The “King of the Road” returns to rule over all of Mustangdom, or at least until the next special edition comes along.BY JARED GALL, PHOTOGRAPHY BY JARED HOLSTEIN
With the successful launch of the Shelby GT behind it and retiree GT-H Hertz rental Mustangs selling as high as $90,000 at auction, the Shelby leviathan continues to chug forward and spew forth special-edition Mustangs. In New York, Shelby launches the 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR, a special-edition GT500 commemorating the 40th anniversary of the original “King of the Road.” The GT500KR is the second product—after the GT500—to wear the almost-defunct SVT badge, reminding us that Ford still claims it has a performance division.
In 1967, the New York auto show played host to the launch of the original GT500KR, a version of the Shelby Mustang powered by a 428-cubic-inch Cobra Jet V-8 rated at 335 horsepower.
With the ’08 model’s supercharged 5.4-liter V-8 underhood wearing a Ford Racing Power Upgrade Pack (revised ignition timing and throttle calibration, plus a cold-air intake), the 2008 KR outdoes its predecessor by 205 horsepower—a margin greater than the entire output of some V-8 Mustangs of the 1980s—with 540. That herd travels rearward through a six-speed manual with a short-throw shifter to a shorter 3.73:1 rear end (stock is 3.31:1) for quicker giddyap, while snorts and whinnies get an extra edge from a revised exhaust system.The King knows that some of its subjects wind and dip, so the GT500KR gets a unique Ford Racing suspension tune. “The production Shelby GT500 was maximized to deliver the perfect balance between ride and handling,” says Jamal Hameedi, chief nameplate engineer, Ford SVT.
“In that same ride-versus-handling continuum, the KR will lean heavier toward all-out handling while still making it drivable on the street.”
Beyond the yawning hood vents and racing stripes already in place on lesser GT500s, the GT500KR gets the signature hood, reminiscent of the original KR, in carbon fiber with two forward-looking mail slots at the leading edge of the hood feeding the blown 5.4’s appetite for air and twist-down hood pins for a more secure racer flair.
The stick-through pins on the Shelby GT we tested recently actually vibrated out of their posts on rough roads. The Cobra badges in the grille and on the fenders add wings proclaiming them as the badges of not just any Shelby Mustang but the 40th-anniversary GT500KR. Rocker stripes on the Shelby mimic those on the original car, right down to the typeface used for the lettering.The Triton engine uses four valves per cylinder (versus three in the iron-block truck version) and the cylinder heads from the Ford GT, which has an aluminum block.
Ford will begin selling the new Mustang in the spring of 2008 and will only build 1000 examples. We figure the S-word on the hood and the slight power bump below should be good for about a $12,000 premium, putting the King of the Road solidly into the mid-$50,000 arena. Prepare your checkbooks now, Shelby enthusiasts, or gird them for a bigger hit later, for all things Shelby appreciate.Carroll Shelby and Ford officials smugly say, much as they did 40 years ago, that with the introduction of the GT500KR everybody else will be trying to catch up again.
Hermann Salenbauch, director of Advanced Product Creation and SVT, says the Shelby GT500 is the most successful vehicle SVT has ever done—by almost every parameter including profit and performance.There still will be a 2008 GT500. The KR is in addition.
And for those who can’t snag one of the 1000 GT500KRs up for grabs by starting to make nice now with their local dealer, aspects of the King will be available to those with a Shelby GT500 through Ford Racing and Shelby Automobiles.
There will not be a convertible King, but the convertible version of the Shelby GT-H, customized for Hertz, is to be unveiled this weekend. Like the first GT-H, the car will be shipped to Shelby in Las Vegas to be modified.
And Ford officials still promise the return of the Bullitt.
