The Mustang achieved an iconic status for a wide array of reasons. One of them is Carroll Shelby, a man who was tasked by the Ford Motor Company in the 1960s with designing and developing the most well-known high-performance derivatives of the quintessential pony car.
As fate would have it, the Shelby Mustang story started in 1965 with the GT350. Built for the sole purpose of going fast, the lightest of the GT350 models were gifted with 289 cubic inches (4.7 liters) of Windsor V8 goodness. Fed by a thumpin’ great carb, these bad boys were rated at 306 horsepower in stock tune.
Fast-forward to the present day, and Ford designed and developed the current Mustang-based Shelby GT350 all on its own. And in hindsight, it’s a wholly different animal from the 1960s original, starting with the flat-plane crank Voodoo V8 burbling away at ridiculous rpm. It’s also a bit more high-tech than grandpa, with the high points being the MagneRide dampers and carbon fiber wheels.
Launched almost 50 years after the first GT350 rolled off the assembly line, the S550 descendant still features the underlying recipe that made the 1965 model so great. To better understand what’s what with the two ponies, the peeps over at Gears and Gasoline put together a video that perfectly showcases how time has changed the GT350.
Spoiler alert: the Wimbledon White-painted ‘60s specimen in the clip is driven by an old guy that definitely knows how the cookie crumbles. In the opposing corner, the owner of the Kona Blue-finished 2017 Shelby GT350 couldn’t be more in tune with his ride of choice. The thing is, however, the two gentlemen have mutual respect for each other, and both appreciate the other’s Shelby-fied pony to the fullest.
As for the cherry on top, the best segment of the video is when Bob and Sam try each other's car. These being said, press play and behold how generations interweave in surprising and mysterious ways.
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. Full profile
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