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| 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 |
Photo credits: www.torquenews.com
Short History of Ford Mustang Shelby GT350
Carroll Shelby (1923-2012) RIP
He was one of the greatest car constructors that'd ever been born. Although through out his life he copped with a serious heart problems, that didn't stop him in becoming a legend in both racing and car design. He started his racing career during fifties and it went from driving his friends TC Midget to becoming Cad-Allard, Aston Martin and Maserati teams. He won 24 Hours of Le Mans race, Mount Washington Hillclimb Auto Race (with 10:21.8 record run). He also participated in Formula 1 races during 1958 and 159 and received Driver of the Year award from Sports Illustrated.
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| Carroll Shelby in one of his Cobra's |
Photo credits: www.hotrod.com
After he retired from racing he opened Shelby American company which imported AC Cobra racing cars from Great Britain and equip them with Ford V8 engines. Soon his company started assembling some of the most legendary American pony cars like: Shelby Mustang GT350, Shelby Mustang GT500. Accept Ford Shelby also worked with Dodge and Oldsmobile. He also made Series 1 which is the only car made from paper by Shelby's company. He took part in many projects in and out automotive industry, from designing wheels for Saab to organizing Terguila Chilli Cooking Championship. He received 2008 Automotive Executive of the Year Award, entered Woodrow Wilson High School hall of fame and founded Carroll Shelby Children's Foundation that heart disease treatments for children, who can't afford them.
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| Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 from the sixties |
Photo credits: Wikipedia.org
Shelby Mustang GT350
It is a high performance version of
Ford Mustang made by Carroll Shelby's company in the second half of sixties and from 2007 until this day. First model was made for 1965 model year and it was the smallest out of all GT350 models. These vehicles were often called Cobra's, like regular Cobra A.C. models made in cooperation between
Ford and Shelby American. They also came with the cobra emblem. First models didn't offered much comfort and weren't made for easy driving. They were made to be race models only, under the SCCA rules. Later this model received numerous interior and exterior updates and became a regular high performance pony car. Last model year of the old Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 was 1970, after which Carroll Shelby terminated his agreement with Ford. After a long pause, on 45th anniversary of the first Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 release, Shelby American released a new GT350 model that came with 5,0 liter V8 engine. It was also promoted as a post-title upgrade and offered to 2011 Mustang owners to take their vehicle to Las Vegas Shelby plant for a conversion.
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| 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 spy photo |
Photo credits: www.caranddriver.com, Chris Doane Automotive
2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Overview
This model comes as a spiritual successor of the Shelby Mustang, but it is actually fully produced by the Ford SVT division. It has much more in common with Ford Mustang Boss 302, than with the last Mustang Shelby GT500 that comes with powerful superchrged engine. New model is caught testing in Dearborn, Michigan near the Ford companies headquarters, as well as at the Nurburgring testing tracks.
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| 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 spy photos |
Photo credits: www.caranddriver.com, Chris Doane Automotive
Exterior
New model is based on the same platform as regular Ford Mustang GT. It comes with a stiffed coupe body, with without big rear wing, bigger wheels and hood vents, which is all very different from the looks of the last Shelby GT500 model, that came with all that, plus some extra. On its front it comes with an angry maw and numerous openings covered with mash. It also has two kinked bars in the grille opening, which is seen often on the vehicles that come from Ford's SVT division. This model will come with improved aerodynamics with the new front splitter and two canards attached to the front bumper.In the back we can see four nice looking exhaust outlets, and muscular-looking diffuser element.
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| 2012 Mustang Boss 302 interior |
Photo credits: www.caranddriver.com
Interior
There's no information about this model's interior design. We think like the rest of the configuration it might look like something we saw in Mustang Boss 302, but since we are not sure, we shall wait for a few months and then try to find out some more info.
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| 5,0 litre Coyote V8 engine from 2011 Ford Mustang GT |
Photo credits: www.caranddriver.com
Performance section of the new model is where it completely defers from the GT500 model, which in previous model year's came with large 5,6 liter Trinity V8 engine that is able to produce 662 horsepower. Future Shelby GT350 engine is going to be 5,0 litre V8, dubbed ''Voodoo'' engine and it is going to be the modified version of 5,0 liter V8 Coyote engine from Mustang GT. This engine is going to be able to produce 552 horsepower which is more than its main rival Camaro Z/28. Manual transmission will come as part of the base offer, and ford is not planing to pair this engine with automatic transmission.
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| Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 |
Photo credits: www.leftlane.com
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| Nissan GT-R |
Photo credits: www.leftlane.com
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| Chevrolet Corvette Z06 |
Photo credits: www.leftlane.com
Other Possible Options
Chevrolet Camaro, is naturally aspired rival of any vehicle from Mustang line up, and Z/28 model is in constant race with mustang Shelbies. Corvette and GT-R are much stronger and more expensive vehicles, but for people who like high speeds and power boosts, these are a logical next step.
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| Green Mustang Boss 302 |
Photo credits: www.torquenews.com
Price and Release Date
These information are also not available yet, but we expect the new model's base version to cost around $50,000. 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 is going to be released in the end of 2015.
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| Shelby Mustang GT500 Super Snake |
Statement
If you read online lifestyle magazines and similar ''Tell me how to live'' crap, you probably noticed that in articles where they tell about what each car tells about its driver, sport car drivers are labeled as insecure or sometimes even as pure assholes. Of course like among drivers of any class there are vast number of idiots among people who enjoy high speeds, but these labels are far fro truth. Spot car lovers are one of the rare drivers that really care about their cars. Other than that I've always seen some jealousy in these car psychology articles, and never really find out are these the product of some wide research or some jealous nerd writing them on a Saturday night. anyway we need to live with our sins, and and at least hot girls love us and our rides.
Trivia
Gone in 60 Seconds movie featured customized Ford Mustang Shelby from 1971 with a sports roof. It was dubbed Eleanor and it was the first car to receive star title credit in a movie. remake of the same movie also featured the same car. Later this vehicle was the reason of controversy, when Carroll Shelby's company start producing their version of Eleanor, but they were sued by the widow of H.B. Toby Halicki, independent fimmaker and the director of the first movie. Halicki's widow won the case and the production of the new Eleanor was ceased.
Shelby Mustangs were seen in some really famous Hollywood movies like:
Charlies Angels,
I Spy,
Apollo 13 and the mentioned
Gone in 60 Seconds.
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| Girls and Eleanore Shelby Mustang |
Photo credits: Ryan Merrill-photographer
What Do Girls Think About Ford Mustang Shelby GT350?
Girls we interviewed about this model have different opinions. Some of them though that this car looks very powerful, handsome and delivers powerful statement. Others think that this looks like a ride of some newly rich guy who decided to invest all his wealth into that car and tuning parts that go with it. In one sentence they think the owner would give more care to its car then to them. One girl also told us that this is a right car for the rich bachelor if he wants to attract women.
