get 18s) that could be the best-looking rollers ever offered on a Mustang, shod by Goodyear F1 Supercar tires specially formulated for the car. Ford has also made the 2010 model year the first since the late 1960s that the GT500 convertible may be ordered with factory racing stripes. Well, there goes the aftermarket. Lending some credibility to those racing stripes is a supercharged and intercooled 5.4-liter DOHC V-8 tuned to produce the same eye-watering 540 hp and 510 lb-ft of torque as last year’s limited-edition, $80K Mustang GT500KR, an increase of 40 horses and 30 lb-ft compared with the previous GT500. The rear axle goes from 3.31:1 to 3.55:1, which ought to bring 0–60 times into the low four-second range. The six-speed manual is also upgraded, with more robust innards and taller fifth and sixth gears for a claimed two-mpg improvement in fuel economy. Sounds like fun, but as
2010 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Mustang at the Los Angeles auto show, and Ford is already showing us what else it can do with its redesigned pony car. The new 2010 Mustang Shelby GT500 is being introduced at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show (NAIAS). As with the outgoing Shelby GT500, the new super Stang wears muscled-up bodywork to reflect its superior status within the Mustang lineup. Most evident is the even scarier two-story grille bracketed by HID headlamps set deep beneath the canted brow. The hood domes high over the big engine and features redesigned, industrial-strength heat extractors. Other than the requisite Cobra badge and lower trim stripes, the bodysides are common to lesser Stangs, while the rear end features a diffuser-esque bumper treatment and a rear spoiler that protrudes several inches off the decklid. Filling out the coupe’s wheel wells are a set of 19-inch alloys (convertibles
we’ve noted countless times in relation to many steroid-enhanced automobiles, brute horsepower is useless without control, and there is no control without a communicative chassis. Unfortunately, in each previous GT500 we’ve sampled, the prodigious engine has outmuscled the chassis every time. In a head-to-head matchup (“Heavy Pedal”) with a 2006 Corvette, the 2007 GT500 was far outclassed and
outpaced despite a full 100-hp advantage and $10K-lower price. The chief culprits for the GT500’s loss were weight and lack of body control. Sounds like fun, but as we’ve noted countless times in relation to many steroid-enhanced automobiles, brute horsepower is useless without control, and there is no control without a communicative chassis.
