Hollywood_North GT

Spoke to a salesperson at a local Ford dealership this afternoon, and according to him, after having had five inquires about the Shelby GT, he spoke to Ford Canada over the past couple of weeks about the availability of the car, and they advised him that Canada will NOT get the Shelby GT, because - and I quote - "we have the 'California' package here."



Now, bear in mind, that was one salesperson who told me that, so I cannot confirm 100% for sure yet if it is true. The funniest part of the whole thing was that after he told me this, I promptly thanked him and turned around to leave, at which point he tries to prolong the conversation by saying:

"Well, ahhhh, ummm...you want me to call you if they're made available in Canada?"

To which I replied:

"No, no thanks, since you just told me that they're NOT going to be available in Canada, right?"

The GT/CS 'explanation' is just absolutely asinine, though.

karman

Funny story.
Probably BS because if they are selling the GT500 in Canada, why not the Shelby GT.
Sounds like he was told to sell the C/S on the lot. ("Sell what you can see.")

Hollywood_North GT

Well, if it IS true that Canada won't get them, it would be because the GT500 isn't really a Shelby, but an SVT Cobra manufactured by Ford with Shelby's name stuck on it.

The Shelby GT is modded by Shelby Automobiles in Nevada, and is more of a "true" Shelby...so Canada may indeed miss out on it, due to allocation, distribution and shipping issues. Shelby may have a relationship with Ford USA, but not with Ford of Canada, which kind of operates under a separate mandate, I believe.

I called another dealership, and they hadn't even heard about the Shelby GT; no surprise, of course.

1 COBRA

It is such an exciting endeavor dealing with intellectuals, isn't it?
Beats the hail out of a Caribbean vacation.

Hollywood_North GT

Actually, I'll take the Caribbean vacation.

2005GTDELUXE

but go easy on him the guy prolly dosent eat sleep and breath them like we do.

korinwoodo

You could probally bring one up from the states if you wanted to

Hollywood_North GT

Probably, but it's a big headache due to duty and warranty issues. And it would probably cost more overall.

Not worth it.

korinwoodo

Yeah, true enough, duty would be a huge PITA. And then you have to go through the excitement of getting a new cluster, DRLs and various other bits of useless crap to safety it.

mstang

The final decision on the Shelby GT for the Canadian market has not been made yet. The word I heard from Ford was that decision will be made in January.

The decision is up to Ford of Canada. Shelby's relationship is with Ford Motor Company which includes Ford of Canada. If it comes, there would be 500 available to be brought in.
The decision will be based on Transport Canada approval, transportation logistics for the Ship-Thru from Flat Rock to Vegas to final destination, pricing considerations, and the feasibility for Ford of Canada.

Indications are if it does come, it would not be restricted to SVT dealers.

But there has been no official word given, so it is all speculation at this point.

Here's hoping!

Hollywood_North GT

It's incredible to me how ignorant and arrogant dealerships are. I just spoke to another dealer here in town - supposedly their SVT/Shelby "expert," and it was clear he knew nothing about the Shelby GT. When I explained the whole Shelby GT-H Hertz thing to him, he began to clue in, but then he tried to tell me that THOSE cars were only available in California. When I tried to point out that they were actually available for rent in other states, he got kinda snarky with me and told me that his understanding was that they just "went to California."

My feelings of disgust were only enforced when he THEN told me that he had had a few inquires about the "Shelby GT," after having told me that he knew nothing about it.

THEN he said that he had no further information about the car.

At that point, I was so disgusted that I simply said, "So you can't help me, then?" To which he actually replied, "No."

Needless to say, I hung up the phone on him.

He couldn't even be bothered to make the effort.

IDIOTS!

korinwoodo

Hmm, thats good to know, I geuss if we do get it, it will be later than the states. I don't think Transport Canada would have any problems, its basically a GT with mild mods. It'll be interesting to see if we get it or not, I hope we do.

karman

They are hired to be SALESMEN, not car experts. The average car salesman down here knows more about filling out customer information sheets and making cold calls then they will ever know about cars.
You must look long and hard to find a salesman that even cares about cars, let alone knows about them. When you do, keep in touch because it will take a long time to find another.

tuco

I would like to see the Shelby GT come to Canada also and korinwoodo's explanation makes sense to me.

And, karman, thanks for that post, I think you are totally correct and a salesman that actually knows/enjoys the cars he/she sells is a rarity.

Hollywood_North GT

What's frustrating is that this guy was the SVT manager for the dealership.

And they DON'T like an 'educated' buyer. They would rather lose a sale than put any effort into helping a buyer who actually knows what he/she is talking about.

1 COBRA

And all those who want to smoke legally do too.

mstang

The issue Transport Canada would have is the crash ratings for the bumpers. The front bumper should rate the same as the GT/CS but the back bumper is unique.

Transport Canada does not give any special considerations for limited production cars. Ford tried for a year to get an exemption for the Ford GT, then realized it wasn't going to happen and had to re-engineer the bumpers to meet the 8 km crsh requirements to bring the 275 Ford GTs to Canada.
Through the four years of production for the Thunderbird you could never get factory installed foglights for the same reasons.

Hopefully they get it sorted out.

mstang

The decision has been made within Ford of Canada that the Shelby GT will NOT be coming to Canada.

The over-riding factor was the process required to get the bumpers approved through Transport Canada. Not feasible for 500 units.

korinwoodo

Blast. Is that why the Canadian-spec Ford Gts have those rediculous back bumpers? I would tear that thing off so quick the car wouldnt see it coming.

Hollywood_North GT

I believe that was the title of my thread.