The original, mid-1960s Shelby GT350 began life as a Mustang that was built by Ford to a certain equipment standard, then sent to the Shelby American for a spa treatment. Carroll Shelby's hot-rodders added bolt-on, go-faster parts for the engine and suspension, a few splashy bits to make it look racier, a Shelby ID number, those iconic Shelby stripes from nose to tail, and the rest is musclecar history. Fast forward to today, and, well, not much has changed.
The current-generation S197-platformed Mustang takes to performance mods like a celebutant to the paparazzi. So why not have the work done by the outfit that did it four decades ago and is still in the Ford tent?
Since Ford didn't loan out current-generation Mustangs as magazine long-term testers when it was launched in 2005, here was our chance to try one, even if it was only for a half year this time out. Vista Blue is a new Shelby color for 2008, and the convertible body style was also added this year, so that's what we conned, er, convinced the Shelby Autos folks to provide.
This Mustang proved polarizing among our staff. Everyone loved the look of it, the rumble from the 319-horsepower, 4.6-liter V-8's Ford Racing Exhaust, and the joy of going topless in SoCal (it had been a long time since we've had a convertible in the fleet). But from there, opinions divided. Some felt the Shelby upgrades were worth the money ($11,800 over the cost of a near-fully loaded GT ragtop) and added to the car's cachet, exclusivity, performance, and handling. Others felt the results weren't justified by the investment. Ours was bit more expensive than most Shelby GTs, as it was built up from a California Special-equipped Mustang, which added another $1895 worth of upgrades. Some liked the old-school feel -- front engine, V-8, snick-snick Hurst shifter, live rear axle -- and others said, "It's too heavy, I hate the shifter, give me an STI." Issues of personal taste upon which we didn't always agree.
Something everyone did agree on is that the current Mustang still has too much cowl shake in convertible form. It has improved over the generations, but other unibody ragtops out there have surpassed it, and we hope this is an issue Ford addresses with future Mustangs. That said, the soft top worked nicely, sealed out noise and the elements better than most. Not everyone liked the interior's hard, plastic surfaces, but we know that issue gets attended to with the upcoming 2010 Mustang. The sport bar, which resembles the one used in the original Shelby GT350 and 500 convertibles of 40 years ago, made it a little tougher getting into and out of the back seat, but looked cool nonetheless. Fuel mileage wasn't bad, considering everyone drove it with his foot to the floor most of the time, so most tanks yielded only a 200-mile-or-so range.
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