Shelby GT350 - Model History

For all that, the first Shelby GT1965 was introduced to the audience in 350. Made on base Mustang Fastback, Shelby could only be obtained in white (Wimbledon White) with blue stripes (Gardsman Blue) and without any other options. The car was obviously intended only for racing both on the street and on the track.

Immediately after the presentation, the automotive press was looking for symbolism in the name of the new model. Shelby explained that there is no symbolism and that he named it according to the number of steps between the halls in his factory. The journalists were interested in why he didn't bother anymore and he answered them with a legendary sentence: "If the car is good, the name doesn't matter and if it's bad, the name won't save it ...".

The 350 Shelby GT1965 had 13 significant mechanical and aesthetic differences over the regular Ford Mustang and a much higher price tag, which initially limited sales and made the car rare.

The Shelby GT350 was much more powerful (308 hp compared to 271 hp), lighter and faster than the regular Mustang but also more raw, noisy and heavier to drive so its customers were situated hard core fans of fast driving. However, for real runners and serious teams, Shelby soon rolled out the GT350R, a fully racing model with around 450 hp that was not legal for the street.

With the "R" model, Ford's dominance in the SCCA championship began. This car was made in only 35 copies, all of which were sold to racing teams around the world. You may be interested in the information that one of those 35 copies (today fabulously expensive) was driven by Bratzo Vicich, a famous Peruvian runner from that period. We deliberately wrote his name the way we found it in foreign literature, and behind him hides Svetozar Vičić Ostojić, who was born in Serbia in 1942 and whose family emigrated to Peru after the war. Svetozar or Braco (Bratzo) drove his Shelby GT350R with great success during the sixties and seventies in South America and he represents a small but interesting Serbian contribution to the legend of the Shelby GT350.

In 1966, Shelby decided to make the GT350 more interesting to a wider range of customers and included a couple of options and 4 new colors (blue, red, black and standard white). Compared to the 1965 models, the Shelby GT350 for 1966 has additional side windows ("quatter windows").

Mechanically, the '65 and '66 Shelby GT350 are identical (289 V8 with 308 hp) the only difference is the aesthetics and additional options. The latter brought much more customers than last year. Unfortunately, the "R" version was shut down, although it had great success on the track. However, the most interesting thing that happened in 1966 was the presentation of a model called the GT350H, which was distinguished on the outside by black with gold stripes.

Although mechanically identical to all other GT350s, the “H” model was specific because 1000 pieces were ordered by the famous car rental company Hertz for rent to customers who were bored with ordinary cars. Anyone with a driver’s license, over 25 years old, $ 17 a day and 50 cents a mile could rent a Shelby GT350H and be the fastest on the street. It wasn't long before people started abusing it. Namely, it was noticed that the clients rented a car, raced, won and took prizes, and then returned the car in a rather exhausted condition. It wasn’t even such a problem that it soon didn’t happen that someone rented a car for a couple of days, took out a Shelby engine and put on a plain Mustang 289 that is visually identical and returned the car! That is why proving the originality of the GT350H is a big problem today due to ingenious fans from 50 years ago.

However, things changed in 1967, with the introduction of the first redesign of the Mustang as a model and the introduction of the ultimate Shelby version - the GT500 with a monstrous 7-liter engine (428 Cobra Jet) that instantly pushed its weaker cousin out of the audience's focus. Although the GT350 started out as a perfect racer whose main arguments were balance, light weight and lying down from 1967 to 1970 it became only the second violin in the Shelby range. Although it looked identical to the GT500, it was mechanically identical to the regular Mustang models, meaning its performance was not as strong. Because of all this, the audience is turning to the GT500 and the GT350 remains as the base model. Since 1968, the Shelby GT500 / GT350 convertible has been included in the offer, which further pushes this model towards the class of luxury cruisers instead of the raw street fighters as it was only a few years ago.

