2023/2024 Ford Mustang

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Shelby GT500

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Our spy photographer managed to snag some detailed photos of this camouflaged GT500 prototype stalking around on the street ahead of a reveal likely to take place later this year.

The wheels and tires are the most fascinating part of this tester. Look closely, and you'll see the tires measure 305/30ZR20 up front and 315/30ZR20 in the rear—coincidentally, these are the same exact sizes found on the last-generation GT500. The tires themselves are Pirelli P Zero Rs with "Prototype Use Only" text on the sidewalls.
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My wife loves the colour. Not my preference but considering who actually buys these things it's probably a winner. Too bad about those gawdawful wheels though. Maybe they'll put the colour on the regular options list.
 
Really didn't like the wheels they picked on the FX Package, they make me think of Fifteen52 wheels. Which to me just never looked good. Also, the wheels don't really scream "foxbody" to me, I guess they tried to modernize the design. But it doesn't work in this case. I love the teal though.
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RandomCarGuy17
Really didn't like the wheels they picked on the FX Package, they make me think of Fifteen52 wheels. Which to me just never looked good. Also, the wheels don't really scream "foxbody" to me, I guess they tried to modernize the design. But it doesn't work in this case. I love the teal though.
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Apparently, the wheels are supposed to be influenced from older IMSA Mustangs like the Zakspeed or GTP acording to Road & Track. But, those look way different where as this car looks like maybe it was inspired by turbofan style wheels?
“I definitely, with the wheel inspiration, was looking at a lot of the racing — you know, IMSA cars of the day, like the Zakspeeds. And even the GTP Mustang, which looked more like a Group C car than a Mustang,” says Taylor.

That said, the teams were careful not to ape anything directly from the Fox Body Mustang GTs we all know well; Ford does love retro-futurism, but the design team always tries to keep pushing things forward. The interior is a great example of that, with cloth inserts inspired by the fabric seat option from that period. It does enough to harken back to that era, but with modern materials and tech. (Your Fox isn’t going to provide heated and cooled seats, for instance).
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McLaren
Apparently, the wheels are supposed to be influenced from older IMSA Mustangs like the Zakspeed or GTP acording to Road & Track. But, those look way different where as this car looks like maybe it was inspired by turbofan style wheels?
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Honestly yeah, they do feel like turbofan type wheels. Which I guess are the kind of wheels Fifteen52 makes, which explains why I don't like them.

With that said, the actual IMSA GT Mustang wheels would've suited the S650 better than what the team came up with in my honest opinion.
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EDIT: I do also like the seat inserts. They make me think of the plaid seats I've seen on Golf GTIs.
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GTD goes faster again at the Nurburgring. 6:40.835. Beating even the AMG GT Black Series
 
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Based on the brief details they shared, I'm still giving the nod to the Corvette. Ford didn't just up the power & add more aero, they gutted the interior even more with a new roll cage, mag wheels & even stickier tires over the Cup 2 R.

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This is essentially a race car (those slicks aren't passing US DOT) against a much more pedestrian friendly Corvette. Chevy has already gladly boasted they used their engineers instead of professionals, there's enough room for them to chest thump back at Ford.
 
McLaren
Based on the brief details they shared, I'm still giving the nod to the Corvette. Ford didn't just up the power & add more aero, they gutted the interior even more with a new roll cage, mag wheels & even stickier tires over the Cup 2 R.

GTD.jpg

ZR1.jpg

This is essentially a race car (those slicks aren't passing US DOT) against a much more pedestrian friendly Corvette. Chevy has already gladly boasted they used their engineers instead of professionals, there's enough room for them to chest thump back at Ford.
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I do believe it's a street tire because it has a rim protector. Also, it's definitely not a Cup 2R because that does not have a rim protector which is unusual for a street tire.

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The Goodyear Supercar 3R has a lower tw of 100 and thinner 5/32 tread depth and does have a rim protector.

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Hoosier also seems to have rim protectors.

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The legality of the newer Hoosier track tires is debateable imo. Formerly, the "circumferential grooves" for measuring tread depth were constant lines around the tire. Hoosier recently switched to these dashes, I think for legal protection from idiots. These two tires are DOT-approved but Tire Rack mentions that they're prohibited from road use which is counter-intuitive. The rules say that a minimum tread depth has to be measured from two circumferential grooves. Well, these dashes do allow depth measurement from two parallel "grooves" with multiple locations around the circumference of the tire so...you decide if it's streetable. I believe it is in the US.

But that Hoosier would not be legal in Germany because their rules specify tread depth around the entire circumference of the tire, a continuous line. A tire like the Toyo RR would be legal in Germany but it also doesn't have a rim protector.

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The Kumho V710 could trick us in that photo but it's an old tire that never came in the correct sizes anyway. The rear sizing for the GTD, 345/30-20 combined with the rim protector makes me think they're shaved road tires that are worn slick after the run.
 
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I keeping hearing that supposedly, the Dark Horse was introduced instead of say, a branded Ford Shelby GT350 or something, due to licensing costs for the Shelby name. If that's the case, what's the deal with how I'm also hearing that a Shelby Mustang is being developed? Is this new Shelby from Shelby American itself only, whereas the previous ones were some sort of joint project with Ford?
 
