Shelby unveiled the Mustang GT at the Los Angeles Auto Show last week, two weeks before the arrival of an entirely new Ford Mustang. In the Great And Hallowed Pantheon of Fast Shelbys, the GT has ranked somewhere in the middle: the entry to huge V8 power, but nowhere as ludicrous — or headline-grabbing — as the GT500.
The GT replaces the limited-production GT350, slotting above the V6-only GTS and below the GT500 Super Snake. This GT is remarkably restrained from a company that, well, usually isn’t. It must have agonized someone at Shelby not to slather the handsome vista-blue Mustang above in “SHELBY” graphics large enough to pass for Sunset Strip billboards. There are no acre-wide fenders, no ducktails jutting skyward. The front bumper and grille are similar but less “heavy” in appearance. Wheels are 20-inch Shelby split-spokes but lack the requisite dish deep enough to make a Chicago tourist feel welcome. In fact, they serve to make the Mustang smaller — an important consideration, as we approach the eve of the next Mustang.
Understanding our fondness for Fords, superchargers and the color blue, we were able to drive the exact show car. We felt that charging up Kanan Dume Road under the Malibu sun was a far more fitting place for the Shelby GT than the cramped, amber-hued basement of the Los Angeles Convention Center. A few days later, the Shelby was jammed next to a pink Lamborghini and a human-size statue of Turbo the Snail from his eponymous movie. Such are the indignities perpetuated during the auto-show circuit.
Did we mention superchargers? Yes, we did. The Shelby GT has a Whipple supercharger, big and chrome in the engine bay, that serves as the Shelby GT’s codpiece. Opt for the GT/SC spec and said supercharger will bring power levels up to 525 hp, the same as a Shelby Raptor we drove recently. Add a pulley and a Ford Racing tune, and Shelby says it will do 624 hp, for a claimed 0-60 time in the mid-3s. For drag racers, that’s a quarter-mile time in around 11 seconds. An intercooler is optional; our car has it, with “SHELBY” emblazoned in bright, bold letters. The Shelby people just can’t help it.
All in all, a current base Mustang V8 costs $30,900. The entry to the Shelby GT — with the bodywork, suspension and a mild 10-hp increase — costs $14,995, available at your local Shelby-authorized Ford dealer or at Shelby World Headquarters in Las Vegas, which is equally not known for its restraint. Add on the 525-hp supercharged engine (with the option for 624 hp, as previously mentioned) for $27,995 and ponder the existence of a Shelby GT at $58,895 — a tick above Ford’s homegrown effort, the Shelby GT500, which starts at $54,800. That car can take on Shelby’s Super Snake option, for as much as 850 hp.
