Shelby American unveiled its 2017 50th Anniversary Super Snake in front of a large and enthusiastic audience here at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona. The beautiful, new Mustang supercar marks the first of many new product offerings and price points that have the company bullish on their prospects.
Newly appointed Shelby American president Gary Patterson explained the difference to the new pony, “The hood, instead of being carbon (fiber), is SMC (sheet moulding compound) plastic which has eliminated supplier and manufacturing problems. Our customers told us that ‘We want it to be a Shelby, we love the look, but we want it at a better price.’ These efficiencies and numerous other improvements we made, allowed us to drop the price by over $11,000!” MSRP for a complete Super Snake base vehicle starts at just $69,995!
We have improved the brakes over the last Super Snake.—Gary Patterson, Shelby
In concert with Ford Performance, Shelby further sharpened the independent suspension with exclusive Ford/Shelby-spec dampers, sway bars, springs and bushings, then added Wilwood six-piston calipers on floating rotors (front) and four-piston calipers (rear) giving the car exceptional drivability—registering 1.2g on the skidpad.
“We have improved the brakes over the last Super Snake,” Gary said.“We developed and tested the pad compound with Wilwood and the car stops much better.”
The upgraded look—which includes 20-inch forged aluminum wheels (black or polished) and Shelby-engineered body components—creates a car with a distinctive look to intimidate would be racers at every stoplight. The 50th Anniversary badges add to the collectibility of the car that Shelby American has capped at just 500 examples globally.
Gary is excited about 2017. “We have a key initiative for new products in 2017. Shelby are looking at the future—look for trucks this year too including a (Shelby) Raptor!”
After the unveiling, we took a walk through the Salon, which contain the cars expected to fetch the biggest dollars. There were a plethora of Mustangs ranging from Steve Davis’ personal 302 Boss to GT500s, a GT350 GT500KRs. Oh baby…
Our photos put you right on the ropes (and a few inside). As always, Barrett-Jackson is a madhouse—just picture SEMA compressed into a few hundred thousand less square feet…
The excitement of the Auctions has created a cultural/lifestyle happening that draws thousands of people to the various events around town.
Steve Davis, of Barrett Jackson is auctioning off his personal 302 Boss. It has attracted a great deal of attention as this particular car is a nearly perfect specimen.
Who doesn't appreciate the real deal when so many clones exist out there...
Shelby's legendary GT 500 is not only a showstopper, it is a highly collectible pony/snake.
A genuine Eleanor! Just like in Gone in 60 Seconds....
Overall, the Mustangs were well represented amongst the top tier cars at Barrett-Jackson. Shelby American is hopeful that cars like the Super Snake 50th Anniversary will be the collectibles of the future. Certainly the classics continue to do well when the gavel drops.
