For people mad that Ford is ditching Shelby, hear me out

[DeluxeStang]

The Shelby name isn't what it once was. It still matters to some mustang buyers, but the Shelby name isn't as much of a selling point today as it was 10-15 years ago, and nowhere near as iconic as it was in the 60s when Shelby was at their peak. Shelby has ruined their relationship with Ford by charging outrageous licensing fees, but they've also ruined their own reputation by frankly half assing a lot of the Shelby America creations.

All of the meh Shelby models come from Shelby, and all the truly great Shelby models aren't Shelby's at all, they're Ford performance creations. Whenever Shelby America half asses a product, we see uninformed enthusiasts blaming Ford. Those same uninformed enthusiasts give Shelby, not Ford, credit when Ford makes a great car like the gt 350 and gt 500.

It's a weird, complex relationship where the meh cars are made by Shelby, and the great cars aren't Shelby by are, and most enthusiasts don't understand it.

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[DeluxeStang]

Furthermore, I'd argue Multimatic is the newer take on what Ford - Shelby used to have. When Shelby was good, truly as their best, they weren't just throwing tacky chrome wheels and ram truck looking grille inserts onto a car and charging 30 grand. They were engineers, they designed the cars. They made real substantial changes like designing an entire body, or doing major chassis and powertrain development.

One of the things I've seen enthusiasts get completely wrong about Shelby was believing he was a staunch traditionalist who just wanted to put a V8 and a manual in everything. These people couldn't be more wrong, Shelby was incredibly progressive.

He designed a radical experimental body for the Shelby Daytona coupe for aero benefits at a time when most people didn't care about aero. There are sketches from his team showing off active spoilers for a 60s mustang. He openly embraced small displacement performance turbocharged 4 cyls in the 80s. When working on the '05 Ford GT, he really wanted Ford to go with a dual clutch fast shifting auto, and was pissed when they went with a manual for the sake of tradition. In one of his final interviews, he said he wished he could live long enough to see performance hybrid and EVs become mainstream.

All of this is to say Shelby wasn't a traditionalist, he was on the cutting edge of experimentation and design. You know who that describes today? Multimatic. Multimatic is creating all the coolest cars right now, like the Aston Martin Valkyrie, the peak of auto engineering. That's who Ford should be partnered with one their performance cars, not a brand like Shelby America that's become a shell of its former self.

 

[roket]

i am honestly glad that Shelby is no longer being used for Ford's first-party vehicles. imagine how Carroll Shelby would feel if he was still around and i told him that the $165k Super Snake a customer bought had the PCM JB Welded into place and one of the splitter supports being completely non-functional and broken. whoever builds the Shelbys can't even drill a circular hole correctly for parking sensors or ensure all the connectors for everything are plugged in. speaking from personal observations

 

[DeluxeStang]

It would be like if you partnered with Disney 70 years ago for a reasonable price, and got your moneys worth because they were a serious partner on the cutting edge of innovation, taking bold risks, and making hit after hit. Fast forward to day, and they sour their reputation by only making half assed films, and 73 different remakes. The innovation is gone, and all that's left is a company saying "Remember when I used to be great?"

Then imagine on top of that, that same company says "I wanna start charging you 20 million a year instead of a hundred k to license my products". A company that's gradually having a worse reputation, demanding way more money to be associated with them. That's basically what happened with Shelby.

It's smart long term to cut your losses and find another scrappy startup that's more reasonable, and has the same magic your original partner had when they were truly great. That's Multimatic.

 

[DeluxeStang]

i am honestly glad that Shelby is no longer being used for Ford's first-party vehicles. imagine how Carroll Shelby would feel if he was still around and i told him that the $165k Super Snake a customer bought had the PCM JB Welded into place and one of the splitter supports being completely non-functional and broken. whoever builds the Shelbys can't even drill a circular hole correctly for parking sensors or ensure all the connectors for everything are plugged in. speaking from personal observations

He would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what his company was like now.

 

[Rated R]

All agreed to so far. I have My GT350R Hep not because it's a Shelby, it's just an overall compelling package to me. If I'm to be honest it bugs that CS didn't have much to do with the development of the car and yet his name is on it for nostalgic reasons. I am grateful enthusiasts know that my car has nothing to do with Shelby American. That company in its currently form is just a bolt on decal applying cheap leather embroidery shop. There are men in convalescent homes wearing their satin jackets

 

[Frogdog1]

Shelby came and went. That sums it up.

 

[LouG]

I remember the very first Shelby Cobra built on the AC Ace with a 260ci V8.
The guy's an icon without doubt, but the name wouldn't be a factor in my buying a Mustang, or not.

 

[Frogdog1]

I remember the very first Shelby Cobra built on the AC Ace with a 260ci V8.
The guy's an icon without doubt, but the name wouldn't be a factor in my buying a Mustang, or not.

Agree. He did some very cool things with cars. The 289 Cobra was one of his greatest works. The 427 Cobra was a Cobra with a big heavy engine in it.

 

[LouG]

Agree. He did some very cool things with cars. The 289 Cobra was one of his greatest works. The 427 Cobra was a Cobra with a big heavy engine in it.

Yep. One of the things that attracted me to this car is the high reving V8. I've never been a fan of the large lower reving variety.

 

[Alan Applegate]

I'd like to think we're all remiss a bit. Back in the day, Shelby not only moded Fords, it did several models for Lee Iacocca at Chrysler too. Personally, I liked the setup in the GLH-S (I should mention a four hole turbo!), and I almost bought one. Closer to the truth, Shelby has always been a symbol of V8 power, and it still is today, albeit not as popular; which sort of relates to the poor build quality mentioned above.

If I'm personally remiss, it is because Shelby never worked with any of Ford's turbo models, four holers notwithstanding.

 

[roket]

He would be rolling over in his grave if he saw what his company was like now.

i think that's an understatement. he'd be giving cats with buttered toast strapped to their backs a run for their money

 

[DeluxeStang]

All agreed to so far. I have My GT350R Hep not because it's a Shelby, it's just an overall compelling package to me. If I'm to be honest it bugs that CS didn't have much to do with the development of the car and yet his name is on it for nostalgic reasons. I am grateful enthusiasts know that my car has nothing to do with Shelby American. That company in its currently form is just a bolt on decal applying cheap leather embroidery shop. There are men in convalescent homes wearing their satin jackets

I remember when the gt 350 came out people were saying Ford needed to rely on Shelby to engineer it because their own engineers weren't good enough to make it themselves.

This is someone I knew personally, and they were being dead serious. It pissed me off lol.

 

[Barstoolman]

Quite frankly, most of the iconic Mustangs have their names etched solely with Ford…. Mach 1, Boss, SVO/SVT, Dark Horse, California Special, GTA, Bullitt… the list goes on and on

 

[armyGT]

I hear you on Shelby. I owned two GT500's, a 2008, and a 2010. I knew I was buying a car engineered by Ford and named after a legend. The cars just had street appeal and an exciting name to most. I have no problem retiring Shelby. I do have an issue with the Dark Horse name. What happened to SVT Cobra or BOSS?
I'm sure the new Dark Horse SC will be a well-engineered car. Does it have street appeal? NO! Does it have an exciting name? NO!
Will I buy a $100K Mustang? NO!
In the end, they will sell a few, but Ford is now taking the fun of a pony car away from most of its loyal Mustang fans who also have house payments and higher and higher costs of living.
Just check FACEBOOK MARKET PLACE. There's a lot of (NEW) Dark Horse Mustangs listed. If they were that hot, they wouldn't need FB for help!

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