Listing snapshot
| Spotted | November 2022 |
| Asking price | Not recorded |
| Location | Seattle area, Washington |
| Listed on | Craigslist, dealer listing |
| Drivetrain | Front-wheel drive |
| Status | Ad expired. This page is our archive of the listing. |
We spotted this 1992 Ford Probe GL on Seattle-area Craigslist in November 2022, offered by a dealer. Our original page did not record the asking price or the mileage, and the ad has long since expired. We keep the record anyway, because first-generation Probes have become rare, and every real sighting helps when you are trying to judge one.
What this car was
A red first-generation Probe in base GL trim: the three-door liftback with pop-up headlights, a long glass hatch and plastic wheel covers on steel wheels. The photo we have shows it in profile on a parking lot, with straight panels and paint that still had a shine.
The GL was the simple version of the car. It used a 2.2-liter Mazda four-cylinder without the turbo of the GT, and it skipped the V6 that the LX offered from 1990. That makes it the economy model of the range, and the kind of Probe that was usually driven hard and thrown away. Few have survived in this condition.
The old page was almost entirely a history lesson copied from other sources, with no seller details beyond the city. We have kept it to what we can stand behind.
A little Probe history
The Probe began life as Ford’s plan for a front-drive, Mazda-based replacement for the Mustang. Mustang fans objected loudly, Ford kept the rear-drive Mustang, and the new car went on sale for 1989 under the Probe name, borrowed from a series of Ford concept cars. It shared its platform with the Mazda MX-6 and 626 and was built alongside them at the Mazda plant in Flat Rock, Michigan, not in Japan as our old page claimed. The first generation ran through 1992. A rounder second generation followed for 1993 and lasted until 1997.
Today the first-generation cars are worth a second look for anyone who likes late-’80s design. Parts for the Mazda drivetrain are still fairly easy to find, while trim and interior pieces are the harder part.
More cars from the archive
- Every Ford Probe we’ve spotted, with asking prices
- 1995 Ford Aspire, another Ford
- 1991 Ford Thunderbird, another Ford
- 1993 Ford Taurus SHO, another Ford
- 1989 Ford Taurus GL, another Ford
