It was to be the car that replaced the Mustang. Ford had made the plans, had developed the machine, and set the wheels in motion for the Ford Probe to be the next mass-marketed performance car the brand pushed. Then a funny thing happened. Everyone freaked out. The Mustang stayed, the Probe stayed and Ford had both their traditional horse that had been around for more than a quarter century at the time that this video was made as well as their sporty “modern” front wheel driver. So what happened? Welp, we’re still talking about new Mustangs and it has been more than a decade since the last Probe rolled off an assembly line. This video takes us to the earliest part of this story.
Let’s get a few things straight early on, here. The Probe GT was a pretty good car. It was on the level of the Mustang in every performance metric. It was quick, running within a 10th of the factory times of a GT, it was a great handler, and in many ways you can see what the engineers and marketers at Ford were trying to do, right? Just look at the interior. It’s damned close to the plastic heaven that a 1989 Mustang GT offered.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Probe is that while based on a Mazda platform and powered by a Mazda engine, it was not just a rebadged and bodied Mazda. They gave this thing its own performance character and ability. No, we don’t think guys will be restoring 1989 Ford Probes in 20 years when they are working on Mustangs but these cars do have their spot in Ford’s history.
A failure? Hardly. A different historical path than the company planned? Heck yes.
