odd things driving around japan

Hey guys, so i was at the grocery store yesterday and saw this in the parking lot. There can't be to many 1st gen probe turbos left on the road, let alone driving around Japan lol.

Well, that was certainly not what I was expecting!

Japan, just when I think I have a handle on the weird things you do, you go and one-up yourself...

Wow. I remember when those came out, I worked at a Ford dealer. One of the sales guys was a sporty car nut like me, we grabbed one and went for a test drive. That's when I discovered what torque steer was really all about.

Wonder how he deals with the testing requirments in Japan.

NOHOME wrote: Wonder how he deals with the testing requirments in Japan.

You mean She. It's a Probe.

At least, I've only ever known two males who owned Probes, the vast VAST majority were women.

Odd, the same can be said for Firebirds.

Knurled wrote:

NOHOME wrote: Wonder how he deals with the testing requirments in Japan.

You mean She. It's a Probe. At least, I've only ever known two males who owned Probes, the vast VAST majority were women. Odd, the same can be said for Firebirds.

Meh, I've known 3 probe owners, all male.

The V6 Firebird does seem to be exclusively the domain of the XX chromosome set.

When the first gen probes showed up at the local Ford dealer I was a senior in high school. I wanted a red turbo so bad, but it was way out of reach financially of course.

Knurled wrote:

NOHOME wrote: Wonder how he deals with the testing requirments in Japan.

You mean She. It's a Probe. At least, I've only ever known two males who owned Probes, the vast VAST majority were women. Odd, the same can be said for Firebirds.

also, Mustangs that don't have a V8 under the hood- which is the car that the Probe was supposed to replace in the US market..

I wonder did Ford have a deal with Mazda to import a certain number of Probes as part of their partnership like Chevy did when they imported the Cavalier to Japan as a Toyota during their partnership.

LopRacer wrote: I wonder did Ford have a deal with Mazda to import a certain number of Probes as part of their partnership like Chevy did when they imported the Cavalier to Japan as a Toyota during their partnership.

IIRC, the Probes were built in Detroit and Canada, and the MX-6s on the same line.

I owned a '95 Probe GT, the one with the Mazda DOHC V6. This was in the mid-90s, and at that point the GTs were mostly owned by men, the 4-cylinders by women.

How hard is it to convert an MX-6 into a Probe lookalike? JDM parts/body kits used to be the big thing here, what's to say they didn't do the same in reverse over there?

I'm surprised to see the signage in the background in english. Is that common?

Yes its very common in japan for about every other building to have some English on there sign. I was in a Homac and universe parking lot when i took the pic homac is like lowes and universe is like Kroger

Armitage wrote: How hard is it to convert an MX-6 into a Probe lookalike? JDM parts/body kits used to be the big thing here, what's to say they didn't do the same in reverse over there?

Impossible. Driveline is the same, that's it.

Was it LHD or RHD?

mndsm wrote:

Armitage wrote: How hard is it to convert an MX-6 into a Probe lookalike? JDM parts/body kits used to be the big thing here, what's to say they didn't do the same in reverse over there?

Impossible. Driveline is the same, that's it.

And suspension. And most of the floorpan IIRC.

Here's a few more odd balls i've seen creeping around town along with the probe

1st gen turbo automatic eclipse

rat rod with a flat head

fiat coupe

peugeot 206