- shelby has long provided a seemingly endless supply of high-performance and special-edition mustangs, and 2021 is no exception.
- four new mustang-based cars are out for 2021, in a limited run of 98 each to commemorate the late carroll shelby's 98th birthday and collectively marketed as a "bundle of snakes."
- at the top of the line is the 825-hp shelby super snake, which also comes in a sleek speedster version.
shelby american, founded by the late great carroll shelby, has long been providing ford mustang and f-150 truck owners with special editions and performance packages for their vehicles. to commemorate the 98th anniversary of carroll shelby's birth, a just-announced set of mustang-based shelbys will have a limited run of 98 units. they include the shelby gt, shelby gt500se, and the shelby super snake and super snake speedster.
the most exciting of the new batch of shelbys is the 825-hp super snake ($133,785) and its speedster variant (at a $4995 upcharge), featuring a hard tonneau cover where the top stows that runs up to the back of both headrests. the super snake will come with a 5.0-liter coyote v-8 with a sizable whipple supercharger nestled in its valley. it will also receive upgraded half-shafts, a shelby-exclusive extreme cooling package and borla exhaust, a short-throw shifter and one-piece driveshaft on manual models, and transmission cooling on automatic models.
it also gets the ford performance track handling pack, 20-inch forged aluminum wheels, and shelby-specific brembo brakes with a proprietary shelby cooling system. shelby claims that the super snake will accelerate to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. at $133,785 for the manual-equipped snake, you'll either hope you speak parseltongue or really want to fork over the big bucks if you want one in your driveway.
in more reasonable territory is the 480-hp shelby gt, starting at $62,310 (when equipped with the six-speed manual transmission) but still not exactly what we'd call cheap at nearly $25,000 more than a base, manual-equipped mustang gt. it does sport some nice additions over the production gt, including shelby-embroidered katzkin leather seats, custom 20-inch wheels, a unique hood scoop, and a borla exhaust that shelby says is responsible for the bump in horsepower to 480. if all that still isn't enough, buyers can opt for a 700-plus-hp ford performance supercharger kit to spice things up.
also new for 2021 is the gt500se, short for signature edition, which offers a heady 800-plus horsepower and is priced at $104,900, a handsome upcharge of $29,995 over the gt500. that gets you upgraded leather seats featuring carroll shelby's signature and a placard with the vehicle's run number on the dashboard and engine cover. however, this package isn't really about looks—the gt500 already comes from the factory well adorned. to make that big horsepower number, the se receives a smaller supercharger pulley that will allow for more boost; to handle the extra stresses of that power and the heat that comes with it, there are beefier half-shafts, a high-flow intercooler and high-flow heat exchanger for the supercharger, a recalibrated suspension with new springs and anti-roll bars, lightweight forged aluminum wheels, and a new carbon-fiber hood that reduces weight by 30 pounds.
the super snake is being sold at select ford dealers starting in april, while the other cars come directly from shelby american.