History of the Shelby Mustang
Autor: Rogerio Câmara | Publicado: 2012-01-21T16:05:00-08:00






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&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; In 1965,
about a year after the release of the Mustang, Ford decided that they were
going to toughen up the Mustang line. So, they asked Carroll Shelby to make
their pony car compete with GM's Chevy Corvette. In order to do this, Ford
produced a normal white fastback without rear seats or hoods and sent them to
Shelby so they could do whatever it was they wanted to do.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Shelby added and deleted several things to/from
the Mustang. An aluminum intake was added to the engine to push it from 271
horsepower to 306. The Shelby headers came out in front of the rear wheels and
the car had a Borg-Warner T-10 four-speed transmission. The exterior design had
several changes that wasn't all too noticeable from far. The Mustang got a
fiberglass hood with functional hood scoops. The side of the car got a blue
stripe across the base of the body with the words "GT 350" behind the
front 15" wheels. Also on the exterior, while all the original Mustang
emblems were removed, Shelby added a little horse emblem on the driver's side
of the grill. The suspension was a big part of the Shelby modifications. A
larger front stabilizer bar, a 1" sway bar, adjustable Koni shocks and
Koni rear traction bars. On the interior, the vacant rear seat area was the new
spot for the spare tire. The interior only came in black. with a 3-spoke
steering wheel. The Shelby also got competition seat belts. Only 562 Shelby
Mustangs were made; 12 were race models; 36 were "R" models; 516 were
street GT 350 models. These cars were all released by Carroll Shelby on
January. 27, 1965. The price of the base Shelby's were about $4,000. They
weren't quick and fast sellers, but they were bought by real car enthusiasts,
which is who they were intended for in the first place.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1966 saw a more profitable car, instead of just a
fast limited production vehicle. The car lost it's one color only "take it
or leave it" thought, by adding color options including black, red, green,
and blue. The side stripe on the non-white color options were white. At first,
the car was offered with a fiberglass hood, but complaints about poor fiberglass
materials made Shelby redo the hood in steel. The tri-colored horse emblem on
the grill was a bit smaller. Also, a new GT 350 gas cap was added. On earlier
production vehicles, there was 15" wheels, but later they were removed and
14" wheels were added with the option of 14" 10-spokes. There was
still the same 4-Speed transmission and same engine. Much of the suspension was
the same as the normal production Mustangs, because they were another special
addition to the car that wasn't needed to make a profit off of it. Ford
heavy-duty shocks were used, with Koni shocks as an option. The interior was
still in only black. There was a special chrome GT 350 center cap on the
steering wheel. The spare tire was placed in the trunk and then later on in the
production it was placed under the hood. There was three special versions of
the Shelby Mustangs. One was a Supercharged option of the GT 350. Shelby only
offered around 10 of these vehicles It gave the engine about 390HP. Another
version of the Mustang was the Hertz Mustang. This version was added when Ford
and Hertz rent-a-center made a deal to offer and special GT 350 Hertz edition.
There was only about a thousand of the Hertz Mustangs made. On the Hertz
edition Mustangs, many of them were black with gold stripes. There was also
four other colors that included the gold stripes too. One other special edition
of the Shelby Mustang was a special convertible model. None of these were sold
to the public. Carroll Shelby gave 5 of the convertible models to friends and
one to himself. One of those 6 were apparently destroyed, while the other 5
still exist. 3 or 4 racing models were made too.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;1967 saw a change in Mustang styling, making it
more tough and muscular looking. And then, Shelby topped that with a even
tougher looking appearance. Yet again, more delicious extras were taken away.
The stang no longer came with Tri-Y headers, but now came with stock exhaust
manifolds. The 289cu. in. engine rated at 306HP still remained there. Two
functional scoops on the side of the car, two hood scoops and a rear spoiler
were added to the car. The hi-beam lights in the center of the grill on the GT
350s were not aloud in some states, because state law mandated that they must
be on the outer edges of the grill, which would actually let the engine breathe
in more air Also, there was lights in the upper side scoops that many states
had a problem with too. Only about 200 models left the factory with those
lights as they were, before a few things were changed. On the passenger-side of
the grill was a little horse emblem as had been on the driver's side in 65 and
66. On the rear on the car were two long Mercury Cougar taillights. Lots of
fiberglass was also used. The hood, fenders, trunklid and a 3-inch extension to
the cars length were all in fiberglass. The biggest edition to the Shelby line
was the Mustang GT 500. This was the big-block version of the Shelby Mustang.
The `67 Mustang's larger body made it easier to fit the huge 428cu in. police
interceptor motor, which made 355 horses. The engine had a medium-riser
aluminum intake manifold. The car came with power steering and power brakes.
The car was known to have suffered when turning into corners at high speeds
because of the extra weight in the front of the car. The car was offered with a
C-6 Automatic Transmission or a Ford Toploader 4-Speed manual. This year didn't
see any Hertz or any special Supercharged edition of the GT 350. The only
special car was a Super Snake. 50 of them were supposed to be made, but weren't
due to the high price that the car would have to cost just to make a bit of
profit off of it. The car had a 427 Cobra motor that boasted 520HP. It included
tuned headers, aluminum heads, aluminum intake, and a 4-Speed Transmission with
a 4.11. The car was actually on eBay twice in 2002, but the reserve was never
met, but bids reached $169,100. Around 2,000 GT 500s and 1,100 GT 350s were
produced.



