Ford taps Shelby magic for new GT500 Mustang

[rshelby]

Ford taps Shelby magic for new GT500 Mustang
2005 New York Auto Show
By Eric Mayne / The Detroit News

DEARBORN -- The smile on Carroll Shelby's face was 35 years in the making.

The 82-year-old racing legend had just climbed out from behind the wheel of a prototype 2006 Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 -- the first Mustang to bear his name since 1970.

With the tires of the GT500 still warm after his five-hour test drive, Shelby gave his approval. The Shelby Mustangs of the past were visceral road rockets. But the GT500 combined power with balance and refinement, he said.

"That's what we wanted back then, but it was impossible with the technology that we had," Shelby said after the spin at Ford's Dearborn proving grounds. "What we really built in the first place was a race car that you could drive on the street. This is a street car that you can go to the race track with."

If the GT500 show car debuting today at the New York auto show is anywhere near as good as its namesake predicts, it's likely to become an immediate sensation when it goes into production next year.

The Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 not only marries two of motoring's most revered names -- Mustang and Shelby -- but also boasts a pavement-shredding, supercharged 5.4-liter engine that cranks out more than 450 horsepower.

It will be the most powerful factory-built Mustang ever and just the kind of attention-grabbing sports car Ford was counting four years ago when it patched up its tattered relationship with Shelby, the icon whose name is synonymous with high-performance cars.

A dirt-poor, former chicken farmer from Leesburg, Texas, Shelby enjoyed a superstar career as a race driver in the 1950s. In 1962, he developed the first Cobra with a $25,000 investment stake from Ford.

Not long after that, he was challenged by Henry Ford II to help Ford Motor beat Ferrari and win Le Mans, the most prestigious race in Europe. The Ford chairman summoned Shelby and two associates to his office and handed each a name tag that read: "Ford Wins Le Mans."

Shelby didn't let him down. On June 20, 1966, a trio of Ford GT-40 Mark IIs crossed the finish line first, second and third at Le Mans.

The relationship between Ford and Shelby soured in the ensuing years. Shelby joined Lee Iacocca at Chrysler Corp. and filed a $30 million suit against Ford for using the GT350 name. It was settled out of court.

In 2001, Edsel B. Ford II, Henry Ford II's son, approached Shelby about returning to Ford to help produce performance vehicles. Since then, Shelby has consulted on the $140,000 Ford GT super sports car and Ford Shelby Cobra concept car.

Ford says the new Shelby Mustang car will bridge the gap between the Ford GT super sports car and the rest of its lineup.

"We're taking a multitiered approach," said Hau Thai-Tang, Ford's director of advanced product creation. "We've got the GT that's the top-of-the-line, race-inspired performance. Then you'll have high-performance cars like the Shelby GT500 that will be more affordable."

Ford is expected to sell the GT500 for just under $40,000 -- about $15,000 more than the starting price of a base-level, V-8-powered Mustang. Ford plans to build about 7,000 GT500s a year at its plant in Flat Rock.

Following next year's arrival of the Shelby Cobra GT500, SVT will launch the Sport Trac Adrenalin -- a sport utility truck based on the next-generation Explorer. The company has also committed to building a Lightning, based on the F-150, while Ford designers and engineers are contemplating an SVT version of the Fusion, Ford's new midsize sedan that will debut this fall.

But it's the GT500 that will grace magazine covers and send fan Web sites buzzing.

Well aware of the expectations, Shelby wanted to put the prototype through its paces personally. At Ford's Dearborn test track on a recent Monday, he effortlessly guided the car through the banked turns and straight-aways, filling the air with the aroma of burnt rubber.

"Very seldom do you ever, right out of the box, get in a vehicle that feels as solid as this does and as controllable without a lot of adjustments," Shelby said. "There's very few things that need to be done to this car."

The GT500, he said, will be a worthy successor to scorching GT350 fastbacks and 427 Cobras of the past.

"That was what Shelby vehicles were in the beginning and that's what they were meant to be," Shelby said

The Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 boasts a 5.4-liter engine that cranks out 450 horsepower. It debuts at the New York auto show today.


Shelby Mustangs

1965: The first Shelby Mustang is produced. The GT350 featured a fastback design with a hood scoop and a 306-horsepower V-8 engine.

1966: Hertz purchases nearly 1,000 special GT350H models to accommodate weekend racers.

1967: The GT500 debuts with a 355-horsepower V-8. More than 2,000 were sold.

1968: The first year "Cobra" was used on a Shelby Mustang.

1969: The Shelby Mustang's body featured nine scoops -- five on the hood, one at each front fender and one on each quarter panel.

1970: The last Shelby Mustangs are sold.

You can reach Eric Mayne at (313) 222-2443 or emayne@detnews.com.
http://www.detnews.com/2005/autosins...B01-126029.htm

[daltondavid]

It was refreshing to watch the video and see Carroll give a Thumbs up after playing with this new Car!! I want a Convertible!! where can I place my order?????