Ford Shelby Gets Extreme Makeover

[rshelby]

Ford Shelby Gets Extreme Makeover
By Alisa Priddle
WardsAuto.com, Jan 20 2005

Ford product chief Phil Martens is pleased with the all-new skin of the Ford Shelby GR-1 concept.

DETROIT – The Ford Shelby GR-1 concept supercar has had a complete makeover, to the unabashed approval of product chief Phil Martens.

Martens, Ford Motor Co. group vice president-product creation, was not satisfied with the original concept, the Ford Shelby Cobra, that was unveiled a year ago at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Martens advocated putting the Cobra concept into production, but only with a styling change to inject more emotion. (See related story: Martens: Shelby Cobra ‘Has my Vote’)

The Cobra was the final player in a “Performance Trio” that includes the Ford GT and the all-new Mustang. The fully engineered Cobra concept unveiled in 2004, developed with the aid of long-time engineering partner Carroll Shelby from the aluminum chassis of the Ford GT, was codenamed Daisy.

The newest incarnation, the Shelby GR-1, has undergone an extreme makeover. “It’s a completely different vehicle,” Martens says of the muscular 2-seater fully engineered prototype.

“When you look at it now, it’s a very provocative, almost sensual vehicle. It gives the feeling, as it’s sitting there, that it’s moving.”

The overall length is about the same as a Mazda Miata, with proportions Martens describes as “outstanding,” creating a gotta-have vehicle.

“It has that emotional cache that last year we didn’t have,” he says.

The underpinnings were carried over. Both the Cobra and GR-1 are front-engine, rear-drive vehicles with a naturally aspirated (no superchargers or turbochargers) aluminum-block 6.4L V-10 that puts out 605 hp and 501 lb.-ft (679 Nm) of torque. Track testing proves them capable of 0-60 mph (97 km/h) in less than four seconds.

“It’s the same underpinnings but different skin,” Martens says of the hand-polished – and extremely shiny – aluminum fastback coupe with butterfly doors.

apriddle@primediabusiness.com
http://wardsauto.com/ar/auto_ford_shelby_gets/index.htm
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