Alan, the 1989 Ford Probe GT Turbo
Discussion
Backtobasics said:
Sensational choice. Does the ride adjust do anything?
I think so, might just be a placebo though.LewG said:
I like it 
there's something weirdly appealing about how it looks, bad, yet quite good at the same time! If you painted it black and put some red LEDs on the front and squinted it could almost be KITT from Knight Rider
A colleague made the Knight rider comment too. There are many appealing details to me, although I do agre it's not pretty as a whole. there's something weirdly appealing about how it looks, bad, yet quite good at the same time! If you painted it black and put some red LEDs on the front and squinted it could almost be KITT from Knight RiderIt also looks better in the dark unsurprisingly.
S100HP said:
Has it broken yet?
No. Well not really.... the wiper blade broke off whilst it was pissing it down 2 hours from home and thankfully my prayers were answered since the wiperless wiper arm didn't crack an un=replaceable windscreen and the getting the blade caught in the other wiper didn't break the mechanism. Thankfully a nearby Co-Op food supplied me with blu-tack, sellotape and cocktail sticks and it worked beautifully all the way back. Now more permanently fixed with some Araldite.I'm waiting on some repair manuals and a bunch of parts from the Ford Probe Store, but that might take a while, nothing urgent though.
In more exciting news
A genuine Momo Corse from 95 and a £6.48 alloy gearknob are a lot more pleasant to use than the plastic originals as well as improving the looks somewhat. Less successful is the £4.99 horn push which doesn't fit and looks s
t. replacement on order.And wheels have been acquired
They need a little love to bring them back to their best, but should look good. I'm imagining something like the ugly brother of this:
i also want to talk about something both excellent and terrible when it comes to the Probe: Storage.
Up front we have no cupholders, which is far more annoying than you'd think and the worlds smallest door pockets which have room for 3 single cassettes and nothing else
In the centre armrest we have ample room for a double cassette and maybe 4 of your favourite wrapped sweet.
And the glovebox is tiny too.
Open the boot however and it's like the Probes party trick, no-one expects it to be quite so cavernous and the seats fold down so it'll swallow bikes no problem. It's also red which could hide darker stains quite well and has restraints in case your cargo tries to escape
Up front we have no cupholders, which is far more annoying than you'd think and the worlds smallest door pockets which have room for 3 single cassettes and nothing else
In the centre armrest we have ample room for a double cassette and maybe 4 of your favourite wrapped sweet.
And the glovebox is tiny too.
Open the boot however and it's like the Probes party trick, no-one expects it to be quite so cavernous and the seats fold down so it'll swallow bikes no problem. It's also red which could hide darker stains quite well and has restraints in case your cargo tries to escape
Strela said:
What an overwhelmingly, irredeemably appalling car in every respect. I salute you. Does your eclectic taste apply in other aspects of your lifestyle, which I imagine is fabulous?
I'll let your imagination run wild on that one since I'm sure the reality would be quite disappointing! MX6 said:
Very nice choice for the wheels, I wouldn't mind those on my MX6, I think they will look more or less period correct on the Probe. I like that they have a bit of lip/dish, they should have a somewhat lower offset than the current set I guess, those standard rims are a stance fail.
Yeh, I think they'll look good, but sadly the offset is similar, but with a bit more width it should fill the arches a touch more. Spacers are a possibility.TwistingMyMelon said:
So bad its good, I love that
Whats the performance like?
I appreciate 145bhp is low, but there cant really be all that to it weight wise
It's not fast. 190lbft though so it's not slow either. As you might imagine it's fairly punchy in the mid-range with nothing up top. the turbo response is very un 80s and quite the opposite of the 9000 that preceded it! I did read that there's an overboost function and that people on the internet believe it was underrated for power (don't they always). I'm tempted to see if I can't extract a bit more go if I keep it long enough!Whats the performance like?
I appreciate 145bhp is low, but there cant really be all that to it weight wise
I also read that a Civic short shift fits quite easily which would be a definite bonus since there's no hope of shifting with any speed currently and that should definitely liven it up a bit.
Veeayt said:
Sorry for offtopic, but I forgot what a fabulous looking machine is the second-gen (FC?) RX-7 is 
They are lovely, perhaps even lovelier than the FD.New genuine Momo horn button is a big improvement, just a couple more bits and the interior is sorted. Interesting feature is that when you adjust the wheel for tilt, the entire instrument binnacle moves with it.
sinbaddio said:
I think Alan's ace! In terms of styling influences, the side profile (glass especially) reminds of the Celica Gen4:
Definitely. The slab-sidedness is very similar too. It's strange how just much Jap influence there seems to be and yet it end s up looking very definitely American.Hammerhead said:
Loving the red interior! And keep fit windows. Look forward to seeing it on the BBSs.
PS - I've got Now 10 on vinyl from back in the day..Pump up the volume
Great track, I've mostly been listening to Pat Benatar at the moment, which has been surprisingly good.PS - I've got Now 10 on vinyl from back in the day..Pump up the volume
So, I've had my first failure to Probe yesterday. The alternator belt has snapped, which isn't surprising given its squeals recently, luckily not too far from home as the RAC took 5 hours to supply some charge. Got an order in for a Mazda part from ECP that'll hopefully be available today at some point and will hopefully fit.
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