First Look: 2011 Ford Shelby GT350

MotorTrend

Motor Trend senior editor Matt Stone gets a tour of the Shelby factory in Las Vegas and gets a sneak peek at the all new 2011 Ford Shelby GT350.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 We're just outside of Las Vegas

00:09 at the Shelby Automobiles Factory.

00:11 Yep, Shelby as in Carroll Shelby.

00:14 Now if you think about letters and numbers

00:16 like 300SL or Ferrari GTO or maybe 911S,

00:20 you know that those stand for famous iconic cars.

00:24 Well we're here today to look at another one.

00:26 It's called a GT350.

00:29 Take a look.

00:30 Before our sneak peek at Shelby's latest creation,

00:34 we were lucky enough to get a behind the scenes look

00:36 at the factory where each GT350 starts its life.

00:41 Our tour began at Shelby's Museum,

00:43 a space filled with Shelby cars

00:45 and memorabilia from over the years.

00:48 Tucked away in one corner was perhaps

00:50 the most interesting car in the collection,

00:52 a blue Cobra dubbed CSX2000,

00:56 otherwise known as the One.

00:58 The One as in the very first Shelby Cobra ever made.

01:02 A car considered by many to be

01:04 the most valuable sports car in the world.

01:07 Nice.

01:09 From the museum, we move deeper into the facility

01:12 to a room that Shelby guys call the Snake Pit.

01:15 It's here that Shelby's trained technicians

01:18 construct replicas of the original Cobra.

01:20 Each car is built to order and handmade.

01:23 Customers are able to build their dream Cobra

01:26 by selecting from a seemingly limitless combination

01:29 of motors, body shells, chassis and suspension components,

01:33 and colors.

01:34 On our way to the design studio

01:37 where we'd finally meet the new GT350,

01:40 we got a glimpse at the heart of Shelby's business.

01:42 And of course, that means Mustangs.

01:45 Besides producing a handful of Mustangs for Ford,

01:49 a large part of Shelby's business is customizing Mustangs

01:52 that customers bring into the shop.

01:54 Our final stop, the design studio,

01:57 where we scan walls filled with sketches

01:59 of yet to be released Shelby products.

02:02 Good stuff on the way.

02:03 We've shown you the building, we've given you the tour,

02:07 but this is the real reason we're here.

02:10 Shelby fanatics have waited more than four decades

02:13 for a new GT350, and now they finally have one.

02:17 Why did it take so long for Shelby

02:18 to resurrect the storied GT350 moniker?

02:22 According to the man himself,

02:24 it was the long-awaited five liter twin cam,

02:26 all aluminum V8 that just made its debut

02:29 in the 2011 Mustang GT.

02:31 Shelby didn't want to develop a GT350

02:34 based on the existing 4.6 liter models,

02:37 only to have to rework the entire package later

02:40 for the impending 5.0.

02:42 But now that the 5.0 is finally here,

02:44 the GT350 was finally able to get the green light.

02:48 Visually, the car is stunning.

02:50 A perfect modern reinterpretation

02:52 of the original 1960s car.

02:55 Everything that isn't made of metal

02:56 has been scrapped and redone.

02:58 Front and rear fascias, grille, rocker panels,

03:02 hood, bumpers, and badging.

03:04 An aggressive front splitter dominates the fascia,

03:07 while the brushed aluminum grille surround

03:09 pays homage to the 1967 to '68 Shelby Mustang.

03:14 Blank off plates replace the rear quarter windows,

03:17 although customers will have the choice

03:18 of leaving the glass intact if they so desire.

03:21 The front fascia and rocker intakes

03:23 provide functional brake cooling.

03:25 The Shelby team developed a new rear wing,

03:28 lower fascia, and black finish decklid filler panel

03:31 that softened several of those cuts and angles,

03:34 making the whole tail look more cohesive.

03:36 Giant Borla polished exhaust tips

03:39 protrude from the center of the fascia,

03:41 recalling the '69 to '70 Shelby.

03:44 Performance-wise, the GT350 is upgraded

03:46 over a standard car in almost every respect.

03:50 Under the hood, atop the all-new 5.0,

03:53 is a Whipple supercharger from Ford Racing.

03:56 Although official numbers haven't yet been released,

03:59 you figure a 25 to 35% boost in horsepower

04:02 over the stock 5.0's already potent 412 horsepower,

04:06 you're looking at a possible output

04:08 of 515 to maybe, hmm, 556 horsepower.

04:12 Additional improvements include upgraded struts,

04:18 springs, shocks, and anti-roll bars,

04:21 all from Ford Racing parts bins

04:23 that are calibrated to be about 30% stiffer

04:25 than the stock Mustang setup.

04:27 Bear provides the six-piston front calipers,

04:30 and the factory rear rotors are replaced with larger units.

04:33 Of course, what would a visit to the Shelby factory be

04:37 without talking to Carroll Shelby himself?

04:40 We asked Shelby about the GT350

04:42 and the future direction of his company,

04:44 and here's what he had to say.

04:46 - We've come full circle on one product, the GT350.

04:51 When I asked to do one 45 years ago,

04:57 I told him that I didn't think he could make a mule

05:02 outrun a racehorse, and I didn't wanna do it.

05:06 He insisted, we put it together,

05:09 and it turned out to be a big success

05:14 as far as the company was concerned back then.

05:17 I wanna leave the electric and the green vehicles

05:20 to the people that are making that their business today,

05:25 and I'm not going to change our little company.

05:30 Right now, we're coming out with another GT350,

05:35 and that's what I mean by saying we've gone full circle.

05:41 All the people involved have done a commendable job,

05:46 a wonderful job of bringing it

05:50 to what it should be 45 years later,

05:53 and it's not going to be something

05:56 that runs on a bunch of lithium ion batteries.

05:58 It's going to be something that runs

06:00 on the latest technology that Ford has

06:04 as far as the new five liter engine is concerned.

06:09 I'm looking forward to building a few thousand of those

06:13 and see if it'll get the same kind of attention

06:17 and the same kind of sales that we got many, many years ago

06:22 with the original GT350

06:24 that I didn't wanna build in the first place.

06:26 (laughs)

06:29 (upbeat music)

06:32 (upbeat music)

06:34 (whooshing)

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