
spoilers. Very neat looking PTs. Chrysler had a couple of there concept
PTs including the PT Panel van & the Gold cruiser & GT Cruiser (these
are PTs Chrysler has had on the car show circuit.  I'll try and get more
pics tomorrow... laddie...

Day 2 (No Comments from Laddie :-(

Day 3 for us ­ Thursday June 8, 2000

We left Tunica in a small caravan (one Flamin Red Prowler, one flamin
Silver PT, one Blue striped PT, & one Red pin striped PT). We
re-arranged the flames on the PT for the rest of the Power tour. Seems,
everyone likes them better on the doors. We met two real nice couples
Marvin & Rhonda (Columbus, MS.) & Billy & Karen ( Georgia). Marvin &
Rhonda will be at Crusin the Coast in Oct.

We traveled 320 miles to Talladega, AL. We arrived in Talladega around
1:00 pm and this was earlier than the tour. We registered and than
parked our cars. Chrysler had arranged for special parking for the PTs.
They said had the Prowler is the big brother of the PT, so, you can park
along with them… Julie & her dad (99 Red Prowler) headed back toward Los
Angeles stopping in Amarillo for a family reunion this weekend. I
finally so another Prowler here at Talladega Barry from Alabama (99
Purple).

We made our rounds to all the vendors. We collected a lot stuff & hats.
We went on tour of Talladega track. Gwen & Beau got an autograph from
Bobby Allison (legendary Nascar guy). Our tour was at the same time as
Bobby Allison got to take the winner of a contest around the track in a
completely restored 68 Camaro pace car. We were hoping to take a few
laps in the prowler & PT. The track ISC owners don’t allow runs on their
tracks because of liability insurance. Guess, we will just have to
attend a couple of Good Guys events to do that. We toured the
International Motor Sports Museum (free admission for participants in
Power Tour) and talked with some of the after market vendors for the PT.
There is one vendor with a Turbo kit for the PT. We saw three PT cars
with painted bumpers… So, Karen, Gwen, Beau already know what they want
done to customize their PTs.

 Now, our reservations for Thursday night were in Montgomery. The trip
from Talladega was a trip. Somehow, I got off track and we went on roads
that Karen couldn’t find on the map. I thought we were the Dukes of
Hazzard county. There was no traffic and the roads were made for Prowlin
& PT crusin. So we finally got back to a recognizable road and arrived
in Montgomery two hours after we started (should have been hour fifteen
minutes).

Tomorrow, we head for Panama City. We will meet up with Jesse & Sally
(2000 Woodward edition) in Marianne Fl. to cruise into Panama City.
Laddie…
 

Day 4 for us ­ Friday, June 9, 2000

We finally go started around 9:00 am after a few pics. It’s the usual
someone wants to take pics alongside the Prowler. That’s a Callaway
corvette (Texas) parked alongside the Prowler & PT. We joined up with a
little mini caravan (Trike (OH.), Chevelle SS (OH),  Mustang  (OK), our
PT & Prowler. We may a couple pit stops along the way and traveled about
180 miles to Panama City Mall. This was going to be the staging area for
the tour going into the fair grounds.

Jesse & Sally met us at the Mall around 1:00 in their Woodward Edition
(#56 of 150 made). To our surprise they had trailered their Mini Prowler
& Trailer (painted in the Woodward Edition colors). This was quite a
site and would draw crowds all weekend. We had a little time before the
main tour group was going to arrive so we headed to the hotel to get
checked in.

We arrived back at the Mall around 3:00 and the staging was underway and
the long caravan of the Power Tour was still pulling in. After all the
cars were in the mall area (I’m guessing about 800 to 1,000 cars).
Panama City & the Power Tour had arranged a police escort for the 20
mile trip out to the fairgrounds. The police wanted us to run in the
right lane and they were blocking ever intersection. We went non-stop to
the fair grounds (bumper to bumper almost)… Legally running red lights…
This was the longest single line of cars in a cruise that I’ve ever been
on. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, all the vendors were set up in
three rows. As we entered we cruised through the vendors, spectators and
in front of the main stage, the  announcer had something nice to say
about every car (this reminded me of the “Cruisin the coast” Bay St.
Louis set-up). What a blast…

