Ford Mustang Shelby GT500: An Icon of American Muscle
Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Overview
The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is an emblem of American automotive excellence, a mix of hard-hitting performance, one-off style and racing lore that stands as one of the most iconic performance cars to ever hit the road. Created by the Ford Motor Company in a joint collaboration with the racing legend Carroll Shelby in 1966, the GT500 stands as a synonym for two-wheeled muscle and technical ingenuity. From its earliest street-legal racing car model to its contemporary iteration as a super-car built to race and win alongside the world’s most high-performance automobiles, the GT500 is an emblem for what American muscle can truly produce.
A Historical Overview: The Birth of a Legend
It was in the early ’60s that the Shelby Mustang story kicks off, in the midst of the muscle car wars being waged by US automakers. Behind Ford’s indulgence was a bid to create a version of its recently launched Mustang with track-day credibility and street sizzle — which, according to Ford’s dealers and corporate headquarters, it sorely lacked. That cavalry came in the form of Carroll Shelby, a former racing driver and automotive designer driven by a compulsive need to build a high-performance version of Ford’s quarter-millionth Mustang, which subsequently rolled off the production line on April 17, 1964. Shelby and his fledgling team got down to work in the spring of 1965, launching the Shelby GT350 to an adoring public later that year. The GT350, with its 289 V8, was a pared-down street-legal race car, engineered to excel on the track. The GT500, launched in 1967, doubled down on that, placing an even greater premium on power — even as it drove like a regular car on the daily.
A car with a 428-cubic-inch V8 that produced 355 horsepower was brutal by 1967 standards, and whose styling was all aggression with flared fenders, an exaggerated power dome hood, and a gorgeous rear wing. It was a car that came to define muscle, a genre of car based on the aesthetic and performance concept of domination.
The GT500’s Evolution: Power Through the Decades
In the late 1960s and ’70s, amid a wave of popular muscle cars that seemed to launch almost every model year, the Shelby GT500 remained one of the most desirable performance cars on the planet. The 1970s oil crisis, and stricter emissions requirements that it precipitated, were part and parcel to the final Shelby-Mustang collaboration. Ford’s muscle era flickered briefly before expiring in 1970. With the loss of the Shelby package, the GT500 went into long-term hibernation – a period during which the Mustang line continued to evolve. The Shelby GT500 finally returned in the early 2000s.
The Mustang’s fifth-generation returned to its roots in 2007 when the Shelby GT500 – a supercharged, 500-horsepower iteration of the classic Mustang, powered by a supercharged 5.4-liter V8 – was reborn. In that form, it began to attract a new generation of fans, and it signalled Ford’s recommitment to producing track-ready, street-legal performance cars – though the original living legend, Carroll Shelby, was involved in both developing the vehicle and helping to ensure that the GT500 stayed true to the original blend of rawness and refinement that made it special.
From 2010 to 2014, Ford iterated the GT500, finally arriving at the 2013-14 model, with a staggering 662 horsepower from a 5.8-litre supercharged V8. It was the most powerful Mustang produced at that time.
Modern Day Beast: The 2020+ Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
The GT500 resurfaced in 2020 as the ultimate Mustang, passing the baton to a performance variant equipped with modern technology and even more power. The sixth-generation- Mustang-based 2020+ GT500 saw a supercharged 5.2-litre ‘Predator’ V8 with 760hp and 625 lb-ft of torque, the most powerful Mustang produced ever and one of the most powerful production cars in the world.
In addition to a screaming supercharged engine, the car accelerates in 3.3 seconds from 0 to 60 mph and does the quarter-mile in under 11 seconds, in the ranks of the supercars. As formidable as the new GT500 might be in a straight line, the most novel aspect of this modern GT500 is the way it fuses brute force with state-of-the-art handling. Ford created aerodynamic wizardry, a dual-clutch 7-speed automatic transmission and sophisticated tuning of the suspension to make the 2020 GT500 a formidable track car. The GT500’s advanced MagneRide suspension and an optional Carbon Fiber Track Pack supply excellent grip and agility, allowing it to corner like it’s a much lighter and more nimble sports car.
Performance: Beyond the Numbers
Yes, the GT500 packs raw power in massive quantities. But its genius lies in how it comes at you: the supercharged V8 paired to a state-of-the-art dual-clutch automatic gives pure haste. The oversized Brembo brakes lift it to a halt, and the advanced cooling gear keeps it running at its best, mile after mile.
Therein lies another virtue of the GT500: it is easy to drive. While some of its many mighty brethren are skittish and suitable only for those with much experience, Ford has engineered the GT500 to be reliably approachable. With ‘AMG Dynamic’ Select, which allows for the inch-thick driving-mode dial atop the center console to be popped into one of five presets, the GT500 is easily drivable and exhilarating.
Design: Aggressive, Yet Refined
At the front, the menacing wide set grill with large air inlets and flanking cobra badges suggests power and intent. But the car’s appearance is more than an appearance and intimidation factor. Behind each chrome grille and mesh screen, there’s an aerodynamic story. Just to create downforce, for instance, a car will need airfoils on its nose, as well as imposing front and rear fenders, and usually tidy side skirts as well.
The two racing stripes, a nod to its original racing version, joined countless later GT500s. The available carbon-fibre wheels and rear wing are there to increase down-force and cornering speed. Even the interior, with its race-driver-type seating position and its stripped-down, purpose-built controls and displays, is designed with performance in mind.
Legacy and Influence
The Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is now an entity in itself; a cultural artifact, immortalized in movies, television and popular culture, as a symbol of liberation, power and freedom. Over the years, the GT500 has stayed true to Shelby’s dream of production-vehicle performance that could beat anything on the track. Ford has simply blown the budget with each subsequent generation, adding to the GT500 what the model didn’t already have, improved performance, technology and design.
This gorgeous example of American excellence was recently featured at the Diamonds and Donuts car show at Diamonds by Raymond Lee, with the next show being in December. This next show will be a toy drive for Christmas, so make sure to come prepared! In the exotic hothouse of high-performance muscle cars, the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is superbly bred, with proven power – one of the quickest production cars in the world – and prestige to spare. Whether it’s ripping down a drag strip, lapping a road course, or cruising the boulevard, the GT500 will always wear its badge with pride.