Shelby GT Drops Top for Summer

'The convertible, available this summer, will include a light bar across the top and Ford Racing parts, such as a performance package to boost power to 319 horses and a specially tuned suspension.'

So, have they removed the live axle and gone to independant? I don't think so!

and a specially tuned suspension.'

So, have they removed the live axle and gone to independant? I don't think so!

Back in 1963, before the original [1964 - 1/2] Mustang arrived, there were brags in various magazines about all the wonderful features that Ford was going to put into it. One of them was independent rear suspension. Well, that, and a bunch more, got "postponed" for cost reasons. A co-worker friend bought an early Mustang with the 260 V8 (289 was delayed), and I had a 1964 TR4 with exactly half the number of cylinders and half the cubic inches, but 63% of the horsepower. He could get about one car length on me up to 70 mph. When he began braking to turn onto another road, I'd pass, out-brake, and leave him several days a week. And then he bragged about how fast he could run a downhill section of road with multiple switchbacks and a railroad crossing. I hadn't been there in several years, so we took my Triumph to go check it out. On my first pass, I ran about 5 mph faster than he'd been able to achieve - and with him as a passenger, when he'd been running alone. Game, set, match, even though I, too, had live axle (with the frame passing UNDERNEATH it for low center of mass).

"Specially tuned" probably means slightly stiffer springs & anti-roll bar plus re-valved shock absorbers, and MAYBE lower-profile tires. But, Carroll Shelby DOES know how to build a car, if they'll let him.

Before I go any further, I should say I am a Ford fan, I have had a Mustang myself, right now my 'toy' is a Mk2 Escort. Right. Ford have used Carrol Shelby's name in a cynical marketing ploy. They will never build a mustang that handles. They continue to ride the good will still left from the original Pony car. As far as I now, the Mustang hasn't even got a limited slip diff, a big disadvantage round a small medieval town like Kings Lynn. He he he. It is a very pretty car, though.

Ford have used Carrol Shelby's name in a cynical marketing ploy. That's your understatement for this month, you know! When production ceased on one series, Ford stated (according to magazine articles of the time) that they now OWNED the right to the name "Shelby" on cars. Carroll himself could no longer use it [not that that is novel: Ransom E. Olds couldn't use "Oldsmobile", so started REO (his initials), and August Horch translated his name to form "Audi" when he lost the rights - see "Origins" at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audi]. My favorite irony about CS, though, is that he made his name first as a driver, then as a man who transplanted big engines into small cars, and then HE had a heart transplant! They should have used a BIG one, eh?

What you got under the name Escort, and what was sold here, were quite different. Ditto for the Granada and several others. There have been some striking-appearance Mustangs, including current production, but most were twitchy handlers compared to so many other brands. In the late 1960s, a friend lost control and went off the road; he called the nearest towing service (breakdown lorry, for you?). When he told them where his car was, they asked, "What year Mustang is it?" Seems that his was the fourth crash in less than three weeks at the same corner, and since the other three were Mustangs . . . .

On the other hand, I loved watching the original Shelby Mustangs race at Mid-Ohio racecourse! With smooth pavement and gobs of power they were spectacular fun.