After we parked, I met Jim & Steve (Yellow Prowler from MN). No trailer
hitch, don’t know how they carried all their clothes.  They drove to Ca.
to start the power tour and had about 5,000 miles on the trip so far.
Check out the green hot rod. I think this would be a nice color for the
Prowler…

We hung around the fairgrounds until about 7:30 and than we headed back
down the Beach Front road (this is called the strip here in Panama City)
toward the hotel. Well we found out why it’s called the strip. This is
bumper to bumper both sides of the two lane road just cruising, waving,
getting pics taken and saying thanks for all the compliments… They’ve
caught on to the Mardri Gras tradition of trading beads for a little
show….Karen told Beau he couldn’t cruise alone down here….

With all the PTs, the Prowler still rules. Just like being in a parade…
Jesse, Sally, Karen & I did more than our share of wavin…. Gwen & Beau
were in the PT wavin & Grinnin… Someone even hollered at Gwen “where’s
Vinnie” It’s a small world when you’re 300 miles from home and someone
recognizes you in a different car…. laddie….
 

Day 5 for us ­ Saturday June 10, 2000

Jesse, Sally & me went out to the fairgrounds about 10:00. Karen, Gwen &
Beau were sleeping in late. They would meet up with us later in the PT.
We were early enough to get a nice spot for the Prowlers near the front
of the fairgrounds. One of the pics of the Woodward shows where the
limited # 56 is painted (just above the License plate in the pin stripe
along with the signature of Dr. Rue?) This is #56 of 150 special
edition. This was going to be a long hot day.  Later that morning Jesse
had a call from a friend of his in Pensacola (Ronnie & Patty). They were
on their way in new PT (white). Ronnie had seen one of my previous
emails and had his bumpers painted white. Painting the bumpers really
finishes these PTs. The white looks very nice with painted bumpers. They
brought along the PT picnic basket (only one of these per dealer) along
with chicken, potato salad & fruit… We really enjoyed there company…

I met two other Prowler owners Tom (Red from Panama City) & Keith (Red
Dothan, AL.). We talked quite awhile about painted bumpers, chrome
grill, trailers, and the bra… I may be a little biased, but I would have
to say that Jesse & our two Prowlers (and the mini prowler) were in the
Top 10 cars having pictures taken….

My guess is that there were around 1,500 to 2,000 cars in & out all day
on Saturday. Some folks didn’t register and parked out in the public
area. I was told there were 378 cars that traveled the entire route.
These folks were called the Long Haulers…. They each received a
Craftsman tool box on Saturday.

We had giveaways by the vendors, entertainment by Shon Na Na and a very
nice fireworks display to close the show last night. We left the
fairgrounds around 6:00 and went to Pineapple Willys and had their ribs
with Jack Daniels barbecue sauce (excellent). After dinner, we headed
back to the fairgrounds. We got there just in time to watch the
fireworks from beach front road in the Prowler & PT. I’ve never been
this close to a fireworks display. You might say we were front row….
Actually at one point we had some debris falling on us, so we moved up a
little ways along the road.

At this point, I was into this cruising the strip…. So, we cruised  on
back to the hotel for the evening….With all the heat & sun, we had a
fantastic time. We have to figure out how to do less in the midday and
more at night…. Beau & Gwen did some racing at one of the go-cart tracks
here before they came out to the fairgrounds… There is quite a bit to do
here… We have not done any beach type stuff. I’ll try and get some pics
tomorrow. The hotel here is very nice…. Laddie…
 

Day 6 for us ­ Sunday June 11, 2000

We arrived back in Mandeville around 6:00 pm Sunday. We traveled 1,404
miles on our Hot Rod Power Tour 2000. We really had a nice time… I’m
ready for the next adventure…. Laddie…

We slept in a little later on Sunday morning. Well, let me say Karen,
Gwen & Beau slept in. I was up and walking around the hotel area. I
decided to take a couple of shots around the hotel and than we went to
one of the local go carts tracks. Since we weren’t as lucky as Larry &
the SoCal group to get to drive around the race track in our Prowlers,
we decided to try the go cart track. Actually, this was the 2nd time for
Beau & Gwen. Well, Gwen beat both Beau & I.

This is the end of our fun adventure. We’ll have to kick something else
up… Prowlin & PTnin. Laddie…