March 2009: Kurt & Jun Harris' Shelby GT500
| 28 February 2009
The name Shelby. What do you think of when you hear that name? If you are like me, a passionate Ford fan, Mustang fan and muscle car fan, you think of a sleek fastback body style, air ducts bringing cool air into hot performance parts, an acoustic growl and a certain Snake which has become iconic in automotive legend. Shelby- almost mythical like King Arthurs advisor Merlin, a man who molded a boy into a king. In this case a man who molded a "Secretary’s Car" into the fire breathing "King of the Road". When the name Shelby comes up it’s usually a group of car fans talking about which car from the 1960s was the best, the fastest, the brightest in a parking lot full of cars with names like Barracuda, Corvette, Charger, Camaro, or Superbird. It comes out of the mouth of people who brag that Yenko's Camaro was the fastest, or the Hemi was the best engine. But no matter if they are Dodge fans or GM fans the talk will come around to those Shelby Mustangs. Maybe a father or uncle will tell a young lad with visions of chrome wheels and loud dual exhaust the story about a buddy who had a Hemi 'Cuda who made the mistake of thinking that little Mustang with the blue stripes at the light was easy pickings until all he saw was the word SHELBY written across the trunk as the tailights faded away into the night.
Most Mustang fans will remember the first time they saw a Shelby in person either at a show or on the street. They tend to stick in the memory of Mustang fans like meeting the President or the time you turned around and realized that was Steve McQueen behind you. Shelby. What could possibly make that great little car, the Mustang, any better? It already had looks that said "I'm going fast when sitting still". Already had the great 289 HiPo engine and 4-speed, styled steel rims, Pony interior and it was the car people just fell in love with at first site. Well, when Carrol Shelby got a hold of it and installed a tighter suspension, 306hp 289 solid lift engine, better brakes, cooling ducts and stripes that screamed "I'm here", you had a Mustang that could go from the "Street Light Nationals" to the race track and hold its own right off the showroom floor. That original Shelby was the perfect high revving, street small block but as the mid 60's wore on there was a need for more horsepower and more torque to be competitive with the Hemi and the 396 Turbo. Not one to stand idly by and be passed, Shelby introduced the GT500. Heavier than its forefather, the GT350, but packing 435hp of Ford big block under the ducted hood. Maybe not as great a track car as the nimble GT350, but on the street from stop light to stop light, the extra torque had Ford and Shelby back where it belonged- in front and pulling away.
Along came the different energy issues of the early 1970's and the American Muscle car became a thing of the past. The Mustang reverted to a Secretary’s car again and the Shelby name was gone from showrooms. These years gave the opportunity the foreign cars needed to get a foothold on American pavement and they took every advantage, leaving our Big Three in a struggle to quickly change and meet these new challenges So even though the Mustang of the late 1970s still sold to loyal Ford buyers, the car had little resemblance to the fire breathing, tire shredding Snakes of old. But the legend of Shelby only grew stronger in its absence. And finally in the early 1980s Shelby lent his name and automotive genius to Chrysler where he slightly modified the Dodge Charger and sales rose leading Ford to see that there was a new performance market out there and a few years later we had the 1985 Mustang GT. The little Fox bodied car had a 4-barrel carb, headers, dual exhaust and a 5-speed. Dodge and GM fans quickly found out the hard way that the Mustang was back. From that starting point in 1985 Ford built more performance back into their little Pony car until the 1993 SVT Cobra finished the fourteen model year run of Fox bodies on a high note. Ford was certainly back and moving forward.
By 1994 Ford's Mustang had a great new look and the Cobra was back in the lineup. Not yet a fire breather but respectable. But there was more to come and in just a few years Ford fans had the SVT Cobra, a new Boss package and even a return of the Mach 1. By this time I had sold my Mustangs and traveled around the world. But the Mustang passion lived on and upon returning to the States I knew I wanted to be driving a Mustang again. I had thought about buying an older model and restoring it, but after seeing what Ford had planned for 2005 I fell head over heels for the new S197. So in 2006 my wife and I purchased a 2006 Torch Red premium GT with a 5-speed. As much as I loved the old ones, it quickly became my favorite. Bringing the Mustang to Dale Jarrett Ford time and again for various Ford Performance part upgrades done with the help of Wayne, Lou and Scott, and kept in top running condition by Dominic. As soon as we bought this Mustang we realized to get the most enjoyment possible we would need to find and join a local Mustang club- which led us to find the CRMC. After joining the CRMC and being warmly welcomed and taken in we knew we had made the right decision. Soon we were enjoying the Mustang in cruises and shows with others passionate about the Pony car. But the old legends in the back of my mind resurfaced when I first saw the Shelby GT500. What a perfect time for Shelby to get involved with Ford again. The new body style was a throw back to the glory days of Shelby so it fit to get his touch and his name back where it belonged. The legend was reborn and I was swept up in it myself. I set out in Spring of 2008 to ask around to see what it would take to get into one. After months of talking, test driving and internet searches I was sure if I was to have one it would have to be Performance White with Vista Blue Stripes which is what I always thought of as the classic Shelby colors. Not having much luck in finding one I called Jim Edwards at his office. He called me back and gave me some advice along with the phone number of an Automotive Location service here in NC. As a friend of Jim's and as a club member I was not asked to pay a location fee and instead was given some great advice on pricing and the location of three Shelby's exactly how I wanted them. Two weeks later my GT500 was coming up from Atlanta where it was purchased and I met it in SC. As I looked at the paperwork at both the new Shelby and my red GT I was struck that I had bought the red GT exactly two years earlier to the day. It was an emotional parting with the GT as my wife can attest. Climbing into the Shelby for the first time I was struck by a sense of awe. This was not a normal production Mustang as wonderful as they are. This was the car that had been legendary, had stared down those Hemi 'Cudas, Corvette's and Yenko's and left tire smoke in their grills. This was certainly a new car, more refined and comfortable, but still carried those Shelby letters on the back where they belonged, perfect viewing for the Dodge and GM fans.
I have had police call their friends over and ask me to pop the hood, crank it up and then ask,” how fast is it?” Have had the new Tuner generation ask questions about the car, as even for those whose passion are in the light foreign cars, they too have heard the legends, about times when gas was cheap and the streets were less crowded and Heavy Metal ruled the roads. All this has been an interesting by-product of owning a Shelby Certainly one of the best times as a member of the CRMC last year at the Auto Fair when I was up close and watching Carrol Shelby interact with Dennis Scudera of our club and even drive his Shelby. That was quite a moment knowing I was around the legend while I had driven one of his cars to the show that morning. The legend that is Shelby, that is the Mustang, will always have a place, be it in history books and in museums certainly. But maybe even some day in the distant future there will be someone driving an Audi flying car, and they’ll get passed by something, White with Blue Stripes, and read the name Shelby on the back.