Has Ford talked about the future of Shelby/SVT?

 

The next Cobra has to have more horsepower for a number of reasons:

1). The Cobras have steadily increased in horsepower
2). GM and Daimler will have 400-500+ hp naturally aspirated V8 offerings in the Camaro and Challenger (respectively).

 

I don't think they'll have thta much. Unless the motor trend article I read on their website was old. It said the challenger would have a 350 HP hemi, 425 HP SRT version. I think they'd shoot themselves in the foot with a 500 HP camaro and challenger. They need some kinda base to sell to the masses cuz if they can't sell enough of them, it will fail. Then again who knows...I hear it's scheduled for 2010? LOL. Wonder how long their fans are willing to wait for that car if they keep postponing production.

I don't really care if they add more HP to the already staggering 500 HP....I just want it to be more affordable.

 

More likely they will introduce weight reducing materials rather than bump the horsepower up by too much. I think that would please more people and get it well under the pigish Challenger and maybe the Camaro with preliminary guessing on its weight.

If they do give it more horsepower then I hope they can at least balance the weight and suspension to make it handle better.

 

Here's news of the 40th Anniversary GT500 Package offered by SAI:

http://www.shelbyautos.com/news.asp?id=9

And here are some pics...

http://www.shelbyautos.com/gallery.asp?car=xl0

 

Yeah those upgrades look hot. But I bet that will go for even more over MSRP than the GT500 seeing as it's a "more" special edition than the 2007 GT500.

I agree, I hope they take some weight off the front end and keep the same HP. If they could just make the car like a few hundred pounds lighter, that would be DANGEROUS.

 

The top Challenger will get a 6.4L Hemi V8 and it should easily make 450-500 hp. The Camaro is slated to get the LSwhatever and if it is 6.0L or greater, it should be at least 400 hp.

Since the GT500 weighs the same as my 2000 Crown Vic (a 4-door full sized body on frame sedan) and the same as the Hemi sedans, I suspect a diet program is definitely in order for the next Cobra.

Theoretically if you take a Charger SRT-8 or a Magnum SRT-8, slap a 6-9 psi roots blower, you would get comparable performance to the GT500 since they weigh about the same!

 

Yeah as I said, the article mighta been outdated or whatever, but they def didnt say engines that big....6.1L for the SRT give or take a couple .1's, and a smaller one 5.7 for the standard engine. Which wouldn't make those numbers. But seeing as its shceduled now for 2010 who knows what will happen...Iwouldn't doubt them churning out thhose numbers.

 

I hope to see a GT350 with 350-400 crank horsepower and be lighter (maybe a fastback).

 

Maybe a fastback?!?
All the 05+ ARE fastbacks...well 'cept the verts.

 

The S-197s are technically muscle cars since the weight to power ratio is just under 12:1 (3450 lb to 300 hp) But the S-197s aren't fast backs since the slope doesn't continue all the way back. It has hints of fast back styling though.

 

No, it's a coupe. And I mean something with louvers instead of a window.

 

Is ford going to make more SVT vehicles? Or is SVT dead?

 

Since when did power to weight have anything to do with judging if somthing is a muscle car or not?

 

I don't think they are dead, heck, svt.ford.com has the Shelby GT500 on there. If Ford was going to do away with SVT, the first thing they would do is would be to disassociate the SVT name from the public. (not have the GT500 on svt.ford.com, and maybe even just have that domain name as a redirect to Ford or a new web site with the Shelby GT500).

When is the next special edition Mustang going to be marked an SVT though? Who knows. I really don't care what it's named, as long as they keep producing fast Mustangs that look good. (well, and hopefully a Lightning-like truck too)

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle_car

I heard it more than once, and even the alien on American Dad mentioned something about this as well. The S-197 GT meets most of the definitions (intermediate sized car, powered by V8, performance oriented, affordable for most, etc...) and even meets the sub 12:1 weight-to-power ratio (3450 lb curb weight, 300 hp). The S-197 GT even looks like a modern muscle car.

 

Almost a fastback is more the way I see it. 67-73 mustangs offered the true fastback even though it was introduced in 65 and 66. The 65 and 66 "fastbacks" are pretty similar in aspect ratio as the 05+, but when a lot of people think fastback, are thinking fast all the way to the back alla 67-73 (tho technically the 71-73's were called sport roofs).

65


67


71


05

 

Hmmm if they called the 65-66 models "fast backs" we can call the 05-up GTs "fast backs".

 

Actually Ford didn't call them "Fast Backs"
According to Ford literature from the 60s & 70s they were called "Sports Roofs".

 

Actually Sport Roof was a moniker for 69 up Mustangs. Do a google image search for "Mustang Sport Roof" and images will be 69 up. Same search for "Mustang Fast Back" has 65-68 Mustangs with an occasional 69 thrown in.