Click above for more classic Shelby race photos from the Ford archives
When the vintage racers hit the track for the 2008 Kohler International Challenge at Road America this weekend, the Shelby Automobiles Racing Team will be officially represented for the first time since the late 1960s. Ford is one of the event sponsors and is backing the Shelby effort, which will field four CSX4000 Shelby 427 Cobras in the event. To hear Carroll Shelby tell it, there's probably more to come. In Ford's official announcement (pasted after the jump), Shelby is quoted as saying, "My goal is to return us to professional racing and this is just the beginning." Does that mean we'll be seeing factory-backed Shelby Mustangs in other racing series as well? Who knows. Still, it's kinda cool that the team's official return is at a vintage event, driving brand-new continuation-series cars like the ones that started this whole thing way back when.
There's horsepower, and then there's dyno-tested, can't-lie-to-your-friends horsepower. If you want to know how much power a car really makes, you've got to strap it to a dyno and spin it to redline. The guys over at 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords are always eager to find the true horsepower of a car, and so when they took delivery of a GT500KR to review they headed straight to the dyno to see how much power the supercharged V8 is putting out. What they found was somewhat surprising -- the KR produced 509 horsepower and 467.7 lb.-ft. torque to the wheels. Adjusting for an estimated driveline loss of 15 percent, the actual output at the flywheel is 589.82 hp and 550.24 lb-ft torque -- nearly 50 more horsepower and 40 more lb-ft than Ford is claiming. Take that Z06!
Despite the Shelby GT500KR's claim of supremacy over the dominion that is the open road, there is yet another Mustang that is even more extreme. Shelby's Super Snake package for the GT500 offers up to 725 horsepower and even more aggressive options for the suspension and braking systems. Available as a post-sale conversion for the GT500, the transformation can be performed at the Shelby facility in Las Vegas or at one of the official mod shops around the country. There have been a handful of owners who have already converted their GT500s, and one is already for sale on eBay. Something seems wrong with the seller's math, however, because a "Buy It Now" price of $200,000 is far more than the cost of a GT500 plus the $31,995 needed for the 725 horsepower conversion. We could understand the markup if these were in high demand, but pretty much any GT500 owner can send his car to get converted. So unless you really can't wait, keep your mouse away from the bidding button and just enjoy the gallery below. Thanks for the tip, Brad!
The epic saga of Unique Performance and its fall from grace isn't over yet. An auction was held in March to help clear the bankrupt company's back debts, but it only raised $1 million. That wasn't enough to compensate the many ripped-off owners and fleeced employees, not to mention the federal government. Auction firm Rosen Systems has a new, very spare listing on its website for another Unique Performance auction coming up on the 24th of June. The scarce information offered by Rosen Systems only states "approximately 40 Mustang Fastback shells, body parts, tools, lifts." A catalog of items to be offered for this online-only event has yet to be released, but it's safe to assume that these are the items that failed to sell the first time around. We're not sure we'd consider this auction a good way to get a viable Mustang body unit, with reports of multiple gallons of body filler in each car. Thanks for the tip, Cameron!
When Ford announced the GT500KR's based price of $79,995, many of you thought that it was pretty steep for a Mustang. Even though it's a limited edition Shelby with 540 horsepower, $80,000 can buy a lot of really nice cars. What's even more insane is that we know people will not only buy the KR, but they will pay tens of thousands of dollars over MSRP just to have one. The only question was how much dealers would try and gouge. That question has been answered. Lone Star Ford in Houston, TX has put up a red GT500KR on eBay Motors with a "Buy It Now" price of...$154,991.00. That's nearly double the MSRP. Who knows if anyone will actually buy it at that price, but going off what happened with the standard GT500, then it's quite possible. While we enjoyed our first drive in the GT500KR (check out Part 1 and Part 2), we can think of quite a few cars we'd rather have for $150,000.
