Shelby Introduces Yet More Mustang Derivatives!

Caroll Shelby may be a stuffy old codger born in the Great Depression era, but you can't deny the man still has one of the keenest understandings of what a muscle car is.  Shelby's name has been on everything from little crappy British sports cars stuffed full of hi-compression Ford V8, to crappy little Chrysler K-car derivatives with turbochargers the size of your face - but lately, ol' Shel's name has been all over a whole bunch of Ford Mustangs.  If you're going to plaster your name on anything, an icon of American muscle isn't half bad.

And what do you know - Caroll's got a whole slew of new Mustangs with his name slapped on them, and chances are like most Shelby products, they're all capable of plastering a grin on your face.

Shelby GT/SC

The GT/SC is exactly what you think it is - a Mustang GT... with a supercharger.  Actually, it's more than that, but it's basically a Mustang with a supercharger.

Although Shelby doesn't release "basic" horsepower numbers for the Supercharged Mustang, they do say that the GT/SC is available with up to 550 horsepower, which seems pretty sufficient.

Thankfully, Shelby sees fit to install some more serious braking hardware - upgraded units from Baer racing, with a full set of stainless steel brake lines to boot - which would hopefully eliminate one of the biggest problems with the Mustang as far as track use goes, that mainly being severe brake fade.  Remember, this is an approximately 3500lb coupe - no featherweight!

Prices for this useful power upgrade range from approximately $10-$12,000, depending on the options you pick.

Shelby GT/SR

The GT/SR is basically a more substantially upgraded GT/SC, with a greater focus on track duty.  On the ground control side of things, the SR receives some gorgeous 18x9" lightweight alloys (that appear to be pulled directly from the Ford GT parts bin?), wrapped with sticky 275/35/ZR18 R-compound BFG's - barely DOT legal, these huge grippy tires should go a long way towards putting the power down on the track adequately.  The Baer brakes get an upgrade to 6-piston calipers, as well.

There's also a beefy 3.5"  one-piece aluminum driveshaft to prevent the unfortunate feeling of "breaking stuff" on hard launches.  But the SR isn't just about the 1320 - the suspension's had a very thorough going-over, too.  There's a 1" lower front ball joints, a bump steer eliminator kit, a caster/camber adjustment kit, upgraded front lower control arm bushings, rear upper and lower control arms and control arm brackets, Watts link rear suspension, and an available Eibach Pro 2 coilover shocks, struts and sway bar kit.  If that can't make the 'Stang stick, what will?

Coolest of all, though, is the combination of the available 6-point racing harness and full interior roll cage, pictured below.  Hardcorrrrrrrre.

The GT/SR is available with Paxton, Ford Racing or Kenne Bell superchargers.  So many choices.  There's also an available 3.73 final drive ratio and a performance clutch kit, which might prove useful.  Pricing is a bit steep though, with the SR package weighing in at an alarming $31k.

GT500 Super Snake

Basically a more extreme take on the already ridiculous (540bhp) Shelby GT500 Mustang, the Super Snake is available in various dizzying power outputs with a whole slew of options to make your lethal muscle car all that much more lethal.

For starters, the 5.4L 32v V8 is treated to an upgraded Whipple supercharger package, boosting power output to an "oh my god" 630 horsepower.  That's for starters.  There's also a FRP/Whipple 700+bhp upgrade, and at the top of the heap a 725 horsepower Kenne Bell Supercharger setup, which would probably make gears 1-4 completely useless when it rains.

It also receives the massive Baer 6-piston brakes, suspension by Shelby/Ford Racing with adjustable damper settings, a short-throw shift kit, a custom driveshaft with the 700+bhp versions, 20" Shelby/Alcoa Super Snake alloys, the cool Shelby gauge cluster, and a whole bunch of mostly tasteful body addendum, besides those rear side-window block off plates.

The Super Snake offers a large amount of forward momentum, but I'm disappointed to see it doesn't incorporate the drastic suspension changes that the GT/SR does.  Then again, the GT500 has always been a car that focuses on forward momentum, so I suppose that's alright.

There's also a GT500SE, which is basically a tape and stickers special for the GT500, which I hardly feel is necessary.

The only problem, if there is one, is that these special Shelbys will be afloat in an endless sea of special edition Mustangs.  But when it comes to horsepower, I'm firmly of the belief that more is never enough, so I'd say I'm okay with it.