also check this out. both shelby and raptor are on the 2015 MY body code chart. not sure how to attach pdf
I like the Shelby name on the GT500s. Carroll did a lot for the Ford brand the past 50 years. Why all the dissing of Shelby?
Because he didn't engineer a single thing on the 2007+ GT500. Ford did...
Are you crazy ?
#1. He no longer needed to engineer a damn thing. They man did more for American motorsports than anyone else in history.
#2. He most certainly oversaw the project design, and drove every prototype he put his name on which, the projects weren't competed without "HIS" approval. So while he personally didn't engineer the vehicle, he still was very involved in the projects.
Let's also point out that Mustangs wouldn't still exist it wasn't for him, and neither would your Viper.
So what? Are you buying the car or the Shelby name. I can care less what he did in the 60s.
So someone who doesn't work directly for Ford has a say in the final approval of a car. :lol1: Come on now. You are giving the guy too much credit. It is amazing how none of the press releases from Ford mention anything about his involvement. I would thank the crew at SVT though. They did an amazing job.
Good 'ol Carrol stiffed Plasan Carbon Composites for $6.8m a few years ago. Only after he was sued he finally paid. Not really someone I would look up to...
The Mustang would have existed regardless of Shelby. .....
I thank Bob Lutz for the Viper. He was the one that got the ball rolling on the original Viper. I also have to thank Ralph Gilles for saving the Viper for the 5th gen.
That's hilarious because what he did in the 60's led us to where we are today. You clearly have no idea of the impact he had on Le Mans racing which changed the motorsports world forever.
As for press releases not mentioning his involvement, That's like saying you need a bullet point on the spec sheet saying it's a rear wheel drive vehicle. It's implied that if his name is on it, you bet your ass he was content with the performance of the product.
As far as thanking the SVT Crew, SVT is all but nonexistent. Since John Coletti left ford after he finished the Ford GT & aided in the reliable engine design for the GT500 SVT has basically done nothing with the exception of an overpriced truck that suburban soccer moms take grocery shopping on Wednesday afternoon.
Current specialty products:(Don't get me wrong i like the truck but it's completely impractical in every stretch of the imagination and ridiculously priced) So while whats left of the SVT did play a role in the GT500. Lets not act like this is late 90's early 2000's those days are long gone.
Ford marketing as well as, former CEO William Clay Ford Jr. both credit the level of success of the mustang to Carrol Shelby. The mustang was never intended to be what it is today. In fact was never intended for performance, it was meant to be an affordable secretaries daily driver. It would have certainly died by now like any other two door mid size sedan.
Yes Lutz visioned a 2 seater sports car guess what it was based on ? The Cobra. Guess who he had do the entire concept of the vehicle ? Carroll Shelby. As for the 5th gen I'll give you that.... but you have to understand that nothing became what it is without going through what it was. Therefor, you can't credit the 5th gen without understanding the fact that the 1st Gen creators are responsible for it's existence.
Cool. You like him. Got it.As for looking up him. Like I said I had the pleasure of meeting the man several times. He was a humble and nice as could be, while at the same time not one to beat around the bush.
As for a 6.8 million dollar suit. He's donated 50 times that to children charities. So that's a moot point, if everyone copied your design that just happened to be a winning design. You'd be frustrated too.
I love the 2013-4 GT500. I had one on order. I bought the Viper instead. Maybe next year if there is still one on the lot, ill buy one. I am not talking down the Shelby GT500. I am talking down the fact that you think Carrol had such a big involvement in the whole process. Show me proof. No, his name on the car isn't proof.A Viper guy talking down on Shelby...... SMH! I've seen it all.
