Heh, I already have a sleeper car, I like the "nice car" comments I get from the guys at my daughter's soccer game :P

 

You agree with me...I think. lol

 

Haha oh boy.....

 

I think he does too. And for all the Shelby hate, I could take it or leave it. Growing up, the man was a huge inspiration to me, but in his later years he has been somewhat of a disappointment. I still wouldn't kick a GT500 out of my garage because it has his name on it though, and anyone who would kick one out of their garage BECAUSE of that...well, I'd call you a fool.

That being said, with the rise in cost of materials/cars, yes any SVT Mustang wouldn't be any less expensive than the current GT500, Shelby name or not. Look at the performance level and value for what you get, especially compared to the now $45k (loaded price) GT Premium. The prices have inflated across the board. Period.

 

Marketing 101:

Shelby Mustang sounds good.

SVT Mustang doesn't.

Biggest problem with SVT is the poor branding. Now, SHO was great branding, too bad Ford didn't utilize that one correctly.

BTW, I've always hated Mustang Cobra. Horse, snake? Really?

Boss is good. So good in fact that as much as Ford claims the Boss is a 2 year deal, I am pretty sure we won't wait 43 years to see it again.

I think the top dog Mustang of the future needs a new name. And I think Ford should hire my company to come up with it. Otherwise they'll screw it up with some alphanumeric crap like they have Lincoln.

 

Didn't read the whole thread because I figure it was a loaded with **** from both sides. The haters always come out in full force, whether it is the best car out there or the worst car out there, they base their opinion on the name affixed to the car.

Sickening actually. I've owned both. A "Shelby" that came from their shop, and a "Shelby" that came from the production line. Both were fantastic vehicles. It had nothing to do with the name on them.

I had a Shelby GT. It was leaps and bounds above the GT/CS I had of the same model. Much better handling, more of a hot rod, more of a driver's car. Was it because of Shelby? I don't know and don't care. It was Ford Racing parts, but Ford chose to let Shelby install them. Who takes the credit? Who knows, it was a great car, and having the Shelby nomenclature was a bonus that people liked. I can't even begin to share how many compliments I got on the car.

Like, love or hate Shelby, it is one of the most well known brands in the world, right up there with Coca-Cola, and Levi's. Love him or hate him, facts are facts. Ask anyone about a Shelby car and see what they say. Ask the anyone about an SVT car and see what they say. Who do you think will be more recognized?

I don't really care one way or the other. I like the Shelby heritage. It's a great conversation piece at cruise in's. Most people don't read forums, and most don't give a **** about the negative posts about Shelby that happen on the intarwebs.

To be honest, I bought a GT500 because it was the baddest, most powerful, most expensive car in the line up. The fact that it was a Shelby was second to the decision and just happened to go along with it. Yes, I love the fact that it has Shelby badging, but I don't really care one way or the other. It looks like it eats babies, it rips, snorts, and is a handful that is meant for people that know what they are doing. It's not the fastest car I've ever had. Hell, its not the fastest SVT car I've ever had, but it is the fastest, best handling, most well sorted, best assembled, completely stock SVT car I've ever had.

And I hate to admit it, but I actually enjoy talking about the car to people that stop to admire it. As a general rule, they know the Shelby name whether they are car people or not, and it means something to them.

I've never met anyone (other than Ford guys, and very few of them) that I didn't have to explain what SVT stands for. And even after explaining at cruise ins, etc. they still called it a "Shelby" because SVT was totally lost on them.

I've made it a point to explain the hand built engine tag, and the lighted SVT door sills, but they still tell their friends that come around that it is a "Shelby" and they know that it is something special and different.


Ford made a fantastic decision to put the Shelby name back on these cars. I honestly wouldn't have bought the car based on what it had on it, I would have bought one for the simple fact that it was the biggest, baddest, most powerful car Ford had to offer. Yes, I'm a Ford fanboi, and yes, I have a small *****, which necessitates the purchase of their baddest car.

I don't know where you guys are getting the figures of what Ford is paying Shelby to use the name on these cars.

Please, one of you guys post some specifics, with info to back it up. If you cant, then shut up, speculation is useless. I sincerely doubt that these cars would have been as successful as they are without the Shelby name attached to them. Its nostalgic, it goes along with the retro styling, its just great marketing. Well worth whatever they paid him, it brings attention to the brand. I want them to be successful with everything they do, including the Shelby branded cars because I own stock in the company.

 

Actually an Alphanumeric designation across the Mustang line up could work. Just treat Mustang as its own brand. I mean it's basically a poor man's Aston Martin. That's why I have them instead if a DB5 and DBS in my garage.

 

I hear his parts re-badging plant is going non-stop over the holidays, and the website price inflators' fingers are about to snap off with all the massive markups they are adding.

Happy Holidays!

Note: This post is not directed at the GT500, which FORD proudly designed, built, and tested.

