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Jay Leno Now Owns the “Greatest Mustang Ever Built”

We all knew that it was just a matter of time until Jay Leno’s Big Dog Garage in Burbank would become the home of a Shelby GT350R. Unsurprisingly, Leno is genuinely excited about his track-focused muscle car.
Jay Leno's Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R 1 photo
Photo: Screenshot from YouTube
The former Tonight Show host is so impressed by the all-round package that Leno calls the Shelby GT350R “the greatest Mustang ever built.” For a man with more than 130 cars and 90 motorcycles in his car collection, that’s a big statement. But the almighty GT350R has the right bits and pieces to back Leno’s statement.

Despite it being the most expensive Mustang on sale today ($61,295), the GT350R offers much more performance compared to the pony’s other variants. Without a shadow of a doubt, the central piece of the GT350R is its 5.2-liter flat-plane crank Voodoo V8.

In this day and age, 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft (581 Nm) pale in comparison to the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat’s supercharged V8. However, the R is not about out-and-out power.

The R-ified Mustang is all about how the grunt is sent to the fat rear wheels and how the chassis delivers world-beating driving dynamics. It’s redundant to talk you through its amazing specifications, such as the carbon fiber wheels or the bespoke Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tires, because Ford engineer Jamal Hameedi will gladly present to you all the bangs and whistles that come with the Shelby GT350R Mustang. More specifically, one of only 37 units made for the 2015 model year.

When all is said and done, the bottom line is that the Blue Oval couldn’t have come up with a better machine than this for the 50th anniversary of the original Shelby GT350, the one powered by the trusty old 289 cu.in. (4.7-liter) Windsor V8. Now kick back, press play, and melt into that couch thanks to the visceral sound produced by that thumping great Voodoo V8 blunderbuss.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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