Shelby GT review

[JST]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=116496

So, the Shelby GT is apparently this:

-tape package
-Shelby badges
-chrome wheels
-shiny grille
-non functional hood scoop (yeee-ucck)
-Ford Racing "handling pack" (shorter springs, stiffer bars, etc., out of the unfortunately named FRT catalog)
-Ford Racing "Power Pack" (CAI and new TB, plus exhaust and a 3.55 axle ratio, also out of the catalog)
-Hurst shifter

The "value" apparently comes in having Shelby's shop install these Ford-sourced components (though the article doesn't mention if he uses prison labor to do that).

Price? $35,000 (before dealer mark-up).

I guess the article is right when it says "Carroll Shelby still has some compelling tricks up his sleeve"--"compelling" in a separate you from your money kind of way.

Uh, yeah. No thanks. I'll take the Mustang GT and the FRT catalog, please.

[lemming]

i don't know much about the ohc Ford engines, but it seems like there's a lot of power to be had with a hotter cam and headers.

that whole package seems like vaporware to me.

the upside to ancient v8 technology is that it's really amenable to simple little old time tuner tricks to coax out power.

[Theo]

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=116496

So, the Shelby GT is apparently this:

-tape package
-Shelby badges
-chrome wheels
-shiny grille
-non functional hood scoop (yeee-ucck)
-Ford Racing "handling pack" (shorter springs, stiffer bars, etc., out of the unfortunately named FRT catalog)
-Ford Racing "Power Pack" (CAI and new TB, plus exhaust and a 3.55 axle ratio, also out of the catalog)
-Hurst shifter

The "value" apparently comes in having Shelby's shop install these Ford-sourced components (though the article doesn't mention if he uses prison labor to do that).

Price? $35,000 (before dealer mark-up).

I guess the article is right when it says "Carroll Shelby still has some compelling tricks up his sleeve"--"compelling" in a separate you from your money kind of way.

Uh, yeah. No thanks. I'll take the Mustang GT and the FRT catalog, please.

Maybe in black and for 25K for a 2yo one? =)

Oh yeah and after yanking off that horrible hood scoop.

[ff]

I just don't see the value in Shelby's shop installing the components. Who cares? Especially in this day in age where everybody and their uncle installs aftermarket parts for a living.

[lemming]

I just don't see the value in Shelby's shop installing the components. Who cares? Especially in this day in age where everybody and their uncle installs aftermarket parts for a living.

the only advantage would be for potential theoretical trade-in at some later point where OEM stuff holds its value higher than aftermarket stuff.

but that's a crap difference.

these sorts of mustangs will hold their values about as well as the shelby dodge avenger thingys in the 1980s did. which is to say not very well.

[JST]

I just don't see the value in Shelby's shop installing the components. Who cares? Especially in this day in age where everybody and their uncle installs aftermarket parts for a living.


Yeah, resale. I think these things will hold their value a bit better than the Dodge Shelbys, just because they are muscle cars and kind of look like old Mustangs, but I don't see them being collector's items any time soon.

My prediction (and I may be wrong on this) is that even the GT500 is going to be widely available at discounts off MSRP by the end of next summer.

[clyde]

Priced the parts yet? It could make for a more promising FS car...

:eeps:

[Sharp11]

I just don't see the value in Shelby's shop installing the components. Who cares? Especially in this day in age where everybody and their uncle installs aftermarket parts for a living.

It's for guys my age and older who grew up in the 60's - the shelby thing was a big deal.

Ed

[ff]

It's for guys my age and older who grew up in the 60's - the shelby thing was a big deal.

Ed

Wouldn't it be more fun installing the stuff yourself? I think it would.

[JST]

Priced the parts yet? It could make for a more promising FS car...

:eeps:


Would it be FS legal, or would the fact that Shelby bolted the parts in make it a "tuner" car? Even if it is FS legal under the current rules, is that likely to be the case after the current FS guys start bitching about it? I can see them dropping this in BS or in one of the SP classes.

[clyde]

Would it be FS legal, or would the fact that Shelby bolted the parts in make it a "tuner" car? Even if it is FS legal under the current rules, is that likely to be the case after the current FS guys start bitching about it? I can see them dropping this in BS or in one of the SP classes.
It depends on whether the SEB sees it as a factory package or not. It sounds to me like it's going to be offered as a factory package (as opposed to, say, the Saleen Mustangs of the not-too-distant past). If that's the case, and the SEB also sees it that way, it will be a Stock legal car. It may not stay in FS (although I'd think it will), but it will still stay in Stock.

If that's the case, you could buy a regular Mustang GT, add the parts and you'd have a Stock legal car. The trick is being sure that you've changed all the parts and the car is the functional equivalent of the factory build. For instance, you wouldn't have to add the stripes, but if the factory build comes with the ShakerEarDrumBlaster 37,000, your custom build would have to have it as well. If the factory build comes with softer bushings or a slower steering rack, the custom would need them too.

Whenever a new car or option package comes out that may upset a class balance, people bitch. The SEB is used to it. Look at the '99 Miata guys bitching and clamoring up a storm over the Solstice. Like the Solsitice is a CS car, the Shelby GT is an FS car. Period. Final specs on the Camaro haven't been released. That's the car that is most likley to upset the FS apple cart...and they all know it. But that's where it belongs.

There are only a handful of factory cars that are on the Stock exclusion list that would otherwise meet the rules for inclusion (series produced, more than 1,000 built/sold in the US for a model year, etc). The E36 M3 LTW is really the only close to mainstream car that comes to mind, and it's in BSP because of the limited availability.

[blee]

Non-functional hood scoop. :jack: Sorry kids, I'll take the GT without the Shelby "market adjustment."