jsimmons

Tell that to Shelby American. Ever heard of the GTS?

jsimmons

I think my car looks better than a Shelby. And until you actually meet me face to face, it's probably best to reserve judgement regarding my character.

I can't "do it all" *without* the badges, so I guess the answer is no.

SilverSkoundrel

Hey J,

I seen your car on AM. With the 2010 black gt500 wheels!

jsimmons

It's also on Cervini's website for their Type4 hood.

jsimmons

Yeah - when I got my car, I knew about the GTS option, but I am of the opinion that the body kit (and wheels) they use sucks giant ***. Paying $10k just to get the badge, only to have to completely redo the front end is - well - kinda stupid. So I made the car look the way I wanted, and then paid $120 for the SHELBY letters. Even if I had bought a GT500, I would still have to swap out the front clip because a) I don't like the one they use, and b) now all the 2013's kinda look the same as the GT500 (talk about "dilution" of brand).

Now, given all of those considerations, I'd much rather just build myself a tribute car and have something completely unique, and the people that are offended by it can suck my love missile.

Future mods include better brakes and suspension, and if the funding ever present itself, I fully plan on putting a 5.0 motor (from a GT that someone didn't know how to drive and subsequently wrecked) and manual trans in it. Yeah, I know it would be easier to just buy a V8 car, but I'm not generally a "just buy it that way" kind of person where cars are concerned (and if that ain't obvious by now, the ride to school for some folks must've involved the short bus ).

For me, hot-rodding has never been about doing stuff that makes sense - it's been about doing stuff for the sheer joy of doing it. If people don't see it that way, it's their mental deficiency - not mine.

Now that we have all those issues ironed out, can we all go back to going "ooooh - ahhhh!"?

Getportfolio

Well said bro.

We're you ever in San Antonio by chance? I swear I've seen your car before. I may be mistaken though. i saw one similar Right before I moved out of Texas about 9 months ago,

jsimmons

And I hit on all three of those points...

That's because they consider themselves to be too mature to say anything about it. The irony is so thick, you can cut it with a knife.

And then they have the temerity to call me immature for pushing back when they spew their garbage.

jsimmons

Yes I am, but I haven't had the car but six months or so. My wife said she saw a car that looked like mine this weekend, but her powers of observation regarding cars aren't as detail-oriented as mine. All she could recall was that the car/stripes were the same color, and what road she was on, but she doesn't know the differences between the various model years.

I haven't personally seen any others in town that even come close to looking like mine.

Getportfolio

Gotcha.

sampey43

How hard was it to lay the shelby lettering on the hood? Reason i ask is my 07 shelby lettering on the trunk is on the left side of the car and i want to center the word shelby on the back

Kpd3014

I like the way the car looks, pretty unique and nicely put together. As far as badging, I think who ever paid for the car gets to decide. I have a '12 gt500 and took every Shelby emblem and letter off of it. I then had cobra stitched in the seats and put SVT in the center caps as well as on the radiator. Am I a poser?

Getportfolio

No but you are mean for teasing us with those pics. Reminds me of a girl I dated.

jsimmons

It was easy. Here's the description I wrote up:

I've seen a lot of discussion regarding the spacing between the letters, and settled on one that specifies a 2-7/8 inch gap between letters. To mitigate the effect of the hood scoop splitter on the front of the car, I decided 3-3/4-inch gaps, and besides, the newer Shelby's appear to use something close to that. In case you were wondering, the letters are 1-1/8 inches tall, and widths approximately measure as follows:

• S- 1-7/8
• H- 1-7/8
• E- 1-5/8
• L- 1-5/8
• B- 1-15/16
• Y- 2

I think paying $25 for templates is ludicrous, so I obtained some 7/16-inch wide plastic strips from a local hobby store (3/8 will work just as well), and marked out the letter positions. The hood has a center splitter that prevented me from using a single piece of plastic strip, so I made one strip for each side that spaces three of the letters the appropriate distance.

jsimmons

You're worse - you're a denier!

sampey43

Thanks a bunch im going to be changing it up soon, ill be sure to post pics

GTmustang03

Car looks great J. I looked at the link you posted with all the before and after pics. Very creative mind and i think the car looks awesome. Doesnt matter what badges or what not you put on YOUR car after all its YOUR car and you paid for it. I think you did a great job with all the mods and you even have more. Very very creative

Mickstang

+1 on that. JS put a lot of time, money, and sweat into his car, and it looks **** good! I like it... which means little or nothing to him, and HE likes it... which means everything to him. His is the only vote that counts, as do all of ours in respect to our own rides.

Johnny5alive

Excuse me? Who said anything about your character???

Here are the facts:

If and when someone says "nice Shelby" one of two responses will follow.

1. You say "thanks" which is lying. Leading them to believe that your vehicle is an actual Shelby mustang.
2. You would have to explain how it is NOT REALLY a Shelby.

Either way it's an awkward discussion. I suppose you could just run away when someone mentions it?

Badges are meant to be read. When I look at your car it says that it comes from a pedigree it does not. It makes a false statement.

I do agree, outside of this it looks fantastic. Why not be proud of what you have? Your car is NOT a Shelby. So what? Why do you need people to think it is?

I agree with you it looks better than a Shelby. Which adds to the irony, that you would then put Shelby across both ends of the car. If it looks better, why badge it?

You put your car up on a site like this you better be ready for opinions. Why post if you can't handle them?

I do like the car though.

jsimmons

I've said it over and over again - if someone strikes up a conversation, I don't let the person continue thinking it's a real Shelby. Even if they merely say "nice car", I let them know it's not really a Shelby. I may have even stated as much in this thread. Beyond that, have you ever seen a message where I ever once stated that it was a real Shelby? Nope.

Maybe I should start calling it a Shelby Tribute car instead of a Mustang.

mikeyt03

There is nothing about this car that looks remotely close to a Shelby. And you have Shelby emblems, that's where I get confused. It looks nothing like a GTS or a GT500.