^^^Keep in mind though without Shelby and his success with the 65/66 GT350 there would likely be no performance Mustang today, or possibly even the Mustang period. Shelby showed Ford how to liven up their pony car with a decal/performance package. The Shelby G.T.350/G.T.500 upgrade package formula sold so well and brought so much recognition to Ford's pony car that the company began to get greedy with having to pay Shelby royalties. The two severed ties in 69 and Ford came out with their own decal/performance package, the Boss and then the Mach 1 which required no royalties. Make no mistake..if Shelby's idea and car had floundered there would have not been a Boss Mustang or a Mach Mustang. In fact the Mustang probably would've been known more as a ladies car and/or followed the sad ending of the Tornino, Cougar, Thunderbird, Chevelle, Nova...or any of the numerous other American cars that became lost and nonrelevant due to a lack of recognition by their company. Shelby HIMSELF made the Mustang bigger than it was. And it was not Ford who came up with the idea to liven up their own car. It was ONE Ford employee's idea; Lee Iacocca. Iacocca came up with the idea to ask Shelby what he could possibly do with their lady's car.
"In 1964, when Lee Iacocca said, 'Shelby, I want you to make a sports car out of the Mustang,' the first thing I said was, 'Lee, you can't make a race horse out of a mule. I don't want to do it.' He said, 'I didn't ask you to make it; you work for me.'"
Additionally, you can also thank Mr. Shelby for the word Cobra. That word as well as the emblems on the side of SVT Mustangs since 1993 were his idea as well. He understood emblems, decals, and show (as well as performance) sold cars.
Ford can call it whatever they want. I will take notice of the new car, and possibly buy one, if and when it outperforms my 2013 Shelby GT500 (read...if it is quicker and faster). I'm not too concerned with track times. I prefer sheer accleration. :beer:
For those that don't know, Ford owns the Moniker "GT350" due to a class action law suit from the mid 80's Where they put a "shelby'esque" GT350 sticker package on a fox body. Carrol Shelby sued Ford for the use of his nomenclature which he then lost as he did not have it copyrighted, sensing it would come to this ford preemptively copyrighted and licensed GT350 as their own, so essentially they stole this from Shelby, which is what lead to fallout between the direct relationship between the two until the mid 2000's the time between this Carroll went on to work with MOPAR building the Shelby Daytona and Dakota's and then moved on to co-design the Viper.
Shelby '14 GT500's are and will be the last production vehicle baring his name now that he's passed on. '13/'14 had already been contracted and approved. Shelby American will still operate but only as an aftermarket company. This is per the Shelby family themselves VIA a speech that took place at the Mid-America Shelby meet which has taken place in Tulsa the last 30 years. Which, I'd had the chance to meet Carroll several times.
That being said, there will never be another GT500 & and any new GT350 will never be a Shelby hence why the Shelby GT's and GT-H's were called just that. Though in 2011 Shelby did offer an post-production GT350 upgrade package to 2011 GT's. Which he had to get permission from ford as it was the 45 year anniversary.
Hope this clears some things up.
this is all totally bogus. I have confirmed that Ford will continue using the Shelby name for an indefinite amount of time from both Ford execs AND Shelby American as they worked a deal before he died.
I don't really care what he did though.
Of course he would. He got royalties. He is the same person that charged an obscene amount of money for his signature.
I hate to break it to you, but SVT still exists. It now works with Europe
s RS division to create specialty cars such as the Fiesta ST, Focus ST, ect
The GT500's engine has been re-engineered multiple times since the Ford GT. New technology thanks to SVT has been introduced such as Plasma Transferred Wire Arc cylinder liners, ect.
Current specialty products:
SVT RAPTOR
SHELBY GT500
FIESTA ST
FOCUS ST
Source?
I give credit for the 2013 GT500 to SVT and Ford.
I give credit for the 2013 Viper to SRT and Chrysler. Without the OEM, none of these cars would exist.
Cool. You like him. Got it.
His sketchy charity has nothing to do with the fact that he tried to rip off a honest business. Donating to charity doesn't make stealing alright.
I love the 2013-4 GT500. I had one on order. I bought the Viper instead. Maybe next year if there is still one on the lot, ill buy one. I am not talking down the Shelby GT500. I am talking down the fact that you think Carrol had such a big involvement in the whole process. Show me proof. No, his name on the car isn't proof.