MIE1992
I keeping hearing that supposedly, the Dark Horse was introduced instead of say, a branded Ford Shelby GT350 or something, due to licensing costs for the Shelby name. If that's the case, what's the deal with how I'm also hearing that a Shelby Mustang is being developed? Is this new Shelby from Shelby American itself only, whereas the previous ones were some sort of joint project with Ford?
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Shelby American

Shelby American is a separate entity from Ford, tuning Fords in the same vein as Roush or what Saleen was. They most likely licensed the Shelby and GT350 (and GT500) name from Shelby American themselves for that limited run. The newest Dark Horse SC, from what I have read, is replacing this generation's GT500. I personally wish that Ford would bring back the Boss name, but that's another issue.
 
lilcat89
Shelby American

Shelby American is a separate entity from Ford, tuning Fords in the same vein as Roush or what Saleen was. They most likely licensed the Shelby and GT350 (and GT500) name from Shelby American themselves for that limited run. The newest Dark Horse SC, from what I have read, is replacing this generation's GT500. I personally wish that Ford would bring back the Boss name, but that's another issue.
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Interesting - so if the Shelby GT350 based on the current Mustang were to be added to GT7, it sounds like it'd appear under the Shelby brand rather than Ford, just like the original version of the GT350 that's already there...
 
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MIE1992
Interesting - so if the Shelby GT350 based on the current Mustang were to be added to GT7, it sounds like it'd appear under the Shelby brand rather than Ford, just like the original version of the GT350 that's already there...
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Correct. They actually do have their own version of the GT350 and GT500, after looking at the website. Shelby, intersetingly, has a full licensing division for the brand. I wonder if they had just started back producing their own Mustang conversions with this S650 generation. I know they have been doing the F150s for quite awhile.
 
lilcat89
Shelby American

Shelby American is a separate entity from Ford, tuning Fords in the same vein as Roush or what Saleen was. They most likely licensed the Shelby and GT350 (and GT500) name from Shelby American themselves for that limited run. The newest Dark Horse SC, from what I have read, is replacing this generation's GT500. I personally wish that Ford would bring back the Boss name, but that's another issue.
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Did Ford license the "Cobra" nameplate from Shelby for the SVT models made between '93 and '04? I kind of miss that simple nameplate, never jived with the "Trumpist" branding cash-in they switched to from 2005 onwards.
 
Eunos_Cosmo
Did Ford license the "Cobra" nameplate from Shelby for the SVT models made between '93 and '04?
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Copyright ©2026 - All Rights Reserved. SHELBY®, SHELBY GT®, GT500®, GT350®, SUPER SNAKE®, 289®, 289FIA®, 427®, 427 S/C®, the outward appearance of the 1960s Shelby Cobra vehicles® and SHELBY AMERICAN™ are registered trademarks and/or the tradedress of Carroll Shelby and Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. (Shelby).
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This blurb is at the bottom of the website and makes no mention of the Cobra name or logo. Shelby may not have it trademarked. I can only guess that Ford didn't have to license the name, at least today. No real way to know.
Eunos_Cosmo
I kind of miss that simple nameplate, never jived with the "Trumpist" branding cash-in they switched to from 2005 onwards.
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I feel like Carroll had a lot to sway with Ford up until he died, from what I have heard over the years. He was an exceptional marketer. To be honest, I never was mad about the S197 Shelbys. It would have been a missed opportunity to not bring the Shelby name back with the retro redesign in 05 in my opinion.
 
lilcat89
I feel like Carroll had a lot to sway with Ford up until he died, from what I have heard over the years. He was an exceptional marketer. To be honest, I never was mad about the S197 Shelbys. It would have been a missed opportunity to not bring the Shelby name back with the retro redesign in 05 in my opinion.
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No doubt about that, I chose my words carefully. I guess what I'm trying to articulate is that while I valued his contribution to Ford-adjacent racing in the 1960s, I was always less enthusiastic about the mere branding tie-ins he did later in life. SVT meant a lot more to be than Shelby when it was SVT doing all the actual engineering.

(I was a very active poster on svtperformance back in 03-08ish)
 
Ford has an opportunity to build the next brand legacy for the mustang especially since it's racing in GT3 now. The GTD nameplate isn't exactly inspiring yet but as the race car has more success it will begin to matter more. Other brands, particularly Porsche, have maximumum leverage with their race car program and the Mustang deserves that in my opinion. It also deserves a smaller, lighter redesign of the coupe. Create a Mustang sports sedan for the crowd who wants a bigger car.
 
Ford should use GT4S as another trim. Lighter and stripped down a bit. Since the GT4 is based on the Dark Horse, they could tie in the popular GT4 series to it. Have the front splitter and rear wing be removable. Place it between the Dark Horse Premium and SC.
 
05XR8
Ford should use GT4S as another trim. Lighter and stripped down a bit. Since the GT4 is based on the Dark Horse, they could tie in the popular GT4 series to it. Have the front splitter and rear wing be removable. Place it between the Dark Horse Premium and SC.
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They should do something like that. They've sold stripped down versions of the V8 cars a few times over the years. They've usually sold well, too.
 

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