AMT's Ford Probe GT - FWD performance (ish)!

[Faust]

I grew up in the “Automotive Dark Ages”, among throngs of gutless econoboxes and the rusting hulks of the last survivors of the ‘70s. As far as being interesting for an automotive enthusiast goes, that era was pretty much a wash. However, I do remember as the ‘80s wore on that things started to change, and as I watched a new breed of “economical” performance cars came into being. These weren’t the rip-snorting muscle cars that my Uncle had raised me on and that I’d seen at car shows, but they weren’t the wheezing, soul-destroying, square-cornered beaters I’d seen for the last 10 years.

Rather, they were some interesting mix of the two. They had modern aerodynamics and front-wheel drive (unlike a true performance car, I still feel), but tried to recapture some of the fun of driving. A perfect example of such a car was the Ford Probe GT. I remember when it came out that it made quite an impact on me. Clearly, it did on others, too, since I remember seeing lots of them around. A sporty car for the masses, then, and one that helped to pave the way for it to be okay to want more than just a beige hatchback.

Because I remember the car so well, I was really happy to get my hands on one of the AMT Probe GT kits. It’s one of my earlier builds, but it still looks pretty good, so I thought I’d share.

Check it out, and if you ever drove one of these, let me know what you think!

https://adamrehorn.wordpress.com/model-kits/cars/125-amt-1989-ford-probe-gt/
 

 

[Funkychiken]

Looks pretty good! 

[espo]

Your build looks great. It is hard to get to excited over the Probe as a car.  

[RustedBronco]

Cool, don't look as rusty in plastic. I had both generations of Probes. First gen turbo, cool car for time. A V6 5 spd second generation, fast car compared to rest around it. Both were expensive to repair and required it a lot. Model looks great.

[bogger44]

That looks great.  You don't see these built very often.  My first car was a '90 Probe, but just a GL and not the GT.  Even with it's paltry 110hp, it had ok acceleration due to its light weight (around 2,700lbs I believe) but was by no means fast.  It was a fun car to throw into the corners, as it handled them pretty well.  I bought it with 108,000 miles and put on about 50,000 more mostly trouble free miles until it started having electrical gremlins.  I sold it to a neighbor and he got the electric problems worked out, drove it about a year, then the motor went ka-pow.

[Faust]

Thanks guys! 

I agree, most were rustier than this the last time I saw them, too, Ken.

I'm not surprised, being Mazdas underneath, that these were expensive to fix up. Heck, even my Mazda 3 from a decade ago was a surprisingly costly car to maintain. That's why I ditched it for a G8. Much more car, and much less hassle! I am surprised, though, to hear about electrical problems. I thought the Japanese were better than that. Makes it sound like a Fiat!