Photo: abimelecdesign / Instagram
There is an excellent reason why Carroll Shelby worked on Ford Mustangs – he loved everything that could be made to go faster than the norm. But his company also flirted with other brands, not just the famous Ford Motor Company, over the years.
The most (in)famous derailment from the Blue Oval norm was, of course, with AC Cars for creating the iconic Shelby Cobra roadster. But even that one was just a short distance from the Ford origins, given the powertrain choice. Alas, that does not mean Shelby could not play nice with other brands. One such instance was with Chrysler when during the 1980s and 1990s, they created stuff like the Shelby Omni GLH-S three- and five-door hot hatchback or the fifth-gen Dodge Shelby Charger.
Both the Shelby Omni and Charger were relatively small by American standards because those were the awkward times when tiny bland models ensured survival. Still, Shelby found a way to lift the spirits of Charger fans with the company's on-point modifications of the suspension, powertrain, and styling. Even better, the final 1,000 units of Shelby Chargers were modified in-house by Carroll Shelby at the facility in Whittier, California, and became the collectible Shelby Charger GLHS models – all dressed in black, marketed as true Shelbys, and rocking a 175-hp Turbo II engine.
Later on, Shelby moved on to the bigger Dodges, and in 1999 and 2000, a special edition of the first-generation Durango mid-size SUV was created with the Shelby S.P.360 moniker and packing a supercharged 5.9-liter Magnum V8 engine churning out 360 hp, bespoke wheels, tires, bumpers, and a new suspension setup. Plus, all of them were offered in Viper blue attire with dual racing stripes and were quite fast in standing out in the SUV crowd thanks to a sprint time of 60 mph (96 kph) of 7.1 seconds and a maximum speed of 142 mph (229 kph). That was quite bonkers, indeed!
Anyway, today, Shelby is solely focused on heritage Cobras and Fords, along with contemporary sports cars and trucks from FoMoCo, like the Super Snake series, among many others. But what if Shelby continued to work with Dodge even under Stellantis' parentage and the current Durango SRT Hellcat was unavailable – instead, Dodge and Shelby were cooking up a Durango GT500 transformation? Well, that is highly unlikely in the real world but a trifling matter across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Or, at least, that is how it feels when Abimelec Arellano, the virtual artist better known as abimelecdesign on social media, has prepared yet another of his fantasy ideas - from Shelby and Dodge and does the CGI honors!
His SP426 vision includes a GT500-inspired aerodynamic package, a dual-centered exhaust system, slightly wider fender flares, bespoke big-lipped wheels shod in Michelin PS4 tires, a third-row delete, Recaro bucket seats everywhere inside the rest of the cockpit, and something cool for the engine bay. That would be an even larger 7.0-liter Hellcat-based V8 instead of the current 6.2-liter supercharged mill. And the rear plate says it all: "1,000 WHP!" Cool, right! Or would you rather have something else to stand out in the posh crowd, hence the second post embedded below that presents a crazy sports car idea?
Both the Shelby Omni and Charger were relatively small by American standards because those were the awkward times when tiny bland models ensured survival. Still, Shelby found a way to lift the spirits of Charger fans with the company's on-point modifications of the suspension, powertrain, and styling. Even better, the final 1,000 units of Shelby Chargers were modified in-house by Carroll Shelby at the facility in Whittier, California, and became the collectible Shelby Charger GLHS models – all dressed in black, marketed as true Shelbys, and rocking a 175-hp Turbo II engine.
Later on, Shelby moved on to the bigger Dodges, and in 1999 and 2000, a special edition of the first-generation Durango mid-size SUV was created with the Shelby S.P.360 moniker and packing a supercharged 5.9-liter Magnum V8 engine churning out 360 hp, bespoke wheels, tires, bumpers, and a new suspension setup. Plus, all of them were offered in Viper blue attire with dual racing stripes and were quite fast in standing out in the SUV crowd thanks to a sprint time of 60 mph (96 kph) of 7.1 seconds and a maximum speed of 142 mph (229 kph). That was quite bonkers, indeed!
Anyway, today, Shelby is solely focused on heritage Cobras and Fords, along with contemporary sports cars and trucks from FoMoCo, like the Super Snake series, among many others. But what if Shelby continued to work with Dodge even under Stellantis' parentage and the current Durango SRT Hellcat was unavailable – instead, Dodge and Shelby were cooking up a Durango GT500 transformation? Well, that is highly unlikely in the real world but a trifling matter across the imaginative realm of digital car content creators. Or, at least, that is how it feels when Abimelec Arellano, the virtual artist better known as abimelecdesign on social media, has prepared yet another of his fantasy ideas - from Shelby and Dodge and does the CGI honors!
His SP426 vision includes a GT500-inspired aerodynamic package, a dual-centered exhaust system, slightly wider fender flares, bespoke big-lipped wheels shod in Michelin PS4 tires, a third-row delete, Recaro bucket seats everywhere inside the rest of the cockpit, and something cool for the engine bay. That would be an even larger 7.0-liter Hellcat-based V8 instead of the current 6.2-liter supercharged mill. And the rear plate says it all: "1,000 WHP!" Cool, right! Or would you rather have something else to stand out in the posh crowd, hence the second post embedded below that presents a crazy sports car idea?
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