I do not like it at all. Yellow body with light interior and silver stripes. :notnice: The hood, the spoiler or ducktail. :notnice: The steering wheel. :notnice: The stripes. :notnice: The wheels are not my favorite but fair.

I only area I like somewhat is the front fascia.

I sure hope they make a lot of changes for the better. And they best place Shelby badges in and out. And give it a good looking exhaust.

 

Even though it may be one of four,you'd think someone would step up and say"I really don't think we should embarrass ourselves with this one"

 

I'm not going to pass my judgement until the final version, but that hood and those stripes are terrible. Why did they take Shelby's name off from the car?

 

Didn't even notice that the third brake light was moved, and because it was moved it likely the reason there is no SHELBY letters across the trunk. Those letters were pretty big (and pretty nice) and how could they fit there with the new brake light? Notice the difference below.

I actually don't think the hood vents are that bad... but the slats in the vent need to be the same color as the hood, and the stripes need to go over them, not around them and that means going over each individual slat in the vents as well. Otherwise The silver stripes don't look too bad either, but on yellow you should do black (see avatar ).

I wouldn't worry about the quality of the stripes, this is preproduction after all... but Ford please don't go around vents, don't stop the stripes short of completely covering from the very bottom of the front to the very bottom of the rear, and don't go around the license plate, you have to go into that area.

Better listen to me Ford, I might be able to afford one in '09. Unless there's a really nice new Mach 1 or Boss, then it might be '10 (it'll take time to decide which one).

 

With the changes this quickly from the concept, or I guess the original concept to this new concept, and removal of the shelby name from this version of the car. Anyone think its a possibility that they will release it as an SVT Cobra and then possibly have an even more limited release version as a Shelby?? I have no basis for this other than it would be kinda cool and seems like they made a big deal out of it being a Shelby to take his name off it. Just adding wood to the rumor fire, hehe.

 

speaking of the GT500, is it only going to be offered in Manual? Just wondering (not that I would ever get another auto car again after driving my 05(my first manual ever))

 

I guess I'm in the minority here but I like the hood. The stripes on the other hand... yuck! Stripe delete please! As for the Shelby lettering, or lack thereof, I don't miss it. I doubt ole Shel' did much during the design phase anyway.

I'll give it two thumbs-up (assuming a stripe delete version...)!

 

PS: am I the only person who noticed the yellow eyes deep set behind the grille in this picture?

[attachmentid=27759]

 

Scott...my good friend Bill Ford just called and said all these complainers are being taken off waiting lists . He moved us up.

 

The stripes really stink. I expect a lot better for the Cobra.

 

Perfect. I'll take it yellow, with the silver stripes, around the vents and with the hood.

 

I'm a little baffled myself... Thi Tang got bumped up to head up this project didn't he? He's now head of SVT, no? Judging what Thi Tang did with our beloved 05 design, and the magnificent Shelby concept (which I assumed would be, as they stated, 90% production), I doubt seriously that this car will run as shown. As for the Shelby Shtick, I doubt seriously that they would have had Shelby debut this car with all of that fanfare to simply remove his name and turn it into a cobra.

When I first saw the car, I didn't even believe it was the GT500. I figured it was a tasteless GT with a kit. That front facia can't be mimicked right now though, so I knew once I saw that shot that it was real. I would say that this car is a tasteless mockery of the hard work that has gone into not only the design of the production 05's but the Shelby concept as well.

Thi Tang has better taste than this, and as I said... I would expect MUCH better things out of his project that this. He knows what's up, and he won't dissapoint. I have no fear. This car is just a test model that never got cleaned up. I'd be willing to figure that the dealer got someone to bring a "surprise", and the surprise was an old test car that the design crew had been messing with. I would be surprised if we lost much in the translation from the concept to the finished product.

It would be an embarasment to Ford, to Shelby, and to Thi Tang who takes the Mustang VERY personally. I put my trust in him. He won't let us down. Just put this skeleton back in the closet and lock it down... don't bring it out again... please, I beg you.

 

I can tell you that the dealership itself had no idea the vehicle that SVT was bringing. The staff there were just as suprised as everyone else. This is an annual show for them and every year SVT brings something to show, in the past cars such as the GT-90 concept was shown. The GT500 is obviously the hottest thing SVT has going right now, so it was kinda obvious that that might be what they were bringing. Also I didn't speak with the SVT rep that was there, but heard some of his conversations with others, and he made no indication as to this being an earlier concept that the red one. When people asked about the hood or shleby lettering he indicated that nothing has been finalized yet, and he himself (being on the exterior design team) was unsure of what the final car would look like at this time. So seems to me that they are still trying to find what works for them.

 

Great work getting the shots and the eavesdropping BTW. Glad you were there to capture it. I'm just tossing some speculation out there and stirring the pot. I'm just making assumptions. I've talked to folks before at car shows and they don't have their facts strait. SVT is a small operation, so I'd be a little surprised if the guy was kicking around false info. I suppose I'm just playing devil's advocate and hoping that things turn out MUCH nicer than this car. In the end, we'll see what shakes out.

Thanks again for the shots and the detective work. Don't want to come off as shooting the messenger. Just trying to make people think, and hopefuly come up with something insightful or an angle that someone hasn't thought of.

 

No problem, I wasn't taking it that way, just wanted to throw out some more info that I didn't post before. I agree as well, with this car being closer to the production mustang (spoiler, less cobra or shelby badges etc) it does look like it could be an early prototype that they just threw a front end on and different hood and spoiler. But my guess, highlight the guess part of that, is they might just be testing the waters with a few designs, since Brad said they have 4 hoods they are toying around with. Personally I like the look of the red concept alot better. Not a big fan of the front end on either one since I really like the regular GT look there. I think it looks too close to the Saleen front wich I am not a big fan of. But thats just me, and with just getting an 05 GT I wont be having the cash to pick up a GT500 when they come out, so I wont be one of the lucky few getting one, LOL

 

except for the interior I like this cobra more then the red concept

 

wow great pics thanks......as a hopeful owner og the gt-500 I will just keep my fingers crossed to see how it comes out...I love the concept version and hope they dont change that much from that version....I hate the hood as well but I think Ford will do a great job when it is completed

 

I dunno... that red stitching with the black leather.... oooh baby. This interior just seems lacking. I admit that the red stitching wouldn't work, but would it be that tough to work in a few alternate colors into the stitching? They could do yellow for the yellow cars, Blue for the blue cars, and such. Just my $.02

 

Yes to the hood style, no to the stripes. They look funny. Should be solid all the way down...NICE CAR THOUGH......I would take it!!

 

The SVT team has got to be getting a laugh out of this one...

"Hey guys, let's take one of our engineering mules, paint it, drop a couple ricer-style hood scoops on, and drop some poorly fit stripes on it... that'll really get them talking."

"Good idea! If we make them think it's REALLY gonna be ugly, maybe they won't get so pissed off when we only change 4 or 5 features on the actual production vehicle."