A Near-Decade Of The Ford Probe

The short life of the Ford Probe, which was a model put out by the company for the 1989 model year, was notable for the daring design of the first generation (there were two, in total). Designed to replace the older Ford EXP, it was built on the Mazda G chassis and platform and was a front wheel driver that had actually been intended to eventually replace the iconic Ford Mustang in the company's lineup.

Ford engineers and executives had also conceived of the Probe as being a model that would do well once oil prices rose, which the company believed would be soon. With that in mind, engineers developed in conjunction with Mazda a couple of different 4 and 6 cylinder iterations which managed to deliver good performance and good fuel economy, though the car never managed to live up to sales goals set by Ford.

The Probe's design was always sleek and modern over the two generations. Initially wedge-shaped and futuristic in design, the car attracted many but also spooked a few who weren't used to a vehicle that resembled the Probe in design. The car shared much of its mechanical underpinnings with its sister Mazda 626, both of which rolled off the same assembly lines at the company's Flat Rock, Michigan plant, which it and Mazda had jointly developed.

After 8 years of mostly-flat sales (only 32, 000 were sold in its final year of production in 1997), the Probe was dropped from the lineup. This is a shame, as its 1993 redesign was sufficiently robust enough to deliver it Car of the Year awards from a number of different automotive magazines.

Engine power was always good in the model, with even the small 2. 2 liter inline four cylinder engine putting out an adequate 110hp. An early turbocharged version of that same power plant managed to kick out 148 horses, with a normally-aspirated V6 putting out just 5 horsepower less. In all, there were just two generations of this able import fighter.

For its era -- especially considering how Ford during those years had a corporate-instilled unwillingness to react swiftly to changes in the market place -- the Probe turned out to be a very nice vehicle. It was truly designed to be a platform for interesting technologies and the engines offered, along with the chassis and other bits and pieces, made the first generation model anything but uninteresting.

The years since the model's discontinuation have proven the durability of the second generation's chassis and underpinnings, and there are still a number of outstanding examples of the hot-rod version of the Probe (the GT, which boasted a normally aspirated V6 that put out 164 robust horses), which came kitted out in front-wheel drive and a vigorous performance stance.