The Shelby GT-500 Super Snake—A Marketing Gimmick, a Movie Star, and Now an Icon
From a certain point-of-view, the original Shelby GT-500 Super Snake looked like a failure. A model with twice the value of the stock version, meant primarily for promotional purposes, which never made it to the marketplace. Yet here we are 50 years later, still talking about it as car fanatics go crazy over it. Not a bad marketing gimmick, wouldn't you say?
The 1967 Shelby GT-500 Super Snake—A Prototype Too Expensive for Production
It was 1967 and Ford was enjoying the successful launch of the Mustang from three years earlier. Carroll Shelby had partnered with Ford to introduce the Shelby GT500 with the big block 428 CI Police Interceptor engine rated at 355 HP. It was well-received with double the sales of the small block GT350.
Besides Shelby’s partnership with Ford, he was also a distributor for Goodyear tires. He was approached by Goodyear to participate in a promotional event that was a high-speed test of their new Thunderbolt tires at their test facility near San Angelo, Texas. Shelby was tasked to provide a high-performance vehicle for the test. Naturally, he turned to his newly created Shelby GT500 to fill the bill.
Shelby American Creates a Very Fast Mustang for the Goodyear Tire Test
The staff at Shelby American put together a plan to replace the existing engine with something more powerful. Fred Goodell, Shelby’s chief engineer explained the process: “We rebuilt it with a special lightweight 427 racing engine; special rear axle, special transmission and of course, Thunderbolt tires.” Don McCain, Shelby’s sales manager described the engine as “the mother of all 427’s at that time…aluminum heads, aluminum water pump, forged crank, Le Mans rods, just basically everything inside the engine was built to run sustained 6,000 RPM- to race at Le Mans.” With the addition of a custom exhaust system the engine was rated at 600 Horsepower.
Other modifications were made to the car, including a beefed up suspension with stiffer springs and shocks on the passenger side to handle the cornering forces on the Goodyear 5-mile oval. The car was completed as they added two narrow blue stripes flanking a wide blue center stripe on the white body. Finally, the 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake was born.
Goodyear Tire Test Is Successful, but the Super Snake Is Too Expensive to Produce.
The car was now ready for the Goodyear tire test. It was driven for 500 miles on their big oval with an average speed of 142 MPH and was declared a success with the tires retained 97 % of their original tread. Shelby hoped to produce a limited run of 50 Super Snakes. However, with a price that was more than double that of a stock GT500, they soon realized that it was just too expensive to produce. It would be forty years before the next Super Snake appeared.
That original prototype would become a famous movie star in the 2000 movie remake of Gone in 60 Seconds. The Nicolas Cage character named the car “Eleanor”, which became a popular moniker for countless clones in the years to come. The car was later sold at a Mecum auction in 2013 for $1.3 million.
2007 Shelby GT500 Super Snake—a legend returns after a 40-year absence
It took 40-years for the Super Snake name to be resurrected for the 2007 Shelby GT500 model. For an extra $28K Shelby American worked their magic at their Las Vegas facility. With the stock 5.4L V-8 Shelby offered an optional supercharged version that was rated at over 725 HP, with 0-60 times in the 3.5 to 3.7 sec. range.
There were also lots of other goodies added that improved handling and performance and some cosmetic changes as well. These included badging, stripes, 20” wheels, fiberglass hood, bigger brakes, track suspension, and cat-back exhaust.
2009 Prudhomme Edition Super Snake
It seemed inevitable that drag racing icon, Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and his pal, Carroll Shelby would team up on a Super Snake project together. In 2009 they came out with a concept car called the Prudhomme Edition Super Snake with a plan for a limited run of 100 units. This was a serious drag racing machine. The 5.4L engine was rated at 800 HP on racing fuel with the help of a Whipple supercharger and a modified air intake sticking up out of the hood. The entire front end tilted forward for easy engine access, plus an adjustable BMR racing suspension and rear drag slicks. For safety they added an 8-point roll cage, 6-piston front disc brakes, and a 5-point impact safety harness.
The entire package listed for a hefty $150K but was sure to dominate the owner’s local drag strip. The original prototype sold at Barrett-Jackson for $275,000 in 2009.
2011-2014 Shelby GT500 Super Snake
Over the years Ford and Shelby American continued to refine the Super Snake with more aggressive suspension and engine packages. They incorporated the Ford Racing handling pack that included dynamic adjustable dampers, lowering springs, tuned stabilizer bars, and front strut tower brace.
With these models, there was no shortage of special “Shelby” and “Super Snake” badging including the signature striping in either matte black or matte white. The interiors also got more Shelby ‘bling’ including embroidered headrests and floor mats.
2012 50th Anniversary Edition Super Snake
Another development during this period was the 2012 50th Anniversary Edition Super Snake that celebrated the 50th year of Shelby American. This was a limited run of just 50 units with a distinctive black body and triple gold stripes.
For the 2013 model Ford went to the larger 5.8L “Trinity” V8. With this larger engine came more power. The top option boasted a ground-pounding 850 HP through a 6-speed gearbox. With this set-up the performance was impressive with a quarter-mile time of 11.9 sec. @123.5 MPH. Of course, this kind of performance didn’t come cheap, with a total package price of $94,800.
2015-2016 Mustang GT Shelby Super Snake
With Ford’s introduction of the S550 Mustang platform in 2015 some changes were in store for the Super Snake. With Shelby American discontinuing the GT500, the 2015 Super Snake was based on the Mustang GT, so the “GT500” tag was dropped from the name.
Mustang GT 5.0L “Coyote” V8 Becomes Standard Powerplant
This new model utilized the 5.0L “Coyote” V8. The two supercharged options were either the Ford Racing version with 650 HP or the Whipple unit at 750 HP.
More Carbon-Fiber Helps Reduce Weight
Carbon-fiber was used generously on the new S550 platform. Up front was a carbon-fiber hood with a forced-air scoop. To aid aerodynamics, Shelby added a carbon-fiber up front diffuser, and rear spoiler on the trunk lid. There were more carbon-fiber parts in the rear including a rear diffuser, taillight panel, and rocker panels with side-skirt aero blades in front of the rear wheels.
This model was the first year to offer the option of either a six-speed manual or six-speed automatic. Other options under the hood included an upgraded intercooler and cooling kits for the differential and transmission.
2017 50th Anniversary Edition and Beyond
Gary Patterson, Shelby American President has made it clear that the latest 2017 Super Snake is meant to provide a competitive advantage in the same proportions as the original 1967 version did to it's counterparts. In a time when people are looking for technology to help them avoid driving their cars, the Mustang Shelby GT-500 Super Snake is built for drivers in the mindset of a time period where driving was meant to be a joy and a passion. We hope that mindset never quite goes away.
READ MORE on the 2017 Mustang GT Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary Edition