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| 2008 Shelby GT500KR - Article "2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR: Living Up to the Legend", June 2008 There are a lot of things about 1968 we don't like to remember. Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King were assassinated. The Democratic national convention turned into a riot. Things in Vietnam started to really head south. But that was also the year that iconic race car driver and auto designer Carroll Shelby and his crew unveiled the GT500KR Shelby Mustang. Dubbed the "King of the Road," the muscular, heart-throbbing beauty featured a 428 cubic-inch Cobra-Jet V8 engine producing 360hp. It was a huge success then and a car that collectors still go after with avidity forty years later. In recognition of that 40th anniversary, Ford and Shelby have teamed up once again to offer a limited 1,000 vehicle run of the 2008 Ford Shelby GT500KR with 540 horses under a custom carbon composite hood at a starting price of $79,995. Boasting a 5.4-liter supercharged V8 with 510 lb-ft. of torque, the 2008 is outfitted with the Ford Racing Power Upgrade Pack that features revised calibration and a cold air intake system. Look for a short-throw shifter (25% shorter than the one on the Shelby GT500). The six-speed manual transmission has a 3.73:1 rear axle ratio. There's a Ford racing performance exhaust and unique performance tuning of the suspension (springs, dampers, and stabilizer bars.) The hood features the classic Shelby KR design with Shelby lettering across the hood's front edge and on the rear deck-lid. The front quarter panels have 40th anniversary badges to compliment the official anniversary dash plate. The ride height of the 2008 has been brought down to the optimum level, lowering the front 20 mm and the rear 15. The carbon composite hood with scoops and hood pins, lower front air dam, and the custom splitter and rear spoiler all up aerodynamic performance. The 20-inch wheels are outfitted with Goodyear P255/45Z18 high performance tires in front, P285/40ZR18s in back. Handling benefits from aggressive dampers and springs, stiffer anti-roll bars, and a strut-tower brace. And just to make sure you can both crank the KR and crank your tunes, there's a Shaker 1000 audio system (with DVD navigation and SIRIUS satellite radio.) Available since April, the original run of 1,000 was expanded by 746 units to be labeled as the 2009 because demand was so overwhelming. Of the additional 746 to be made, 571 will go to customers in the U.S. with the remainder being offered in countries where the 2008 was not available. It's a gratifying show of love both for a beautiful performance automobile and for the legendary designer whose talent and vision it represents. At least in an automotive sense, Carroll Shelby made 1968 a very good year and 40 years later, he's done the same for 2008.
This page was last updated on 06/10/08. |
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