Remembering the Almost Mustang

Ford used to make a car called the Probe that was originally meant to be the replacement for the Mustang. Instead, it ended up being produced (and sold) alongside the Mustang for about a decade, from 1989 – the first year it was sold – to 1997, which was the last year it was sold.

What happened was basically this: Ford thought that the Mustang needed to be rebooted as a more “modern” car, which – at the time – Ford equated with front-wheel-drive car. Ford was also in corporate cahoots with Mazda at the time and figured it could cut down on development costs – of a new Mustang – by sharing the costs of developing one with Mazda.

The Probe-that-was-to-be-the-next-Mustang was basically a reskinned Mazda MX-6. The name came from previous Ford concept vehicles dating back to the late 1970s. The concept car that almost became the first front-drive Mustang was initially referred to within Ford as the ST-16.

The thing Ford forgot –  until word leaked about what was being contemplated and fans of the Mustang reminded Ford of – is that the Mustang is a rear-drive car and isn’t a reskinned Mazda. Transforming it into something FWD designed in Hiroshima would transform it into something other than a Mustang. And then the people who buy Mustangs would no longer want one.

When news broke about what was in the works, the poo hit the fan.

Ford’s then-chief of small car engineering Neil Ressler – who was later a player in the development of the high-performance Mustang SVT – said: “This idea came forth that we would replace the Mustang with this front-drive car, the ST-16. There were a lot of people who thought that was a great idea – a modern car. There were also a lot of us who were appalled by that. It was like the champagne sipping crowd replaced the beer drinking crowd. The idea that we would replace the Mustang with a Japanese car a different car from a different culture aimed at a different audience – this is not going to work.”

John Coletti, a major defender of the Mustang who became head of Ford’s Special Vehicles Team (SVT) in the late ’90s and early 2000s, said he “would rather have seen the Mustang name die than put the Mustang name on the Probe.” 

The problem was Ford had already committed to the project such that cancelling it would have cost Ford almost as much as ruining the Mustang, so the would-be-Mustang became the Probe and was sold alongside the Mustang, which remained (and still is) rear-drive, as Mustangs ought to be.

But leaving aside what a Mustang is – and cannot be and remain a Mustang – the interesting thing is that the Probe was almost a Mustang – insofar as how it performed relative to Mustangs that were sold alongside it.

I personally explored how close their performance was back in 1996, the year before the Probe’s last year. I was, at the time, a young car journalist working for The Washington Times, up in the heart of darkness. I was just then getting brand-new cars to test drive and write about. I picked up the new Fords at a building downtown that was very much like the Red Ball Garage depicted in Gumball Rally – which was true to life in many ways, including that GM kept its press pool cars in a garage in downtown Manhattan.

Anyhow, I got a brand-new Probe GT from the Ford press pool in downtown DC and decided to visit friends who lived in Richmond, VA – which is about 100 miles down the road via I-95.

The ’96 Probe GT came with a 2.5 liter V6 that touted 164 horsepower, driving the front wheels via a five speed manual transmission. The ’96 Mustang GT came with a 4.6 liter V8 that touted 215 horsepower, driving the rear wheels via a five speed manual. The Probe was about 150 pounds lighter than the Mustang – 2,921 lbs. vs. 3,077 lbs. It was also more aerodynamic. Being lighter – and more slippery – made up for not being as powerful. I was able to demonstrate this to the driver of a Mustang GT on that trip down to Richmond nearly 30 years ago.

Maybe he saw the “manufacturer” plates on the Probe I was driving and knew I was either a car journalist or someone who worked for Ford. Or maybe he just wanted to race, regardless. So we did, bobbing and weaving through I-95 traffic at Ludicrous Speed, each of us gaining a brief advantage before being stymied by traffic we couldn’t get around. Then a hole would open, one of us would exploit it and catch up to the other and vie for the crown. I think the driver of that Mustang must’ve been surprised that he couldn’t shake the Probe. At one point, the traffic thinned out – remember, this was 30 years ago – and we were both able to put the hammer down.

I had the initial lead because I got to the opening in traffic first and – like Scharnhorst at the Battle of the North Cape – I used all the speed that Probe GT had in an attempt to lose the Mustang. He closed on me, but not quickly. After a little while, we were both running close to 130, the Probe’s top speed. Finally, just barely, the Mustang creeped ahead of me doing a few MPH faster. It was a lower-rent version of the scene in Ford vs. Ferrari, where the GT driven by Ken Miles finally manages to catch up to and pass the Ferrari.

As in the movie, the Mustang just barely edged past me. I remember being impressed by the Probe.

I suspect the driver of the Mustang was, too.

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