Bought my wife side stripes at Christmas for her Vista Blue Convertible and finally got a chance to put them on yesterday. We think it adds a lot to the look of the car. Hard to tell from the picture, but the stripe is silver.

 

The stripes look good, and I'm not trying to dis them, but I don't understand why people put the GT300 on their S197 Mustangs. There is no GT300 for our model year, and the engine size is 281, so I guess you're using the 300 because the HP equals 300 at the crank?

Again, not trying to ruffle feathers, just trying to get a better understanding why so many people use the GT 300 on their S197

-danny

 

The stripes make the sides of the car more complete and balanced, and obviously more aggressive. Geez, the more I see the lower side stripes like those on S197, the more I like them.

The numbers confuse me, as I'm not a hard-core car guy. I did go online and research it because of Pegasus' post though.

I'm still confused: What's wrong with using 300? The GT500 has a cu.in. displacement of 330. What am I missing?

4.6 L = 281 cu.in.
5.4 L = 330 cu.in. = GT500 (If this is the logic, then the use of GT300 is correct, right?)

I have to read more. I feel like an idiot because I don't understand this. I just bought The Complete Book of Mustang, and the info is surely in there.

 

My thought was the GT300 is for 300hp, other than that, I would not understand the GT300. I think it looks better than the other stripes available for this model.

 

Red, the GT500 is okay, as its the new version of the Shelby line. The number GT500 didn't mean anything special. It was just Carroll Shelby playing with numbers. For the GT350 in 1965, he asked one of his buddy's how far of a distance in paces were they standing from the building over across the lot. Someone said "about 350 paces" and thats how the GT350 was named. For the GT500, since it was a bigger displacement engine compared to the 350, they just upped the number (or so I read)On the new Shelby, I have no problem with the GT500 on the side as its a REAL Shelby, and playing off the lineage.

 

Yeah, be prepared to get comments on the GT300 thing. I had the exact same stripes on mine until it got damaged. I was going to put them back on but went with darkfireGT's faded stripes in silver as soon as he can get them made. To me it's no diferent than putting a mod on your car that isn't from the factory or from a S.E. company like Shelby. It's done all the time by alot of us. If you're a purist, fine. Leave your car in the factory trim the way it came. Otherwise, hey, it's your car, if you like it, that's really all that matters. As for what I think about your car....

 

Looks great! IMO, I'd swap different emblems for the "GT" now.
I love the look the rocker stripes added to mine! Since having the GT/A emblem on the fender, I had to ditch the "GT" as not to repeat so close together. I replaced them with the V6 Pony Package running horses and looks great IMO.

 

I think the side stripes add to the looks of the car