My '89 Ford Probe GT
I don't have any pictures of my car just yet (it's been filthy ever since the first snow a couple weeks ago and I don't want to take pics of it looking THAT bad!) so here are a couple Ford stock pics of 89 PGT's just in case anyone's confused as to what a PGT looks like.
My own GT is a bit of an odd beast. While it is the GT, the original owner seems NOT to have ordered all the standard options for the GT. Aside from the drivetrain and appearance, the car has the options of a GL... It has manual door locks & windows, no sunroof, no "trip computer", no antilock brakes. It DOES have Ford cruise control but this appears to have been added later at the dealership, it was not a factory installation. It also has power mirrors and the "suspension adjustment" switch (sport/regular/soft - I have never had it in anything other than "sport" and don't know why anyone would...?)
The 89 through 92 GT's were the only stock turbocharged Probes made. It's a 2.2L 12-valve 4 banger, the turbo in stock trim puts out a measley 7.3 PSI of boost, easily upped. :) I do not have any stock HP or torque #'s handy at this time...
These pictures don't show it well, but the 89 GT is very distinctive looking, with the grooved plastic trim around the lower half of the car and the "Turbo" lettering behind the doors. The stock rims are even uglier in person than in these photos however. They are the one part of the car I have always hated.
The GL and LX models had a much more "cheese wedge" or "doorstop" look to them without the rear spoiler and plastic grooved trim if you ask me. :)
Surprisingly though, my Probe GT is 100% bone stock. Until I bought the Mustang, in fact, I never really considered the "upgrade" or "mod" potential of the Probe. I have since discovered an extremely avid and active culture of Probe lovers and in fact I realized that the 1st generation GT, as I have, is considered one of the premium Probes to own, because of the ease of modification into some serious numbers.
So, I have since decided I will continue to keep the Probe "nice" and will begin to mod it up, I think it's quite possible to bring it up on par with my 00 Mustang GT...at least until I start modding the 'stang and add the blower. :) I have seen (er, ok, seen claims...) people break 14's in the 89PGT with just cranking up the boost and opening up the exhaust/intake and burning a chip...we'll see I guess.
The story of the Probe: (Short form, you can read JD's entire Automotive History if you really want)
In summer 1994 I was working at Domino's Pizza (don't laugh!) and driving an '86 Escort GT. (I said, DON'T LAUGH!) I obviously needed a new car, and a friend at the time had just purchased a loaded-out 89 Probe GT. I was reasonably impressed and when I found one for sale, I decided to go for it. I paid $7200 for the car with 42000 miles on it. That was fairly low mileage considering it was already 5+ years old and the car, sincerely, was in near-mint condition. Interior was showroom perfect and on that I kid you not. It is still in "excellent" condition.
Since this was now my nice, pristine "good" car I decided there was no way I'd punish it with the abuse of pizza delivery. So I also purchased the first of many "beaters" - a 81 Mazda GLC. (It actually took a few weeks until I realized I was now the owner of TWO Mazda vehicles, I did not realize the Probe was Mazda powered until a few weeks after I owned it. Yeah, I was a neophyte...) You can read about my beaters if you want...
So, I now had a succession of daily drivers I could pound on, and my Probe was now my "nice days only" car. As such I put less than 5000 miles a year on it for the next 3 years as I drove it sparingly and kept it as nice as possible.
I left Domino's Pizza in fall of 1997 but continued to keep my last "beater" and drive that as the daily pounder. I didn't begin driving the Probe as my daily driver until mid 1998. It now has just over 100000 miles on it. It has had no major motor work done other than having the lifters replaced once for the horrible "clicking" noise that fellow Probe owners probably know only too well.
Sadly, it has been in a few accidents over the years, however each time it was repaired back to original and always looked great, up until the last "fender bender" in 1999...I did a damn-fool move where I tried to go around someone on the left who I THOUGHT was making a right turn, only to have them make a left turn into my rear quarter panel. :( At that time I decided the heck with it and left the big dent there as a reminder of my own stupidity.
Again, though, having re-discovered the joy of cars in general (after purchasing my 00 Mustang 'vert) I have decided I am going to have it fixed again and I am going to stop treating this car as a "beater" and begin to give it the respect and care it deserves again. Having realized that I own a car a lot of Probe lovers would love to have, I think it's only fair. Though I will always a Mustang guy at heart, I can't forget the sound and feel of that turbo spooling up and kicking in under throttle in the Probe...
