Lumbered with a name that came to be the punchline of many an easy joke, the Probe has come to be arguably the least loved of all performance Fords. But is it really all that bad? Throughout the '80s, Ford had been busily working on a car that, it hoped, would replace the ageing Mustang. Developed in conjunction with Mazda, it married high-tech Mazda engines and front-wheel drive running gear to a modern Ford bodyshell with pop-up headlights and a glassy cabin. However, when customers got wind of the project, the backlash was substantial - and Ford hastily revised its ideas. The Mustang was - thankfully - to be spared the chop, and the new model would now be called Probe, to reflect its 'space-age' styling and technology.
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