Ford Mustang Shelby GT500
For 1967, the GT 350 carried over the K-Code high performance 289 with a 'COBRA' aluminum hi-rise. The GT 500 was added to the lineup, equipped with a "Ford Cobra" V8 (FE Series 428 cu.in.) engine with two four-barrel carburetors sitting atop a mid-rise Aluminum intake manifold.
Documented plans to introduce a convertible mid-production year were shelved due to supply, production and financial problems that happened as soon as the first cars started to arrive at Shelby's Los Angeles facility in September. By October 1966, Ford took control over engineering and purchasing. A.O. Smith was tapped to fix the fiberglass fitment and quality problems. Six months later, in May 1967, the decision was made to terminate the California-based Shelby operation. On August 18, 1967, a small staff, along with the remaining engineering cars, were sent to Ionia. The small staff of the newly formed Shelby Automotive, Inc. had substantially less involvement after this time.
One 1967 Fastback was updated with a GT-500 equipped with a 427 FE GT40 racing engine producing 650 horsepower, and was known as the "Super Snake" The car was capable of speeds over 150 mph; hitting 170 mph during a demonstration (by Shelby himself) of Goodyear's Thunderbolt tires. No cars other than the prototype were built due to limited interest. The car sold at Mecum's 2013 Indianapolis auction for $1.3 million.
For 1968, the Cobra name was applied to both models, and they were now marketed as the Shelby Cobra GT 350 and the Shelby Cobra GT 500. The solid lifter K-code engine was discontinued by Ford so Shelby used the hydraulic lifter 230 hp 302. It produced 250 HP with the high rise intake but was not equipped with Shelby headers in order to make room for power steering. The early 1968 GT500 used the Shelby installed 428 Police Interceptor with a single four barrel carburetor rated at 360 HP.
Beginning in April 1968, Ford began factory installing a version of the 428 engine known as the "Cobra Jet". The GT 500 was subsequently known as The GT 500-KR. The initials KR stood for "King of the road." Ford rated the Cobra jet at 335 horsepower (250 kW), but with 440 foot-pounds of torque at 3400 RPM, the horsepower was considered significantly underrated. Shelby's KR engine was left stock adding die-cast aluminum valve covers with "Cobra Lemans" to note Ford's FE engine family victory over Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966 and 1967.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License . It uses material from Wikipedia .
