The 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang Roars at the Dallas Auto Show

The upcoming Shelby GT350 Mustang is going to be for bad boys and wild women. Just ask Ford.

It brought the next-generation of the performance icon to the DFW Auto Show last week. Fittingly, the mischief machine wore stripes, looking as if it were behind bars. The Blue Oval’s Tony Greco, program manager for the 2017 F-150 Raptor, presented it to dozens of journalists, including my colleagues in the Texas Auto Writers Association and me, on the second floor of the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. We were eager to see and learn about a car which some of us had only seen before on the internet. (You’ll be able to spot the GT350 at Ford dealerships late this year.)

Laying eyes upon it in person was not disappointing. The Shelby looked lean, aggressive, hungry, and perfectly exaggerated. Its front splitter, fender vents, steeply raked spoiler, and heavy-duty rear diffuser gave it a boy-racer look in the best way. Ford Performance heightened the car’s visual menace without pushing it over the top.

Of course, with more than 500 horsepower and greater than 400 lb.-ft. of torque from its 5.2-liter V8, the GT350 will no doubt end up being driven by people who will take it over the speed limit. Greco was well aware of that. He said, “It’s a car for the weekend enthusiast, the weekend racer, or just maybe the guy that’s going to get himself in a lot of trouble with the local authorities.” It certainly doesn’t help that Ford’s given the GT350’s engine a flat-plane crankshaft (the kind found in Ferraris), which will help it rev higher.

Little did my fellow writers and I know that we were going to get a chance to hear the GT350 do just that. Normally, when I go to an indoor auto show, I get to see and touch and even sit in the cars, but I can’t recall ever getting to hear one start up. I’m sure it’s because of an insurance-related fear of someone saying, “My sinuses are sensitive to the smell of awesomeness. I’m suing. Wah!”

Fortunately, Ford decided to do the right thing and be cool. The GT350 erupted into life, treating my colleagues and I to the results of what Greco said was two and a half to three years of exhaust tuning. The Shelby sounded as angry as we were happy to hear it firing up. You can do the same by clicking the play button below.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

It's alive! It's alive! | @ford #Mustang #Shelby #GT350 #DallasAutoShow #instacars #Ford #FordTX

A video posted by Derek Shiekhi (@derekshiekhi) on Mar 25, 2015 at 9:21am PDT

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Derek Shiekhi

Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.

After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.

While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.

Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.

In addition to writing for a variety of Internet Brands sites, including JK Forum, H-D Forums, The Mustang Source, Mustang Forums, LS1Tech, HondaTech, Jaguar Forums, YotaTech, and Ford Truck Enthusiasts. Derek also started There Will Be Cars on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.