First Look: 2007 Ford Shelby GR-1
Okay, Okay, So You Didn'T Like Der Cobra
Does the Shelby GR-1 owe its existence to the lukewarm reaction the world's media gave the Cobra concept at the 2004 Detroit Show? Well, sort of, says J Mays (left).
"We said we didn't want to go retro with the Cobra in the way that we did with the GT because we were just going to end up with a kit car. Although I still really like the car, when we finished it we sort of stood back and said 'you know, it's like a Cobra TT. It's just too German looking.' Almost everyone agreed, including me, that it wasn't voluptuous enough."
"We wanted to come back and show that we can do big, fluid, voluptuous,
wonderful, organic shapes, and that we can do them fresh."
"Is there a Cobra coupe influence in the GR-1? Yeah, I suppose there's a knowing wink to it in the tail, but everything else is different. It's got some 1970s Italian influence in it as well--there's a lot of linearity and sheerness to it that you might find on Maseratis from that era. There's some DeTomaso Mangusta in there, too."
"But I wouldn't call this car retro. I'd call it bloody modern."