Tag: shelby

Today at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale 2025 auction in Arizona, Shelby American unveiled the next-generation GT350 and GT350R Mustangs, and announced plans to return to Trans Am racing for the 2026 season. The new cars celebrate 60 years since the original GT350R program, which Carroll Shelby first unveiled on January 27, 1965. The limited run of sixth-gen Mustangs received a full gauntlet of performance-enhancing upgrades, transforming America’s favorite sports car into the most powerful GT350 in history.

The combined packages take the new Shelby Mustang GT350 and GT350R much farther than Ford’s GT350 that concluded production back in 2020. An aggressive exterior, with more aero and venting, hints at the performance potential within. Shelby will offer up to 810 horsepower by bolting a Whipple supercharger onto the 5.0-liter V8, which pushes output far past even the last factory GT500—though not quite to the level of the current Super Snake that sits at the top of Shelby’s current lineup.

Similarly, the GT350 arrives with an available manual transmission, in classic Shelby fashion, or an optional automatic. Skipping the blower in favor of an available 480-hp naturally aspirated V8 might be more historically accurate, but seems antithetical to Carroll Shelby’s pioneering performance perspective.

A New Era at Shelby Begins in 2025

“The Shelby GT350 and the Shelby GT350R are back for 2025,” said Gary Patterson, President of Shelby American, in a statement. “Just as Carroll Shelby envisioned in 1965, this sports car is designed to be exhilarating and competitive on both the street and track.”

Pricing starts at $109,999 for the supercharged variant, which also comes with a three-year/36,000-mile warranty. The lack of the previous GT350’s flat-plane crank may leave some fans disappointed, but an additional 284 horsepower should more than make up for the difference. And critically, the GT350 promises suspension that will not sacrifice road comfort for performance, to better cater to prospective buyers who plan to enjoy the new Shelby regularly.

The GT350R, meanwhile, focuses more on track performance while remaining street-legal. The supercharged V8 now pushes out more than 830 horsepower, and is mated to a six-speed manual transmission only. Specific track goodies include Alcon brakes, JRI remote-reservoir shocks and struts, carbon floors, additional aero components, racing seats and an integrated roll cage. Available liveries include a gold, silver and black paint scheme, the blue-and-white heritage pack or a simple white with racing stripes.

“While the Shelby GT350 street car is civilized enough for a daily commute, the Shelby GT350R was built for the serious weekend track warrior,” added Vince La Violette, Vice President of Operations and Senior Designer at Shelby American. “Embracing the character of the 1965 competition model Shelby, our focus was on lightening the car, sharpening the performance and keeping it cool on the road course.”

A Return to Racing Underway

As radical as the new GT350 and R sound, perhaps the biggest takeaway from the Barrett-Jackson stage involved Shelby’s plans to return to racing. The GT350R’s package will be built in partnership with Turn Key Automotive/Motorsports, which contributed to Chevrolet’s legendary COPO Camaro and specializes in building Trans Am race cars. This new partnership aims to produce full-on spec racers, not legal to drive on the street, for the 2026 season. And a development engineer at Turn Key who worked on the new GT350R even plans to enter a car in the series, a solid vote of confidence in the product.

Of course, the decision to base a competition car on the street-legal Mustang brings up the prospect of Shelby starting out with a Ford Mustang GTD as a platform instead. So far, pricing for the GT350R and the full race car remain under wraps, but seem unlikely to eclipse the exclusive roadgoing version of the Mustang GT3, which currently races globally in IMSA and WEC, at its starting sticker of $325,000.

As in 1965, Shelby plans to build just 562 examples of the new cars, just 36 of which will be available with the GT350R package. That year, Shelby won the FIA sports car world championship, before taking the inaugural two Trans Am championships in 1966 and 1967. Hopefully, this next chapter for Shelby American can continue to build on that history, catering to the past but with an eye focused on the future of raucous, competitive automotive development.