Ford’s top Mustang is the Shelby GT500, and it’s no mere plaything—it brings industrial-grade performance to Ford’s pony car thanks to a 5.4-liter V8 grabbed from the truck side of Ford’s operations. It’s beefy enough to handle a healthy dose of supercharging and the performance internals bolted up by SVT for a total of 10 horsepower per liter, an impressive figure by any standard. Forward progress is swift, with 100 mph coming up in well under 10 seconds. The GT500’s handling is as state-of-the-art as a live rear axle can get, with rear suspension utilizing the Panhard rod, three-trailing link design pioneered on the Cobra R a decade earlier. Grip is excellent, at nearly a full lateral G. It also looks the part, with a scoop-studded lightweight aluminum hood that exhausts hot underhood air, and a revised front fascia that feeds cool air to the engine intake and the intercooler. The rear spoiler even features a Gurney flap, a thin strip invented by famous racer Dan Gurney, that increases downforce despite its deceptively simple appearance. The GT500 is a true-blue Shelby, a high-test Mustang that really performs.
