S197-era GT500 ‘Already a Collectible,’ Says Hagerty
Looking for a GT500, but don’t want to pay tens of thousands for it? Around $25,000 will put in you in a badass pony with power.
Shelby GT500. The name means one thing: the baddest, meanest Mustang on the street. Since the first ones left Carroll Shelby’s stable in the Sixties, no race track or quarter-mile has ever been safe from the thunderstorm of horsepower this pony has to offer.
Of course, there’s a steep price to pay to possess such power. The 2020 GT500 starts at around $73,000 MSRP, and can easily climb to six figures with the right boxes ticked off. If you feel the blood rushing down to your feet over that, Hagery has found a lower price of admission into the GT500 family, and it comes with a six-speed manual: the S197 GT500 from 2007 through 2014.
Throughout the late 2000s and into the middle of the New ’10s, the S197 GT500 kept up with the times where it counted most: its big V8. According to Hagerty, the V8 was a 5.4-liter iron block with a supercharger on top, good for 500 horses to the rear. The big V8 had been used in Ford’s trucks and SUVs since 1997, but landed in two other cars since 2000, including the Ford GT of 2004-2006, and the 2000 Mustang Cobra R.
From there, the ponies kept coming. The 2008-2009 GT400KR added 40 more horses to the 5.4-liter corral, which would stick around for the 2010 GT500. Ten more arrived in 2011, after Ford swapped the iron for aluminum.
After the Camaro ZL1 arrived with 580 horsepower in 2013, though, the GT500 received a new 5.8-liter aluminum mill with iron plasma sprayed upon the cylinder walls. The big motor delivered 662 horses to the track, a parting gift to the world before the current S550 took its place for the 2015 model year.
In 2007, you could get a GT500 coupe for around $41,000 (nearly $53,000 in 2020). Seven years later, the last of the S197 thoroughbreds could be had for $55,000 (nearly $61,000 in 2020).
According to Hagerty, the earliest horses in good condition can be had for $25,000, the same price as a 2020 Escape. And while the Escape might have more cargo space, it doesn’t provide the same escape from the world as the S197 GT500 does.
Photos: Ford
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