THINGS--2007 SHELBY COBRA GT-500

 THE 1960’S AUTOMOTIVE WORLD WAS AN ENTIRELY DIFFERENT SCENARIO THAN WHAT WE ARE FAMILIAR WITH TODAY..MUSCLE CARS ABOUNDED AND TERMS LIKE ‘MPG’ AND ‘AIRBAGS’ AND "HYBRIDS" WERE UNKNOWN.. ‘DUAL QUADS’-‘SIX-PACKS’ (NOT BEERS)-‘ISKY ¾ CAMS’-‘TARANTULA INTAKES’-‘HOOKER HEADERS’ FUEL LINES THAT LOOKED LIKE MINI SEWER PIPES. A WHOLE DIFFERENT JARGON RELATED TO AUTOMOTIVE ISSUES..WE WANTED TO KNOW HOW FAST A CAR COULD GET FROM 0 TO 60-HOW FAST COULD IT DO A QUARTER MILE.. FUEL PRICES (AROUND 25 CENTS A GALLON) ENSURED THAT THESE HORSEPOWER MONSTERS WOULD PROWL THE STREETS..IT WAS A DIFFERENT WORLD THEN-OPEC HAD NOT YET FLEXED THEIR MUSCLE BUT THAT WOULD ALL CHANGE—AND WITH THAT CHANGE CAME THE NEAR EXTINCTION OF THOSE MAGNIFICENT TRIBUTES TO HORSEPOWER..NEVER AGAIN WOULD THE AVERAGE TEENAGERS OF AMERICA KNOW THE FEEL OF BEING PUSHED BACK INTO YOUR SEAT WHEN YOU PUNCHED A CHEVELLE SS 396 OR BANGED THE GEARS OF A GTO, A ROAD RUNNER, A HEMI CHARGER, OR A FAIRLANE GT390..MY FAVORITE MUSCLE CARS WERE THE MUSTANGS, THE GT SERIES AND THE MACH ONES ALWAYS HELD A PLACE IN MY HEART..IF IT WERE NOT FOR CAR SHOWS THE FEW REMAINING EXAMPLES OF THAT ERA WOULD BE AN EXTREMELY RARE SIGHT AT BEST..

KING OF THE MUSTANGS WAS THE SHELBY GT SERIES, THE FIRST MUSTANG TO BE BRANDED A ‘SHELBY’ WAS BUILT IN 1964 AND BECAME THE FORERUNNER OF THE LEGENDARY GT 350 AND 500...PRODUCTION OF THE SHELBY SERIES STOPPED IN 1970 (SAY-FUEL COSTS) BUT WITH THE ADVANCES IN AUTOMOTIVE TECHNOLOGY, THE KING OF THE MUSTANGS HAS BEEN REBORN!! IN 2006 PRODUCTION BEGAN ONCE AGAIN AND IN 2007 A FEW LUCKY INDIVIDUALS BECAME THE PROUD OWNERS OF THIS MAGNIFICENT INCARNATION OF HORSEPOWER.. ACCORDING TO SOME ONLINE SOURCES LESS THAN 6000 HAVE BEEN PRODUCED..ENJOY THE PHOTOS OF ONE SUCH EXAMPLE OF MECHANICAL ELEGANCE,,BEAUTY AND POWER..

SATURDAY JUNE 19, I SAW THIS BEAUTIFUL BEAST ROLL BY AS I WAS STOPPED AT A RED LIGHT..I THOUGHT ‘WOW, WHAT A POST THAT WOULD MAKE’ BUT I KNEW I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO CATCH UP WITH IT DUE TO THE TRAFFIC AND ABOUT A DOZEN LIGHTS THAT CONTROLLED TRAFFIC ON THIS MAIN ROAD..I HAD PLANNED TO GAS UP MY BIKE AND HUNT UP SOME PHOTOS FOR A POSTING..TO MY PLEASANT SURPRISE THERE WAS THE SHELBY IN THE SAME GAS STATION I PULLED INTO..A BRIEF INTRODUCTION FOLLOWED AND SHORTLY WE MET FOR SOME PHOTOS..MEET RICK (FROM LITCHFIELD COUNTY) AND HIS BEAUTIFUL 2007 SHELBY GT500..THE MOST POWERFUL FACTORY BUILT MUSTANG IN HISTORY-THE RESULT OF COLLABORATION BETWEEN CARROL SHELBY AND FORD’S ‘SPECIAL VEHICLE TEAM’ (SVT)..

RICK ALSO OWNS A 2003 HARLEY DAVIDSON HERITAGE AND ANOTHER MUSTANG THAT IS EVEN A RARER MODEL THAN THE ONE WE HAVE MET HERE..HOPEFULLY WE'LL MEET AGAIN AND BRING YOU ANOTHER SERIES OF PHOTOS ABOUT ANOTHER 'SVT' SPECIALTY MUSTANG..

                                            UNTIL NEXT WEEK--KEEP THE RUBBER SIDE DOWN
                                                                AND THE  SHINY SIDE UP

THE INTIMIDATING SHELBY LOGO





EVEN SITTING STILL IT LOOKS LIKE ITS SPEEDING



NOT A VIEW YOU WOULD SEE FOR LONG IN YOUR REAR VIEW MIRROR



THE MOST LIKELY VIEW ONE WOULD HAVE



OVER 475 HORSES LIVE HERE

                                 

RICK'S VERY COOL TATTOO--TWO WELL RESPECTED  LOGOS

                                      (AS ALWAYS-CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR MORE DETAIL)
  (TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHELBY GT 500 HIT GOOGLE--SHELBY COBRA 2007)