 

fixed that for you. You're welcome

 

Incognito Joe is just upset about the $8k styling package.

 

What's with the "incognito"? and I'm with you on Shelby's taste in styling "fugly" but I'm not going to cry over pricing.

 

I hear ya Joe. You were incognito for the holidays. I'm sure because of work. Incognito Joe just has a nice ring to it.

 

Im just upset about it because I really don't like the Shelby styling but love the drivetrain. But Shelby is the only way this power plant is available. It's really a shame to buy such a great car and want to strip a bunch pieces from it.

 

Frankly, if this were marketed as an SVT Cobra rather than a Shelby GT500 I suspect the SVT would look exactly like a stripe delete GT500 with no Shelby lettering on the trunk and 'SVT Cobra' in the faux gas cap rather than 'Shelby GT500'. In other words, unless the Shelby lettering on the trunk is an outright make or break feature for you, I strongly suspect that not liking the looks of the GT500 would translate directly into not liking the looks of a hypothetical Cobra.

As for a switch to the Cobra name, I've got more of an observation to offer on this one than actual opinion. What we have seen thus far indicates that neither Mulally or Farley is a big fan of changing names without overwhelming cause to do so. And overwhelming in this case apparently stops just short of fans rioting in the streets and sales having dwindled to two a month. The perfect example is Farley's reluctance to commit to switching away from the ridiculous MK 'insert a random letter here' naming scheme Lincoln is currently using back to a better strategy, and almost anything would be a better strategy. Farley even went so far as to say that, effectively, you can't just keep switching names around, etc, etc.

I still think that they may decide to change things up at Lincoln because the existing setup is just so obviously bad, but the reluctance shown toward doing so thus far really puts into perspective just how seriously they take this. Heck, even the switch back to the Taurus name was done because Mulally thought they shouldn't have switched away from that moniker in the first place. Mustang may get a pass here as being 'different' than everything else, because in truth it really is, but I'm not sure I would bet on that.

 

But it is oh so liberating...



Plastic 'snakes' go bye bye when CF fenders go on. Can't wait!

Another hater! Burn him!!!

 

The more I read about the accomplishments of Carrol Shelby, the more I appreciate what he did for himself and Ford. As long as Carrol permits the use of his name on the Mustang, we all benefit. Whenever I go to a car show, people refer to the GT500 as a Shelby. The name Shelby is an icon in itself. The ZL1 is priced about the same as a GT500. If any car is produced with the same performance it will also cost about the same wether it has Shelby on it or not.

 

That's my point of view. In 'Think and Grow Rich' they talked about 'hitching your wagon to a shooting star'. That's what Firestone did with Ford (until Firestone screwed the pooch so bad).
In the 60's world of racing Shelby was his own shooting star. Rather than compete with that, Ford recognized the synergy they would have if they corraled Shelby. And without those years of great racing success, would Ford have been as successful with car buyers over the years?
None of us know the deal that was made, but in hindsight it was both substantial and long term (maybe lifetime). Like I said before, that doesn't come cheap. We should be glad that Ford isn't like many Corporations that screw some of the successful people that got them there. Ford is showing it has integrity to live up to its commitment.

 

For the record, Ford proudly did a lot of design work on Shelby badged cars in the 60's too. And I think that is the biggest loss here, and this is in no way meant to be disparaging, but people often seen to think that they know Ford, Shelby American, and Holman Moody history from the 1960's but, in my experience, they typically really don't.

For example, the name Bob Negstad should be a very well known name among Ford enthusiasts. Why? Because he is the Ford engineer who worked with the team from Shelby American to design the 427 Cobra chassis an suspension. Sadly, in my experience, very few people know that the chassis and suspension of the 427 cars were designed by Ford and Shelby American, even fewer than that know who Mr. Negstad was, and even fewer than that admit that they didn't know these things when you tell them about it.

In the midst of all the negative hyperbole that gets thrown toward Shelby the biggest crime is that the phenomenal performance history of Ford's Total Performance era, and equally amazing histories of Shelby American and Holman and Moody, gets lost in the process. Not a lot of people understand how intertwined thee relationships were, or how close they still are. For example Edsel Ford II didn't make his bones on a Ford design team, he actually worked at the Shelby American shop in his early years, because Shelby American and Holman and Moody were the factory racing effort in disguise in the 1960's.

To these people their relationships are familial, the ties run that close. And in the end I think that is why we see a lot of the commentary that we do, too many people don't really know the history of these companies and Ford in their high performance heyday and, as such, they have no idea how the Ford members running the company right now and people like Shelby view those relationships or why they view them that way.

 

lmao, what?

So when Shelby American takes someone's parts, re-brands them with a Shelby logo on them, that is worth 150% of the original manufacturer's price to you?

 

There is a great book by A.J. Baime titled Go Like Hell that details a lot of the relationship between Ford and Shelby in the 50s and 60s during the development of the AC Cobra and GT40s, check it out!