Priceless Ford 1979 Probe I concept car destroyed in fire leaving Pebble Beach Concours

Ford’s 1979 Probe I Ghia concept car, displayed at the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance as part of the Wedge Shaped Concept Cars & Prototypes class, burned in its trailer while leaving the world-famous auto show on Sunday August 18.

WATCH VIDEO:Ford prototype burned down leaving Pebble Beach Concours in California

Drew Grundfor of Scott Grundfor, Co., a California restoration shop that bought the Probe 1 from Ford in 2002 and owns several other Ford concept cars, confirmed that the car was extensively damaged in the fire. The Probe I was being towed on the freeway when a passing motorist signaled the driver, a Scott Grundfor employee, that there was smoke coming from the trailer. The driver stopped and found that the fire had progressed to the point that the car could not be rescued. Though the car and trailer burned completely, no one was hurt, and the driver’s positioning of the trailer prevented the fire from spreading to nearby foliage. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

Update August 20, 2024: The Monterey Fire Department released more details about the incident and its response. It says 17 "fire personnel" responded with "four engines (including one from CAL Fire), one ladder truck, one water tender (from the Presidio of Monterey Fire Department) and one Division Chief from Monterey Fire Department." No "civilian injuries" are noted, though a firefighter was hurt (minor) during the event.

Firefighters arrived to the scene to find the trailer and the Probe within "fully engulfed" and the flames licking "nearby vegetation." They were able to separate the tow vehicle from the trailer in time to save it from major damage, and the perimeter of the fire was contained within fifteen minutes. The Fire Department estimates the Ford Probe concept is valued at "approximately $1,000,000," adding that the "Total incident loss is estimated at around $1,028,300."

Probe I: Ford’s vision of the 1980s

The Probe I Ghia was the first of five roman numeraled concept cars to bear the Probe name. First introduced at the 1979 Frankfurt Auto Show, the Probe I was intended to show what a family car of the 1980s might look like. At a time when Ford’s latest cars on both sides of the Atlantic were angular and creased, and the industry was buzzing with news of GM’s ill-fated front-wheel-drive X-cars, the Probe I looked like a spaceship, with a low nose, pop-up headlights, deeply-raked windshield, long fastback and enough glass to glaze a skyscraper. Deep skirts covered the rear wheels, while the doorhandles were faired into the bodywork. Ford claimed a drag coefficient of 0.25 cD which, in modern terms, is mid-way between the Toyota Prius (0.27) and the Tesla Model 3 (0.23).

Inside, the Probe had a heavily-computerized interior that included touch-sensitive controls, digital gauges and an access card in place of a key, technologies that would gradually begin to appear in cars over the next four decades. The Probe I’s running gear was based on an extended Fox-body Ford Mustang chassis, complete with a 2.3 liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine and automatic transmission. The Probe I’s debut coincided with the second oil crisis of the 1970s, and Ford claimed the Probe I could achieve 39 miles per gallon at a steady speed of 56 mph.

The Probe becomes reality

Ford produced a total of five Probe concept cars, including the 1982 Probe III, which previewed the design of the European-market Ford Sierra, the styling cues of which would make their way to the States in the seminal 1986 Ford Taurus. However, by the early 1980s, Ford was seriously considering a Probe-based replacement for the Mustang, and the Probe I was modified to show what such a car might look like. It received a new, closer-to-production-ready interior with contemporary switchgear, but the body was not modified except for a new red paint job.

The Probe did make it to market, but not as a Mustang replacement; instead, it effectively replaced the Capri, which was sold in Europe as a Ford and marketed as a Mercury in the U.S. throughout most of the 1970s. The 1989 Ford Probe was based on the front-wheel-drive Mazda MX-6, but it shared many of its styling cues with the 1979 Probe 1 concept, including the low nose, pop-up headlights, wrap-around rear glass, flush door handles and even a stylized version of the three-segment taillights. (The Probe did not make it to Europe until its second generation in 1993.)

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Future of the Probe I

Grundfor Co.’s immediate plan is to bring the Probe I back to its shop and display it alongside its siblings. The company owns fifteen concept cars, among them the 1984 Ford Probe IV and 1985 Probe V. Most concept cars are unceremoniously sent to the crusher, so it’s wonderful that the Probe I and its siblings have survived for four decades, and that the car had a chance to be shown at Pebble Beach where it could be admired and appreciated. And, Grunfor tells us, the Probe I may well have that opportunity in the future.

“It’s a steel body car,” Grundfor told MotorTrend, “so the husk will be all there, the wheels are there, the body is there. We’ll bring it back home with the other cars, and maybe someday it can be put back to what it was. It’ll either stay the way it is as a reminder, or someone, maybe us, will revive it, and someday it will get unveiled again.”

Update August 21, 2024: The Probe 1 Ghia arrived back at Scott Grunfor, Co., yesterday, and Drew Grundfor provided the following update:

“Bringing her home, however dilapidated she may be, has upped the mood immensely. Amazingly, the deep glove box acted as a safe area of sorts and we have retrieved some artifacts from it that put a smile on all our faces, namely the original emissions paper tag in untouched condition, sandwiched in between other unrecognizable lumps of plastic, and a singed tie which was part of our Pebble Beach welcome packet, and that I will most certainly be wearing this coming weekend at the car show in San Marino.

“The outpouring of support from the car world has really been touching. We want people to see this not as the end, but the continuation. She's not a scrap yard car. We are keeping her and will decide about the future, whether she stays as is or gets reborn somehow.”

Photo credit: Scott Grundfor Co., Manufacturer, MotorTrend staff