First Look: 2011 Ford Shelby GT350
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.
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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)