&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ford didn't change much to the 1968 model
from the 1967 model, but there was several differences between the naming of
the 1968 model from any of the past Shelbys. Ford had by that time owned the
Cobra name and wanted to get it out to people like they would have to do sooner
or later anyway. So, they slapped it on the Shelbys. The actual word
"Mustang" was not found on any of the Shelbys in the 1968. The name
was changed from "Shelby Mustang" to "Shelby Cobra". Again,
the GT 350 had a 302 and the GT 500 had a 427 engine, which became a 428 Cobra
Jet later in production with the GT500KR ("King of the Road"), but
this time, more luxurious items and more options were offered. On the exterior,
there was two gigantic scoops of the fiberglass hoods. Right at the front edge
of the Shelbys hood were the word Shelby spelled very openly. This wording was
also on the rear spoiler. The grill sported two wide rectangular fog lights
rather than the circular lights that were placed there in past years. On the
sides of the cars, about an inch away from the front of the door, was a
coiled-up snake. This snake emblem was also used when Ford introduced the SVT
Mustang Cobra in 1993. Also, the taillights were basically the same as the `65
Thunderbird's. Much of the suspension was like a normal Mustang GT, with a few
changes. Instead of just black, many colors were offered on the `68 Shelbys.
Wood grain inserts were put on the doors and the dash, giving it a more
luxurious look instead of the sporty interior. With this new model year, Shelby
added a wide-spread amount of convertibles (compared to past years anyway). 404
GT 350 Convertibles, 402 GT 500 Convertibles, and 318 GT 500KR Convertibles
were made. There was also a bunch more normal Shelby Fastbacks were produced.
1,253 GT 350 Fastbacks, 1,140 GT 500 Fastbacks, and 933 GT 500KR Fastbacks were
made.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The Ford Mustang was completely redesigned in
1969. Now with this new model year, Ford used many of Shelbys old options on
their other Mustang models. So, Shelby tried again to one-up everything else.
On the exterior, Shelby used fiberglass to extend the whole nose of the car.
The hood had 5 scattered around scoops; 3 pointing forwards and 2 pointing
backwards. 2 other scoops were put right behind the door on the rear fender to
cool the brakes. The front grill was very open. The only thing blocking the grill
was a small little Cobra emblem. Instead of having the fog lights up on the
grill, they were moved to under the bumper. The side stripe was moved to the
middle of the door and went past the two wheel openings. A small cobra emblem
was put just below the roof line on the Fastbacks and on the top rear of the
front fenders on the Convertibles, which were again widely available. The rear
spoiler was just a little taller than the `68s. Again, the Mustang had the
sequential Thunderbird taillights. A large aluminum outlet was used around the
dual exhaust system which came out right in the middle of the car. The wheels
again were basically the same as they had been for a while. The interior was
the same as the `68 models. The GT 350 got a standard 302 like it had for a
long time, but also came with an optional 351. The GT 500 came with a 428
again. The remaining Shelbys from 1969 were sold as 1970 models. Ford only
added two black stripes down the center of the car and a black front spoiler.
1,085 GT 350 Fastbacks, 194 GT 350 Convertibles, 1,536 GT 500 Fastbacks, and
335 GT 500 Convertibles were produced during the two years.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;After 5 years, Ford and Carroll Shelby split. The
Shelby Mustangs would no longer exist. This was the end of a very famous high
performance car. Not much could be better for people who wanted to go really
fast for really cheap. After this split of the two car companies, Shelby signed
a deal with Chrysler to produce special performance editions of Dodge vehicles
in 1982. Also, Carroll Shelby introduced the idea of the Dodge Viper to the
Chrysler Corporation. The car's name was oddly enough based on a snake, much
like the Shelby Cobra. Although Ford and Shelby went their separate ways, as of
lately, they have come together to design the Ford Shelby Cobra and GR-1.







&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; While the
2012 Ford Mustang remained virtually the same as the previous model year, Ford
did add one awesome gem to the Mustang lineup with the unveiling of the 2012
Boss 302. The Boss 302 Mustang features an upgraded 5.0L engine which pumps out
444 horsepower and 380 lb/ft of torque. Also in 2012 the Mustang's pricing was
increased for the premium packages while the base model 2012 Mustang GT price
fell just enough to put it under the $30,000 mark.

Source/Fonte: muscularmustangs.com