Shelby

45th anniversary of the Ford Mustang

By David Greig

20:43 April 12, 2009 PDT

On April 17, 2009, Ford and the Mustang Club of America will commemorate the 45th anniversary of the legendary Ford Mustang with a four-day celebration in Birmingham, Alabama. Based originally on the Ford Falcon, the brand has gone through many changes over its 45 year history, but still retains the essence of the breed. Ford released the first Mustang in 1964 (dubbed Mustang 1964½ because it came out at the unusual half way point of the year) and since then it has become one of the most iconic muscle cars in American automotive history, selling 9 million units along the way. Read More

Ultimate Aero EV: 1000 horsepower electric supercar

By Paul Evans

03:18 January 28, 2009 PST

January 28, 2009 In the latest installment from the company that announced only four months ago that it is working on a new breed of EV super car “featuring a revolutionary power source allowing for the possibility of several years between charging”, we now have the just-as-fantastic prospect of the world's first roadgoing 1000 bhp battery electric vehicle. Shelby Sports Cars says it expects to roll out its first full-scale, pre-production Ultimate Aero EV in Q2 2009 so we won’t have long to see if this ambitious claim can become reality. Read More

Convertible Ford Shelby GT coming

By Mike Hanlon

June 14, 2007 The 2008 Ford Shelby GT will be available with a new convertible body style from August 2007. Only 2,300 2008 Shelby GT coupes and convertibles will be built in order to maintain exclusivity for collectors. Each car will feature an authentication plate on the center dashboard, as well as a matching tag under the hood for documentation in a forthcoming registry. Read More

No prisoners: the 725 horsepower Ford Shelby GT500 Super Snake

By Loz Blain

May 1, 2007 Shelby and Ford have joined forces again to produce a mega-muscle car with one simple goal: "to blow the doors off most anything on the planet." They're claiming up to 725 horsepower from the Super Snake, which is over a hundred more ponies than the top-of-the line Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorino, and probably almost enough power for a trip down to the shops. This car, friends, is an absolute bad-ass. Read More

Carroll Shelby tries his hand at building a motorcycle

By Mike Hanlon

February 8, 2007 Carroll Shelby International and Rucker Performance unveiled a limited production Shelby motorcycle at the Cincinnati V-Twin Expo last week. The high performance motorcycle was developed in partnership between the two companies and will be built by Rucker Performance. Sticking to his tried and true formula of brute horsepower in a lightweight frame, the powerhouse is a new S&S X-Wedge 128 c.i.d. engine with closed loop VFI fuel injection that churns out a healthy 150 bhp. Each Shelby motorcycle can be custom painted according to the owner’s personal tastes and includes a special edition logo. In addition, a complete line of Shelby merchandise including apparel, accessories and limited edition collector’s items will be available. Initial production of the Shelby will be a very limited edition run of 25 motorcycles that will be available for purchase by the third quarter of this year. Production of a second round of bikes will begin in the fall of 2007. Read More

Carroll Shelby’s Personal Dual Supercharged 800 BHP Cobra

By Mike Hanlon

UPDATED November 5, 2006 The name Carroll Shelby is universally known for his remarkable road and racing cars, so when his personal car comes up for sale, it’s worth taking notice. In 1966, Shelby plucked this vehicle from a line of 19 production Competition Cobras and molded it into one of the most impressive automobiles ever built. It has a monstrous 427cid, 800hp twin Paxton supercharged V8 with a super three-speed automatic transmission. “When I built this dual supercharged 427 Cobra in 1966, I wanted it to be the fastest, meanest car on the road,” said Shelby. “Forty years later, it will still kick the tail of just about anything in the world. It’s the fastest street legal Cobra I’ve ever owned.” For those interested in the history of the vehicle, check out this web page with lots of detailed (if somewhat faded) images of the restoration. Read More

Formula One Car for the Road - the Hulme SuperCar

By Mike Hanlon

Conceived as a Formula One car for the road, and named after famous Kiwi racing driver Denny Hulme, the Supercars NZ Hulme is a new contender in the UKP300,000 plus European exotica category. Unveiled to the local New Zealand media in mid 2005, the company had its initial European tour-de-force over the last few weeks at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the ultra-exclusive Salon Prive. The Hulme SuperCar is powered by a BMW M5 V8 producing 550brake horses running through a six speed sequential gearbox, and weighs in at the curb with all bodily fluids topped up at a very slim 1175 kilograms. The body is a carbon fibre shell and will be produced in limited quantities of up to 30 a year in the Koeniggseg and Pagani category of high end exotica. Read More

World Car of the Year Awards

By Mike Hanlon

April 18, 2006 The World Car of the Year Awards were announced over the weekend at the New York International Auto Show with the BMW 3-Series awarded the 2006 World Car of the Year, the Citroen C4 declared the World Car Design of the Year for 2006, the Porsche Cayman S taking out the 2006 World Performance Car title and the Honda Civic Hybrid scoring the title of World Green Car for 2006. The awards are the most prestigious of all automotive awards because the program is initiated by, organized by, and conducted by, automotive journalists from around the globe. Final voting on a variety of parameters is done by a jury of 46 international automotive journalists with voting tabulated by KPMG. Read on to see the details and the top three placegetters in each category. Read More

