Yesterday was the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. The massive display features hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cars and represents the pinnacle of Monterey Car Week. It’s a place to see cars you’ve only ever dreamed about, which is what happened to me when I spotted the Ford Probe 1 Ghia concept car mere hours before it burned to the ground.
I was milling about the Pebble Beach Concept Lawn, watching people take photos of the bb Targa Hybrid when an old friend from the industry walked up and asked me what my favorite car in the Concours was. This year’s best class featured 20 “wedge” cars and is, probably, one of the coolest collections of automobiles I’ve ever seen. It’s phenomenal and we’re going to keep writing about it.
The last of the wedges was the Ford Probe 1 Ghia Concept and I told him that was probably my favorite car there, mostly because I love weird old Fords and it accurately predicted a lot of the future. I went back to the car twice, spoke with the team who brought it, and just totally nerded out over it.
@exoticsimage 10 Million dollar car cought on fire at car week #carweek
It’s a good thing I didn’t skip the Probe 1, because a few hours later it ceased to exist.
Why The Ford Probe 1 Is Important
The OPEC oil embargo, fuel economy regulations, and the resulting skyrocketing of oil prices sent most major automotive companies into a tailspin in the mid-1970s. Automakers had these heavy, high-powered, block-like cars that pushed through the wind with the force of pure horsepower and gas that cost $0.33 a gallon.
A shift was on, but automakers weren’t able to just toss their entire lineup aside at a moment’s notice. Ford designer Don Kopka, the man behind the 1967 Mustang, had a thought: If we can’t totally re-engineer the cars maybe we can make them a little more aerodynamic with a few cosmetic changes? He estimated that his changes cost about $10 million to implement and resulted in a 1.5 MPG average improvement in fuel economy, which would have required about $3 billion to achieve through traditional engineering.
Around this time, Ford decided to design the car of the future and decided it would have to be slippery, as described by this write-up from the Christie’s auction house:
Probe I was created at the Ford Dearborn Design Center where Kopka was the executive director of the Advanced and International Design Studio. Its sleek and pointy aerodynamic shape, flat wheel covers, pop-up headlights and skirted rear wheels achieved a drag coefficient in the wind tunnel of 0.25, some 37 less than the 0.40 then typical for a 2-door 4-passenger coupe. It was introduced at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1979. Probe I was extensively displayed at shows and events following its introduction and received widespread media attention, helping to spread the impression that Ford was on to something.
In fact, as The Bishop points out in this article, the Ford Probe was initially considered as a front-wheel-drive, next-gen Mustang built on a Mazda-supplied chassis. This concept didn’t go over well and Ford eventually decided they could build a FWD Ford (called the Probe) and a RWD Mustang at the same time.
This car is called the Ford Probe 1 Ghia by most, but it’s possible Ghia just built the thing and had very little to do with the design, which is credited to Ford’s Dearborn design office.
At some point, the concept got into private hands and was last sold by Christie’s in 2002 for just under $50,000, which is a bargain for something that’ll get you on the lawn at Pebble, though it was described in imperfect condition:
Built on a Mustang chassis of the period, or perhaps a Pinto, there wasn’t much difference, the Probe I package envisioned a collection of the advanced technological functions with which show concepts seem to be endowed. Little of it works, but it would be easy to cut a slot in the console and then say it “can be started by a universal credit card which also can be used to buy gas and pay tolls.” Probe I once had the 2.3 liter Mustang/Pinto 4-cylinder engine and automatic transmission but they have long since been removed. Ford claimed the Probe could achieve a fuel economy of 39 miles per gallon.
Finished in red with black lower body sides that accentuate the deep rear wheel skirts, Probe I has a body constructed of metal with a fixed tinted glass roof panel. The windows also are tinted glass. The wheels have machined disc-type wheel covers to reduce turbulence. The interior is upholstered in red cloth with tan leather trim. Its gauges appear to be functional.
Probe I’s age is showing, and not well. The exterior is in no better than fair condition, with a material number of scratches, edge chips and a small dent in the driver’s door. The interior appears to be in decent shape.
The team who bought it clearly put the love back into the car, restoring it to its original glory and adding a turbo 2.3-liter, possibly from an era-appropriate Mustang II Cobra.
Seeing It For The Last Time
As you’ll see in the video above, we unknowingly got one more chance to enjoy the Probe 1 Concept. The vehicle was in great condition with a lot of working parts, including the biggest parking brake I’ve ever seen in my whole life.
Because it’s Pebble, the car drove on the lawn, so it’s a runner. Even more impressive, the car had more than 1,100 miles on the clock, which is unusual for a concept car. That is the concept car equivalent of 1.1 million miles.
Unfortunately, shortly after we saw the car it was loaded onto a trailer and disaster struck:
As you can see in the video below, there’s not much left. Here’s a photo of it burning up:
It’s not clear what happened to the car, though it appears as if the fire started in the trailer. We’ve reached out to Monterey FD and will update if we hear anything back. The Scott Grundford Company, which restored it, posted photos of the crispy car with this update:
The owners of this car have the other Ford Probe Concepts and it’s possible they’ll be able to restore this one, although I’m not quite sure how. I don’t have much to add other than this sucks. I feel terrible for the car’s owner and for car culture in general. It’s a huge loss (likely not the $10 million quoted in the TikTok above, but history is more important than money in this case).
I’m just glad we got to experience it one more time and capture it on video for posterity’s sake.
No Black Moon? Do any of those still exist?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz4XDgmZz2Y&t=147s