Mustang Shelby GT 500????

What in the world is a Ford Mustang Shelby GT500??



Anyone know any history of this brand/make of car?? I'm not understanding the Ford/Shelby combo. I was thinking Shelby was a man who designed his own cars at some point... ..... so,,,,he MADE ford Cars?????????????????



I am not a car guy, but have seen this car in the movies and wondered about it. I see they still make or re-make them in a custon shop out in CA.



You-tube video of the new (0ld?) cars here;



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6bWV7BpHXo&feature=related

 

Like only the neatest car ever built. .





Start here... ...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelby_Mustang



Mike.

 

Ford Mustang body the rest was mostly Shelby's doing.



A friend of my brother father bought 2 identical white ones. One had a small V-8 engine one had a very large V-8. The oldest son would bait other Hot Rodders with the small V-8 but made some escuse to leave, switch GTs out and race them with the large V-8. He won many races

 

Ford has released the tooling for the '65-'70 bodies including the fastback's that the Shelby GT's are based on. Can pretty much build a new "old" Mustang or Shebly GT with the parts available. Not the cool factor of having an original, however.



I enjoy my '66 that is close to stock, but I have often thought it would be cool to take a newly produced shell of a '67 fastback and make a Shelby GT clone with more modern drivetrain and suspension components. It's about $15k for the body (without fenders or hood), some body work involved to make it "show quality", then add powertrain, suspension, brakes, interior, trim pieces, etc for the complete car.

 

There is a company doing the same thing with 69 Camaro bodies. The only problem is you need a donor car for the vin tag.

 

When we lived in Las Vegas my son actually worked for Carroll Shelby at his (then) new facility at the Las Vegas Speedway complex. My son actually worked on Shelby's "old #1", his personal Cobra. The facility was building Shelby's new Series I, a $110K sports car, the first car to be produced in Nevada.

While working there, my son was given a Carroll Shelby autographed leather jacket. Something well worth keeping, not wearing. Especially now that Shelby has passed away.

 

In short... Shelby built the first Cobra, caught the attention of Ford Motor Company, and the rest is history.

Ford would send production Mustangs to Shelby's shop where they would be torn down and rebuilt into the Shelby Mustangs. GT350 and GT500. And the 'H' version, for Hertz Rent-A-Car.

Link to some cool photos of the operation back in the day:

http://www.mustangmonthly.com/thehistoryof/mump_0903_shelby_mustang_history/photo_01.html