Driver_Kiddo

IMO, no one will get one off the lot from a dealer less than 55-60 grand. i hope to be wrong but then again i talked to alot Ford dealers and thats what they are supposing... if not even higher than that.

ghey but hey!! its SHELBY...might be his last production shelby ever built! Who Knows?! the guy is getting old right?

thats where the hype is...

performance wise...comparing it to the new z06 is ridicolous...its still a mustang, the badest of all mustangs ever built woot

Z16

In my humble opinion of the author is that he saying the GT500 is a great fun car that is worth the money. He just goes on to say that the regular GT is a better bargain and handles better due to better weight balance and reduced mass, and he is correct on that point.

As to the Z06 and the Shelby being in the same class, get a clue people the Z06 is competition for the Porsches not a solid axle Mustang. Is the price of a GT500 attractive compared to the Z06, well duh of course it is (as long as dealers don't get to greedy ....ya right) but the Corvette can afford to add more content than Ford could do with the Shelby. That is the reason Ford went iron block which played with the weight balance.

The Shelby GT500 is a great car that will be covated in the future, but I would get the Mustang GT and add a whole lot mods. If i were looking at the Corvette Z06 the Shelby GT500 wouldn't even be a car I would consider as a another option, the Porsche GT 3 would be, but then with the Vette I have enough money to buy a few extra Mustang GT's

Daniel60

That was the best article I have read yet on the Shelby GT500. Thanks for sharing that with us . You did good.

classj

If the gt-500 is a bargin, the vette is a bonified steal. For a few thousand more you get a 8-900lb lighter car that does everything quicker. No brainer to me.

And no, its not that I am sitting here longing for a GT500 and making excuses why I dont have one. It is just that I dont like the looks or the specs compared to the GT or the competition.

I dont know about the stang and the vette. But the new GTO is a friggin joke compared to the old ones in a straight line match. Trust me on that one. Dad is an original owner of a 67 goat. Stock, in the 60's, these cars ran high 13's, on BIAS PLY 195-215 series tires on 6" rims. If any of you dont know what a bias ply is, it is essentialy a piece of plastic moulded into roughly the shape of a tire. All the magazines quoting times on all the old cars are on tires of the day. Change nothing else, just put on modern tires and the car's times change drasticly.

I have driven the new goat, and now I have the new mustang (stock so far). The old goat is still faster. Yes, it is lightly modified at this point, but never the less, faster. I have watched new goats run back to back with old ones, new ones still struggle to put down fast times.

The new cars are better, safer, handle and brake better, etc, etc. But not nessicarily faster in a straight line. And if some are, god bless them, it only took 40 years to be the close or slightly faster than the originals.

persistantthug

As for Mustangs - nothing measures up to a Shelby; the name, the history, the performance, the legend.
Anyone looking for plush leather, nimble cornering, with high performance better go buy a Porsche, Beemer, etc...
For pure legendary American Muscle, again...S H E L B Y (isn't that what we all want on our grilles!).
We're all just mad and overly critical because we may possibly see one, less likely to drive one, but never own one....
I think Aesop called it "sour grapes..."

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I'm not sour....I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed that this "Shelby" last SVT Mustang isn't really any faster than the previous cobra. I was expecting this car to run some sort of 11's out of the box. It doesn't. I'm disappointed

M

yeas the GT can be made much better than the GT500 but i can assure you it costs more than 43000 to do it

classj

Umm, maybe. But in reality. The GT-500 is a mustang GT with a lightly modified suspension and firmer steering, a 500hp motor with extra cooling I am sure, bigger front brakes only, and a 6 speed. A gt-500 doesent have a ton of suspension work done to it (different shocks, springs are probably stiffer but car looks to be sitting at about GT stance, larger rear sway bar, stock front bar), and it has a severe weight distribution and weight in general penalty going against it.

Take a stock mustang GT. Mine was pretty well optioned with 18" wheels and everything except the shaker 1000. List was 28880, I paid 27880 out the door. First off, try getting a GT500 for 43 grand. But lets assume they are abundent and availible at sticker price.

So on the GT we are at 27880. Add the following

-255-45-18 performance tires, +800
-Whipple charger (if it ever comes out as claimed) +5000
-Suspension (shocks, maybe springs, larger rear sway bar, g-trac brace) +1000
-14" GT-500 front brakes +1000-1500 (guestimate based on what OE brembos cost on other cars)

So the above would run approx 8000 dollars and we have a 36K dollar approx 500hp car. The brakes would only make a noticible difference at the track, and in truth, the GT-500 needs those big brakes to haul down the extra weight from speed. Though I am sure they would help the GT greatly on the track.

The weight of the car would be about 3550 lbs or so I would guess given the SC adds about 50lbs and between the braces and brake system, call that another 50lbs.

As long as the SC from whipple does what it claims to do and doesent kill drivibilty, I think a GT with the above mods would be very competive or faster than a GT-500. Worth as much, no. A good investment, no. As collectable, no. But competitive none-the-less.


The shelby shouldent weight close to 4000 lbs. That is really the only performance problem here. Shave off that 400-500 lbs of fat, and the car would be very nice.

M

your prices are very aggressive, and youre not adding labor...which you can do yourself if you have the skills but you still need to take into consideration labor cost for those who cant or dont want to do it themselves

and as far as the equipment, if you want to make the car competitive i would say your still $2000 away, if you want to make the car better you have a long way to go...i have already $3000 in my suspension and im not even done yet, i dont even want to go into the rest of the $$$

now i need a new clutch to handle all the torque and of course i want to make it better so looking at @$750 for parts on that with aluminum flywheel

and the list goes on and on....but thats ok, we do it because we love it and we can say its our own

classj

Right, I do do all my own work. Personally, I wouldent have it any other way. But your right, not everyone has the ability or the desire or the space to do that. Sounds like you have a nice stang there.

But all I am not saying is that while I am sure your car handles better than a GT500, a standard GT500 doesent have a whole lot of differences going for it over a GT and would not be hard to best. It doesent have aftermarket control arms and panhard braces and poly bushings, etc, etc. We are not talking about two radically different cars.

All we are talking about here are tires, springs, shocks and sway bars. A g-trac brace, strut tower brace. Maybe a different length panhard if the GT-500 is actualy lower. And also the bigger brakes. Given that the gt500 has that extra weight on it, I wouldent doubt a similarly built GT would best it around the corners.

For that matter, stock for stock there isnt much difference in skidpad and slalom numbers between the cars to begin with. And the numbers the gt500 is turning arent mind numbing. 12.8 seconds and 0-60 in 4.7. Those numbers have been hit already with fairly mild GT's. Not often, but they have been reached. When I see 12 flat in the quarter and 4.0 0-60 out of a car, then I will start to worry about getting there.

And you are right, I should have added a clutch to my list. I am sure that will not last long behind a 500hp engine with any form of abuse.

M

agreed bro, and i do agree with you that overall the GT500 is a disappointment from the factory, i believe that there will be some real beasts made from them but it wouldve been nice to see a vette killer from the factory