Imagine bringing your car to the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, hobnobbing among enthusiasts and other priceless automobiles, only for your object of desire to burn to the ground before you make it home. Sounds like a nightmare, right? That’s what happened several days ago in Monterey, California.
If thoughts of I hope a Marmon didn’t sacrifice itself! have popped into your head, you can relax, though the truth is no less pleasant: a one-off 1979 Ford Probe I Ghia concept car that was part of the show’s Wedge Shaped Concept Cars & Prototypes display is currently no more.
Probe I was a cooperative effort between Ford and Ghia that explored aerodynamics while using the wedge design that was in vogue at the time. With skirted rear wheels, prominent greenhouse, and turbo-four power, the Probe I was a nod to fuel efficiency needs in a post-embargo era with a zoomy aerodynamic design to meet them.
Ford touted Probe I as being “designed as a typical car of the late 1980s or beyond” with projected fuel economy of 39 mpg “at steady-state driving 55 miles per hour.” Making its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the three-door hatchback with a 105.1-inch wheelbase achieved an aerodynamic drag rating of .25. The four-seater’s interior had “a modern, living-room atmosphere” and featured a retractable instrument panel that was coordinated with opening and closing the door. “Headrests are functional and electrically controlled.” The 188.5-inch body was made of composite panels, with the total package weighing in at 2,750 pounds.
“It is with utter sadness and a heavy heart that we have lost our 1979 Ford Ghia Probe I Prototype in an accident on the highway late in the day on Sunday after showing the car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance,” said the Scott Grundfor Company in a statement on Instagram, which include the above images. “We are incredibly grateful that our team member driving the trailer at the time this accident occurred was unharmed, and his immediate action prevented this tragic loss of our car from spreading to local foliage and of course to other people who were driving on the highway in Monterey at the time.”
