bob

Just wait till until Ford gets nervous about losing the Cobra name as a trademark... BLAM!... Cobra Mustangs ride again.

Unless they were to come up with a totally sweet Corvette/Viper fighter which would be appropriately named Cobra


Anyways, cool, I like that line up - V6 -> GT -> GT350 -> GT500.

2 Go Snake

825LTRGT, thanks for the historical information on the Fox Mustang GT350. I will always think of the GT350 as a Mustang modified by Shelby. As such, I think GT350 should only be offered by Shelby America. The only way I could accept a Ford built GT350 would be if the name stood for something real like 350 cubic inches. Then, I would jump off the couch and rush to my Ford and put a deposit down as quick as I could.

bob

They are

Twin Turbo

Larry, weren't you in the market for a GT500 at one stage? You know those are built by Ford, right?

Personally, I'd like to see both a GT350 and a GT500 for S550. Wonder if we'll get both

burningman

This would be my plan.

825LTRGT

No problem. I see your point.

FWIW, remember the mid 80's Dodges that carried the Shelby moniker? Do you really think Carroll was worried about his legacy at that point? Now he is gone and his ideas with him so there will never be a true Shelby anymore.

The GT350 name has historical significance but even the man himself distanced himself from the badge after '66 when the cars gained some weight.

I think that the "real" GT350s are the 65-66 cars. But as longs as the performance stays alive, I don't really care what the fender says. Ford is using the name to increase sales by stirring up history and keeping the memory alive which is fine in my book.

IMHO, as long as the Boss driveline/suspension stays alive, Ford could call it the Wuss 350 for all I care.

You can take the badges off. And not defile the GT350 name

But..don't you think Roadrunner driveline and Boss suspensioned 2015 would smoke a "real" 65-66 GT350? That would be worthy of the GT350 name regardless of who produces it. The rest is just a name.

cdynaco

Right. The GT350 was about performance - not about a badge or a name.

jacostang

I remember when they unveiled the car at Barrett/Jackson, was standing right there. First think I thought, they used the entire mod book on this thing. Then I counted how many times it said Shelby on it.. The last thing, and I know its small but for a $75K+ car, the back up lights should not be a afterthought screwed into the bumper cover like a JC Whitney add on.. No offense to JC Whitney and Co.

Twin Turbo

The backup lights on the new GT350 were, allegedly, exactly the same as those on the early car (although they looked out of place on the new one, in my opinion)

jim010

Are the Shelby GT 350s a post title car? I thought they were.

bob

Correct, Shelby still owned the GT350 moniker while Ford owned GT500 and Cobra - I really wondered what Ford was thinking? Did they assume the trademark had come up for grabs, did a clueless marketing guy just assume Ford owned the GT350 trademark, would be interesting to read some history on it.


Hmmmm.... some precedent there as the 65-66 cars came with a 4.7, the 67-68 cars had either a 4.7 very early on or a 5.0 and the 69-70 cars had a 5.8

The 350 part of the name was the result of mulling around for a name and somebody asking how far they were standing from the LAX production facility. I think it was Shelby who said (or maybe it was Peter Brock, or somebody else); "about 350 feet", thus GT350, the 350 has nothing to do with power or displacement as the GT350 never had more than 306hp IIRC in the road car. The R-model may have had more but I can't remeber.

The GT500 moniker simply came about because they wanted the new car to sound bigger and badder.

A GT350 with the 5.0 road-runner drivetrain and track tuned suspension would be fine by me, completely in character for a GT350.

watchdevil

It's about the car not the name on it!

kd4gij

Ford is using the Cobra name now, been using it for a couple of years.

Flagstang

not when it comes to shelbys and such...

825LTRGT

IMHO, it's the combination of the name and performance. It's not just the name.

You can dress up a pig like <insert hottie here> but it's still a pig.

How many $200k 1985 Shelby Chargers have you seen? But there have been a few '65-'66 GT350's and seven figure Cobras.

The market sees through the marketing.

Carroll stopped worrying about perfromance in '66 after beating Ferrari and numerous other titles. The following years were about making $.

bob

Just the Cobrajet Mustangs that I'm aware of? That may be enough to eliminate trademark issues or not (I don't know) or Ford may at some point actually has to use the Cobra name in some fashion.

This is another reason you see the Mach and Boss names in the form of SE's, its a win/win (and us as enthusiasts) for Ford - retain ownership of the names and cash in on the heritage.

2 Go Snake

If Ford uses the name GT350 for a new high performance car, the 350 will have to mean something. If it means 350 horsepower, that is not enough horsepower. Now if it means 350 cubic inches, that would be okay with over 450 horsepower. The GT500 of modern times lived up to its name with at least 500 horsepower, that is one reason I want a GT500. The name GT500 has meaning.

Flagstang

almost 500 hp

97GT03SVT

I disagree, the new GT500 makes significantly more than 500hp and the original 1967-70 GT500 made significantly less than 500hp. I don't see the GT350 having to live up to HP numbers.

The_Munk

That tiny Hamster read the rwhp lol.