"You Lucky Bastard" (Ford Shelby GT500)

February 19,2008

Like a child anticipating Christmas morning, I awaited with hope and trepidation to sit, much less drive, the Ford Shelby GT500. This is certainly one of those cars I’d wish to get my hands on before I die, and it was scheduled to arrive on fine Sunday morning. But I’ve had the hotly anticipated car pulled under my nose more than once due to schedule changes and so forth, so I made offerings to whatever gods I could find on the Internet and waited for the day. Apparently my karma was in good shape, as a bright red-and-white Shelby GT500 greeted me that day.

This is, by far, the most powerful car I’ve ever come across with. The Shelby GT500 is not only a frightening potent car (the 500 horsepower from its supercharged V8 was enough to whiten my knuckles even on legal roads), it also is a bookend to a generation of muscle cars starting with its namesake, the GT500 that made its debut 40 years ago.

Sporting the signature Le Mans stripes down the center of its body and a rash of ‘SVT’ logos denoting its heritage in Ford’s Special Vehicle Team, the test car arrived to much fanfare. Despite the obvious DNA, the 2007 incarnation of the GT500 does not want to be known as a Mustang: nowhere on its body is there any reference to Ford’s iconic pony car. Neither is it classified as a Cobra, despite the presence of plenty Shelby-inspired Cobra logos on its steering wheel, seats and exterior panels. All the same, after some time driving it, I can confirm without reservation that this car is definitely some kind off wild animal.

My usual test drive starts out by playing with the interior toys. With the Shelby GT500, the choices are somewhat limited. The cabin’s technology is limited to its 500-watt Shaker 500 stereo system and a couple of instrument cluster gimmicks. The other feature, and surely the main attraction, of the Shelby is its engine: 500 horsepower from a 5.4-liter V8 whose four-valve per cylinder block came straight from the Ford GT. And that’s not all, nestled between the cylinder heads is a Roots-type Eaton supercharger.

Those looking for a comfort and luxury in a sports car may want to turn away, as the interior of the Shelby is a mobile version of old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard. Aside from the prominent Cobra logo on the center of the steering wheel, the view from the driver’s seat is a dreary one. A sea of dull black-and-gray plastics surround the occupants on all sides, the most noteworthy features being the two gaping cup holders and a large black plastic parking brake on the center console. The center stack is hardly more inspiring: indifferently fitted gray panels do a poor job of representing carbon fiber and the black plastic stereo head unit with its single line LCD is a relic of the pre-digital age. Bulky black plastic surrounds for the speakers complete the Spartan interior ensemble.

Despite the primitive appointments, the cabin does offer some nifty features. The Shaker 500 stereo is more sophisticated than its 1980s appearance suggests. It features a 6-disc in-dash changer with the ability to play MP3 discs as well as an auxiliary audio input jack. Similar to the stereo found in other Fords, the Shelby’s stereo enables the driver to choose between folder and track modes when playing digital tracks.

Aside from the stereo, the only cabin tech feature are found in the Shelby GT500 are found in the instrument cluster along with the white-on-gray tachometer and speedometer. In keeping with its performance-based persona, the Shelby GT500 has a couple of systems to notify the driver of when to shift gears. One of these is driver-configurable: using three hard buttons on the dash, drivers can activate a unique audio-visual notification signal to alert them when to shift gears. The notifications can be set to kick anywhere between 1,500 to 6,000 rpm. Irrespective of the level that the latter system is set to, another warning light in the form of a yellow arrow on the dash comes on at around 2,500 rpm, also suggesting when to upshift.

The most “frivolous” feature on this car is also centered on the instrument cluster. Using the same three-button cluster on the dash, drivers can select different colors for the instrument-cluster backlighting to cater to the widest possible artistic range, the car offers 6 preset colors and up to 125 user-configured colors. The ubiquitous Ford two-line display beneath the tachometer (used to call up a range of systems from trip information to oil pressure) is left untouched.

Twist the key of the Shelby GT500 and all of its shortcomings evaporate. The gusty V8 comes alive with unequivocal message that the main entertainment to be had in this car will be via the gas pedal. The engine is mated to a heavy-duty 6-speed manual gearbox. With short-throw shifter on one hand and the Cobra-embossed three-spoke steering wheel in the other, we set out onto the streets of Manila like Steve McQueen in Bullitt.

For having such blistering performance characteristics (500 horsepower, 658 Nm of torque, 0-100 km/h of 4.6 seconds), the GT500 displays relatively good road manners around town. With MacPherson Struts upfront and a three-link live axle at the back, the car’s clearly tuned for spirited driving, but this doesn’t translate into a bone-shaking ride commonly associated with many stiffened suspension configurations. In fact, it feels more or less as subtle and comfortable as the “regular strength” Ford Mustang GT I drove in the United States.

Unlike Steve McQueen, I had to abide by the road laws (we were traveling without a plate number for one), meaning I spent a good deal of time and effort with my left foot controlling the GT500’s clutch. Clutch take-up’s a bit high, but once mastered, even hill starts can be done without smoking the tires too much. One complaint I have with the Shelby is the rear wheels’ tenacity to break traction at the slightest road imperfection. When this happens, the rear wheels undergo severe axle-hop, making the whole car judder and shake before regaining composure. This is even worse when flooring the throttle—where wheel spin can occur from first to up to third gear. It sure is fun, but not when you consider the cost of the fat 285/40 R 18 rear tires.

The most entertaining thing about driving the Shelby GT500 was the universal admiration the car received from passerby. Men in particular would crane their necks to watch me cruise past, and on the odd occasion I caught someone’s eye, I was met with a knowing smile that said, “you lucky bastard.”

As ego-massaging as all this city slicking was however, there’s only one place the GT500 is happiest: on the open road. Gunning the throttle results in a locomotive-like acceleration, and despite the car’s reliance on forced induction, power is very linear without any noticeable surge from the supercharger. If you can’t feel the supercharger, however, you can certainly hear it: when pushing the car beyond 4,000 rpm, the supercharger whines like a siren, an unhappy coincidence as this car’s perhaps the biggest cop magnet on the road.

Flooring the gas pedal or kicking down a gear both result in the Shelby’s front end rearing up as power surges to the rear, while squeezing the accelerator when cornering predictably results in the loss of the back end. Shifts with the short-throw stick are smooth and assured, and the shifter snicks into each gate with a satisfying precision.

As much as I’d like to take the GT500 on the Batangas Racing Circuit, today’s test is restricted to public roads, and in a car that can break 120 km/h in second gear, I put my license on the line each time I squeezed the throttle. I could go on in great detail how it feels to drive this beast—the rush, the terror, but I still have to recover from wetting myself silly.

In my all-too short time behind the wheel of the Ford Shelby GT500, the trip computer recorded a mileage of 4.3 km/L. It seems that the only green concern this car has is with the color of the traffic lights. That said, the asking price of this over-the-top sports coupe is US$ 41,930.00 (~ PHP 1.98 million)—a steal considering this car has the most horsepower per dollar in any of Ford’s passenger car catalogue (perhaps even compared to any production car at the moment). The Shelby GT500 is a brash, brawny, barn burner. Its stripped down interior and the absence of rear legroom are eclipsed by the glory of its blown V8.

By Ulysses Ang | Photos by Ulysses Ang & Jason K. Ang

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