It may not be visually flashy, but this Shelby GT500 still offers a lot to love.
Go to Google and look up images using the search terms “Shelby Mustang.” What do you see? We’ll take a guess: classics, S197s, modern GT350s, and lots of stripes. In fact, the majority of the pictures you’ll pull up will have stripes of one color or another in them. They’re a common characteristic of Shelby Mustangs, which is what makes the 2007 Shelby GT500 you see here from Bring a Trailer relatively unique.
It doesn’t let an eye-catching red paint job or racy stripes – on top or on the sides – do the talking. It’s naked, plain white, so its badass wheels and badging get the fact that this is a special Mustang across. The interior is equally straightforward. Black seats and the Shaker 500 audio system—and that’s it. No aftermarket head unit with a fold-out screen. No custom shift knob.
It’s the same story under the hood. The supercharged 5.4-liter V8 has not been altered in any way. No pulley swaps, no special tune, no intake upgrades, no aftermarket exhaust. Just a new battery. Output remains 500 horsepower and 480 lb-ft of torque. Not that the previous owner unleashed that firepower all that much. According to the odometer, this 11-year-old beast has only covered a little over 6,600 miles. It’s been so gently used that it still has its original tires (not that you’d want to light up rubber that’s more than a decade old).
According to a Bring a Trailer member who seems to be the previous owner, this Shelby’s plainness was intentional. Someone with the screen name retrolounge commented, “The car was ordered to emulate an old muscle car. There’s no navigation, hi power stereo, etc.” Those are nice features, but just like stripes, the GT500 doesn’t need them to be attractive. It does a good job of that all by itself.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