We got our first look at Shelby's 85th Commemorative GT40 back in January at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. It's as close as you can get to the real thing without spending millions on an original GT40 with the chassis and body nearly perfectly replicating the original. Shelby Distribution has now issued an updated press release as well as the official photos. The GT40, built by Superformance but officially badged a Shelby, celebrates both Carroll's 85th birthday as well as the dominating 1-2-3 Le Mans win in 1966. It's available in all three colors of the original race cars - Arcadian Blue, Black, and Red - as well as unique Shelby badging on the door handles, headlights, side graphics, and floor mats. No engine specs are available since each comes as a rolling chassis, but the engine bay is built to accommodate any Shelby-badged V8 crate engine. Anything but a 427ci V8 would be just plain crazy, though. Follow the jump for the press release and check out nearly fifty high resolution photos in the gallery below.
Click above for new high-res gallery of our GT500KR First Drive
Our initial drive of the Shelby GT500KR on public roads revealed that Ford, SVT and Shelby had addressed many of the issues that we had with the standard GT500. The KR's revised suspension is better balanced and more capable of handling the excessive amounts of horsepower and torque that the blown 5.4L generates, and a new short-throw Hurst shifter makes changing gears a joy instead of a chore. To top it all off, a Ford Racing cold air intake, new exhaust system, and 3.73 gears give the KR an extra kick in the pants. The changes were so spot-on that we wondered why Ford didn't build the GT500 this way in the first place.
With a ride like the GT500KR, however, only so much of the car can be experienced on public roads. At 540 horsepower and 510 lb-ft torque, the KR quickly reaches posted speed limits and the car stays well under its limits around corners. Fortunately, Ford let us loose to run hot laps around Miller Motorsports Park. Follow the jump to see how the "King of the Road" fared at the track.
Click above for a high resolution gallery of the 2008 Shelby GT500KR
I have to admit, the Shelby GT500 was somewhat of a letdown. I have no complaints about the 500 horsepower or the muscular lines, but at nearly 4,000 pounds, it's got a serious weight problem. The iron block, 5.4-liter V8 and the addition of a supercharger puts much the weight in the worst possible place -- the front -- so the GT500 feels unmotivated around the corners compared to a regular Mustang GT. Other complaints include a suspension that doesn't seem up to snuff to handle the prodigious power, as well as a vague and rubbery shifter. Despite its shortcomings, the GT500 is one of the world's best performance bargains. Never before has such a powerful car been available for so little cash (although the Ford dealers did a pretty good job of ruining its value with markups). Still, one couldn't help but think that the GT500 could have been better.
Click the image above for a high resolution gallery
You might expect that Carroll Shelby has quite a collection of cars. He's even put up a few for sale recently, including his personal 1969 GT500 Convertible that he's owned since new at Barrett-Jackson this year and the unique Cobra Supersnake that sold for $5,000,000 at last year's auction. A few years ago Shelby also auctioned off one of the six original Daytona Coupes that he had owned for more than twenty years. He must have missed it in the garage, because he requested that Superformance build him one of their new Daytona Coupes. Designed by Peter Brock, the same man who penned the original, this modern version of the Cobra Coupe retains the wonderful shape of the original while offering some creature comforts not found in the race car. Carroll's personal car, which was delivered to him this week, features the "Guardsman Blue" paint scheme of the original cars as well as the #98 that on the car he previously owned. Unique to the car is a one-off paddle-shift transmission designed by MasterShift mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. Power comes from a 427SR Roush crate engine pushing out nearly 500 horsepower. Follow the jump for the press release and check out the gallery below of the car you wish you owned.
Gallery: Carroll Shelby's Superformance Daytona Coupe
Click on the image for more live shots of the 2009 GT500KR
We got a chance to visit Shelby Automotive out in Las Vegas a week or so ago to witness the first 2009 GT500KR going through final assembly. Although the KR was originally intended to be an '08-only model release, demand for the new King of the Road was high enough that Ford and Shelby decided to keep on rollin' for another year and plans to offer an additional 746 units for 2009. As a refresher, these beasts are powered by a 540-horsepower version of the GT500's supercharged V8. If you love special edition versions of the Mustang like this one but aren't ready yet to buy, fear not... we have a feeling that there will be many more to choose from in the coming years.
Gallery: First Shelby GT500KR's
Gallery: 2008 Shelby GT500KR - LIVE
Travel and lodging for this media event was provided by the manufacturer, as were the photos, since our camera was stolen on this trip.
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