[cfg83]

stevey -

1985 Ford Probe V (Ghia)

The "80-20 Rule" states that the last 20% of development of a product, activity or organization takes 80% of the total effort expended. There is no scientific basis for the 80-20 Rule. There is only the empirical experience of thousands of managers, developers, athletes, engineers, artists and businessmen who have coped with it in work and life. It’s a good bet that Dennis Connor, Chuck Yeager, Robert McNamara and Sir Edmund Hillary all would recognize and acknowledge the 80-20 Rule. It applies to the Ford Probe series, too. Probe V is the final advance in that series of aerodynamic concepts. It achieved a 10% reduction in drag coefficient, achieving 0.137 to Probe IV’s 0.152. This tiny, but very significant, 10% reduction in drag required building a whole new concept to achieve it.

It is probably no accident that Probe V looks like the Taurus, Ford’s huge gamble on aero styling. They appeared simultaneously and Probe V showed that the Taurus concept wasn’t a dead end, that there was an improving evolutionary path to even greater aerodynamic efficiency - and that the Taurus design wasn’t some marketing gimmick. Probe V represents subtle refinement of Probe IV. Along with being more efficient aerodynamically than Probe IV, Probe V has more character than its technically-styled predecessor. A two-door Probe V uses an novel door design that swings out on short parallelogram hinges until it clears the side of the body then slides back out of the way creating wide and unobstructed interior access.

(Ghia Rocks, BTW)

CarloSW2