ANTAUS Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Conversation was getting a bit stale on topics, so I wanted to throw this out there and maybe share some memories off the the Probe. I happen to see one some days ago, which is sort of rare in retrospect to other 80's-90's vehicles, but this one stood out since it has been awhile.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 My oldest bro's first new car was a '96 Probe GT. Not a bad little ride for the time I didn't think. I did find it laughable that he thought it could stay "pretty close" to my Cobra in a race when I bought that the following year though. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomaro Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Somebody post the link of the guy with the SHO V6 in the Probe. One of my favorite swaps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I'd kill for a low mileage '97 GTS. Manual trans, or course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Somebody post the link of the guy with the SHO V6 in the Probe. One of my favorite swaps. http://www.harborside.com/~lhumbert/probe1.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silvrsvt Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 (edited) The Second Gen GT's where some of the sexiest cars on the market at the time...they didn't age well though....the paint on them was horrific My sister had a Probe LX then got a Cougar..though I'm starting to get the feeling she has a natch for killing off Ford products... Probe-dead Cougar-Dead Explorer-Major redo into a unibody CUV next year Escape-current car...who knows what happens in two years when it goes over to the C1 Edited September 8, 2009 by silvrsvt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpvbs Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Back in '96, I had a neighbor that had a nice red Gen2 one. It spontaneously started on fire in the driveway. It hadn't even been driven for several days prior to ignition as the owner was a flight attendant and had been out of town. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I had a white '89 Probe LX. Nice car and one of my favs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I had a 91 Probe. Loved it, seriously one of my favorite cars.... but man was it a POS. Needed the head rebuilt at 55K miles. The starter went on it....and it cost $1,200?!?! (Thank you warranty!) It had lots of other niggling issues before I sold it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMSA-XJR9 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I always liked the 5-speed Vulcan Probes (as well as the 5-speed Vulcan Tempos). I never owned one, but always wanted one for some reason . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 origional probe had the BEST ad campaign I have ever witnessed from Ford...all they showed was a peek of the front bumper...we were inundated with curious phone calls...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ibinubu12 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 origional probe had the BEST ad campaign I have ever witnessed from Ford...all they showed was a peek of the front bumper...we were inundated with curious phone calls...... My mom saw a "profile view" as she described it in one of her magazines, went to Jack Demmer Ford and ordered a red 1989 LX with a digital dashboard, and wrote a check that very same day. Production hadn't even started! Took her 9 months to get the real car, after letters to Ford's CEO at the time, because Demmer put her on the back burner as she had already paid for the car. She loved that car, just didn't save it for me, darn it (traded in 2002 for a red ZX2 Premium). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 The starter went on it....and it cost $1,200?!?! (Thank you warranty!) Yeah. You had to pull the motor to change it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonj80 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Yeah. You had to pull the motor to change it. My Grandmother has had one sitting in her garage for the past 15 years, 89' Turbo Dark Red still nice looking and no rust haha. She doesn't drive anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudz64 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Thanks for bringing up the subject Antaus! The Probe was a very successful model for Ford back in its day and was highly regarded in the press too. I had up until 3 years ago a 1994 Probe GT 5-speed that I had since new (for 12 years), and I still miss it! It was the Wild Orchid Feature Car too which was a unique color (purple) with unique seat fabric too....less than 3000 made like that and it always got looks! It was like a Hot Wheels color, most thought I had it custom painted. My paint held up great, as did the whole car, it was well made and only had a few issues in the 100,000 miles I put on it. The V6 seems underpowered now (170 hp) but it was light and it always amazed me how it just pulled in top gear doing 60 if you gunned it! The handling was really awesome too, you could feel the passive rear steering tuck in during tight, fast curves. Sadly someone ran a red light 3 yrs ago and T-ed me, doing enough damage to make it not worth to fix... link to my car still on a Probe fan page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Jellymoulds Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 (edited) Probe was huge sales flop in the UK, folk here never forgave Ford for dropping the the Capri and for let it rot on the vine for a decade, and only selling it in one country in Europe for the last its few years to get the numbers down to justfy killing it off. I suppose if Ford done the same thing to the Mustang in the US, you might be saying the same thing as me, it never came close to sales of the Mustang in the US or Capri in the UK. Nissan 370Z is the best sports coupe the working man can buy in the UK at the moment. Car sales in the UK used to be 1. Ford Cortina, 2. Ford Escort 3. Ford Capri in the early to mid 70's, Mid to late 70's the Capri dropped to the bottom end of the UK top 10 as Ford failed to invest anything in it, it started to look odd sitting on horse & cart suspension in the mid 80's. Probe never made it into the UK top ten it was a utter and complete flop for Ford UK, you used to see one once in a blue moon on UK roads when they were sold here. Edited September 8, 2009 by Ford Jellymoulds Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnostic Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I had a med gray 89 Probe GT. Best car I ever had. I was living in Germany at the time. I remember driving to Munich with the cruse set on 100 and the A/C on. Every hill I hit the boost would peg and I would pass everything. It pulled like a mother in second gear. wicked torque steer though. It ran great, 160k miles never any engine or trany problems. The rest of the car started to deteriorate though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnostic Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 My Grandmother has had one sitting in her garage for the past 15 years, 89' Turbo Dark Red still nice looking and no rust haha. She doesn't drive anymore. That was the best color. I think it was called Black Cherry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I had a med gray 89 Probe GT. Best car I ever had. I was living in Germany at the time. I remember driving to Munich with the cruse set on 100 and the A/C on. Every hill I hit the boost would peg and I would pass everything. It pulled like a mother in second gear. wicked torque steer though. It ran great, 160k miles never any engine or trany problems. The rest of the car started to deteriorate though. ah yest...the torque steer....hilarious watching drivers reactions......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted September 8, 2009 Author Share Posted September 8, 2009 cant say I had much exposure to the first generation, I did know 2 people with the 2nd generation...I believe they were selling pretty well but Ford was wanting to kill them because it threatened Mustang sales, and at 97-98 Dual airbags were required to be standard so forst didn't wish to invest much more into the vehicle. I wonder why in Europe it just didnt carry the Capri name if it resonated well with consumer, rather than using a sexual connotation (Probe) for its' name. And of course, we all know where the Cougar went to... I'm hoping Ford will be a bit more proactive and bring a Focus coupe that could sort of take that Scion TC market because the Mustangs pricing is rising... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoops Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 My mom had a 89 GL 4 cyl auto that was totalled, and bought a new 91 LX V6 5spd to replace it. I LOVED that car. Black with red interior, factory pop-up sunroof. It was the car I took my driver's test in the day I turned 16. She sold it in 2001 with 230k on it to a 16 year old kid who didn't know how to drive stick. He had it at least 2 years after. In HS my friend's mom had a 93 Dodge Shadow with the 3.0L and also manual. We'd race. I'd win! Close though! If I saw a low mileage black 97 GTS 5spd I would love to have that car. IMO, they still look great today if taken care of. Too bad they were always made fun of for the name... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
97svtgoin05gt Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 I traded my '86 Mustang GT in for a '93 Probe GT. It was Electric Blue and I caught a lot of flack for that color but I liked it. That car handled like it was on rails. I was regularly going around clover leafs at 60mph. Those big 50s just stuck. Considering it was a V-6, the power wasn't that far off the V-8s of just a few year prior. I was able to give some of them fits with that car. The thing that was cool with it was that the throttle had a point where it was like you'd hit a boost or a turbo would kick in. Almost like going from "on" to "REALLY ON". It was a fun little car for sure, never had issues at all with anything with it. I only had it for a couple years because I started a family and needed something more practical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudz64 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 cant say I had much exposure to the first generation, I did know 2 people with the 2nd generation...I believe they were selling pretty well but Ford was wanting to kill them because it threatened Mustang sales, and at 97-98 Dual airbags were required to be standard so forst didn't wish to invest much more into the vehicle. I wonder why in Europe it just didnt carry the Capri name if it resonated well with consumer, rather than using a sexual connotation (Probe) for its' name. And of course, we all know where the Cougar went to... I'm hoping Ford will be a bit more proactive and bring a Focus coupe that could sort of take that Scion TC market because the Mustangs pricing is rising... Actually dual airbags were added in 1994, it wasn't an issue. The 2nd generation Probe did sell well until it became stale and Ford (typical in the 90's of their cars) starved it of any changes. The 3rd generation became the Mercury Cougar as we know, and it made sense to move it to Mercury I suppose at the time. I think the styling of the Cougar was the reason it did poorly, it was kind of odd. I too hope a lower-priced Ford coupe comes to light, and I think the chances look good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spudz64 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 (edited) "The thing that was cool with it was that the throttle had a point where it was like you'd hit a boost or a turbo would kick in. Almost like going from "on" to "REALLY ON". " I think that was the effect of the dual-intake plenum like the SHO used, and it really was like you stated, a rush would come in around 3000 RPM.....very fun! Plus, the V6 was always smooth and rev-happy... Edited September 8, 2009 by spudz64 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akent1936 Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 Had an '89 Probe GT which I sold in 1991 to get a '90 Taurus SHO. Both good cars, but the SHO was much more comfy. Missed the hatchback, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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