Rent-A-Racer Shelby GT350H (for Hertz)

By Mike Hanlon

April 14, 2006 EXTENSIVE IMAGE LIBRARY UPDATED In a throwback to the famed Shelby GT350H "Rent-A-Racer" program from the 1960s, Ford Motor Company, Shelby Automobiles and The Hertz Corporation are partnering to produce a special run of performance-modified Ford Mustang GTs – designated Shelby GT-H, for "Hertz" – that will be available for rent later this spring exclusively through Hertz. Approximately 500 units will be available through the Hertz Fun Collection at select airport locations Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. Weeehahhh! Read More

Concept cars move to the forefront of collectables

By Mike Hanlon

January 27, 2006 Collecting rare automobiles has long been one of the more rewarding forms of investment as it has the added bonus of owning and driving a fine automobile while your asset appreciates. As the successful baby boomer generation begins to retire and cash in decades of endeavour, this appreciation of fine automobilia and the wonderful camaraderie which surrounds the collector scene is driving prices ever higher … and with it, a new star has emerged among automotive collectables - the concept car. Concept vehicles are vehicles with an instant and easily verifiable history – in the same way that cars owned by celebrities fetch a higher price, the concept car is usually created as a one-off, by a team of experts as a showcase of future technology (the first car with … electric windows, fuel injection, ad infinitum) and hence it has its own celebrity status, having been the focal point of massive media promotion at a major public event. Last week’s Barrett-Jackson Auction was a prime example – it attracted record attendance, broke numerous world records, had total sales of more than US$100 million and saw US $4,320,000 paid for a General Motors Futureliner concept bus, US$3,024,000 for a 1954 Pontiac Bonneville Special concept car and US$648,000 for Shelby Cobra GT500 Concept car just nine months old. Read More

Ford Shelby Cobra GT500

By Mike Hanlon

March 24, 2005 The most powerful factory-built Ford Mustang in history takes to the street next year, following a unique collaboration between performance car legend Carroll Shelby and the Ford Special Vehicle Team (SVT). Ford took the wraps off the 450-plus-horsepower Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 show car at the New York International Auto Show yesterday. Designed in the unmistakable image of Shelby Mustangs of the 1960s, the Shelby Cobra GT500 melds SVT's modern engineering with the big-block performance that made the original GT500 the king of the road. Read More

Sport Trac Adrenalin – supercharged V8, All-Wheel-Drive, 6-speed auto, Sport Utility Truck

By Mike Hanlon

March 21, 2005 The Ford Sport Trac Adrenalin is a high-performance sport-utility truck (SUT) and will effectively launch its own category when it goes on sale in the United States in 2007. The Adrenalin comes with a full-house of functionality - a supercharged, 390-horsepower V-8, a six-speed automatic transmission, SVT-tuned fully independent suspension, all-wheel-drive , the utility of a pick-up and room for four. The Adrenalin showcases Ford's plans to produce in 2007 the first sport truck offering the combination of uncompromised utility, four-passenger capability and true performance. Along with the Ford Shelby Cobra GT500 - which will go on sale in 2006 - Adrenalin will continue SVT's product momentum that has been growing since the introduction of the acclaimed Ford GT super car in 2004. Read More

The All-American Eagle back on the racetrack

By Mike Hanlon

February 24, 2005 One of the most famous Formula One cars of all time will be on show this coming weekend at the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit near Melbourne. Dan Gurney's 'screaming' Weslake V12-engined Eagle F1 will be in full flight at the Shannons Phillip Island Classic (February 26-27). Built by Gurney's own All American Racers, the Eagle F1 took Gurney into the history books when he won the 1967 Belgian Grand Prix, becoming only the second GP driver in history after Jack Brabham to win a Formula One race driving the car he built. Read More

Shelby GR-1 set for world trip

By Mike Hanlon

February 18, 2005 Snapped yesterday heading from Detroit to Geneva, Carroll Shelby's GR-1 concept vehicle is possibly set to wow European audiences in the same way it has captivated Americans from the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance to the Detroit Motor Show. The entire car is polished aluminium and even the headlights are water-cooled. If Ford decides to put it into production, potential buyers can expect to pay around US$200,000 for it. This is the second concept car produced by the magical combination of Ford and Shelby - the pair fell out for a while but more than four decades after their original agreement to produce performance cars, Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby are back together producing exquisite production and concept cars. Read More

Ford GT40 Race History

By Mike Hanlon

The GT40 history began in the early sixties, and extended for almost a decade. During this time, it developed from an initially unreliable vehicle to one which swept all before it in endurance races across the world. Along the way, it was associated with some of the biggest names of motorsport on both sides of the Atlantic: Carroll Shelby, AJ Foyt, Dan Gurney, Bruce McLaren, Jackie Ickx, Phil Hill, and Mike Hailwood. The win in 1966 was one of Ford Motor Company's greatest moments. Read More