Although all Shelby Mustangs from those years are highly valued, the most expensive are the '65 and '66 GT350 while the '65 GT350R costs around $ 1 million. The GT500 models from 1967 to 1970 are next on the list, while the later GT350s are the cheapest, precisely because of the listed features and loss of identity on the market.

We could say that the appearance of the GT500 and other performance versions Mustang (Boss 302, Boss 429 and Mach I 428 CJ) original Shelby GT350 pretty extreme. Other models picked up fame as the fastest or most powerful while the audience forgot which car started the famous line of powerful Mustangs and Ford invested money in other versions. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that the first Shelby model to experience reincarnation was the GT500 in early 2006 and not the GT350 as it should be by some historical logic. Still, in the same year, Ford played with history and introduced the Shelby GT-H intended for Hertz car rental agencies, made in 500 pieces in an identical black / gold color combination as before. Although this was actually just an ordinary standard Mustang GT with a couple of modifications, the trick was top notch…

Although Ford invested the most and promoted the brutal GT500 the most, the desire to profit and take advantage of the legendary Shelby name also led to the introduction of models that tried to scratch for the market position and segment that the GT350 once had. These are primarily the Shelby GT (identical to the Shelby GT-H pictured above) and the Shelby GT350 introduced in 2010. Despite the famous name, excellent mechanics and top performance, these cars have failed to be adequate successors and worthy of their name. Far from being ugly or slow these cars just weren’t special enough, technically different and still were the shadow of the all-powerful 500 hp GT662 powertrain.

However, the wait for the true successor to the GT350 finally came to an end on November 17, 2014 when Ford unveiled the '16 GT350 that left the world breathless. Namely, after so many years of sitting in the shadow of the GT500 and other performance versions Mustang, The GT350 has finally received state-of-the-art technology, a fantastic engine and a package that will make it competitive, not more against the BMW M3 / 4, but also against serious European exotics with six-figure prices.

With the new Shelby GT350, everything is raised to a much higher level, so the performance and driving dynamics of the car are closer to a Porsche Carrera S than a bona fide muscle car powerplant, according to the designer.

However, the most interesting detail of the new Shelby GT350 is the engine, and although it comes from a standard 5.0-liter V8 engine with 435 hp, the block is no longer the same. Specifically, Ford has decided to give the new Shelby a rather unique and ultimate drive, so the new unit has a volume of 5,2 liters and about 540hp. This figure is even more significant when it is known that it was achieved without a turbo or compressor and that the red field of the new V8 engine starts at 8200 rpm! Anyone who knows the basics of the dynamics of the SUS unit will be fascinated by this fact, and the secret lies in the application of a rare concept so far only seen on the most expensive and exotic units. It's a flat plane crankshaft or a "straight" crankshaft so you can call it a 180 degree angle between your knees.

This patent has long been known in the automotive industry but is not suitable for use in "normal" cars due to the vibration and demanding construction of pistons and blocks. However, with racing engines and V8 engines in Ferrari or McLaren MP4-12C, this is the only way to achieve high liter power and accompanying torque. Ford must be given credit for its courage and determination because with this step the Shelby GT350 becomes not only another make-up and nostalgically painted special version but a perfect street fighter of the highest rank with a predisposition to dominate on the tracks as well. Interestingly, in addition to all the technical advantages of this flat crankshaft, there is another one. Namely, flat plane crankshaft engines have a brutally good sound, a combination of humming and growling that is so powerful that it can disperse the competition even before it is put into first gear. It may be best to listen to it yourself:

In the end, we have to say that the concrete figures of acceleration and top speed are not yet known, as well as the price that will be announced in one and a half years, but it is already clear enough that Carroll Shelby looks from the sky at the car named after him. legend and that the competition can already slowly get used to the sight of two characteristic stop lights, blue stripes and four big exhausts that spit fire because that is the only thing he will be able to see in the clashes with the new "uber" Mustang “

Text: V.Herbez
Photo: shelbyamerican, autowp, jalopnik, fordmedia.com
Retrieved from: autocaffe.net