Well there is no denying we are pretty much a Ford vehicle family, and since I’ve worked part time for Rehagen Racing the last three years in the Koni and Continental Tire series on their S197 mustangs, it seemed logical that I should find my way into a S197 car. I had been contemplating getting a used mustang GT for quite awhile and making it open track worthy. What I didn’t expect was to end up with this monster!
I’ve known Bruce for several years through SVTOA track events even though I’m not sure exactly when we did meet. I always did kind of stick out though since I started open tracking my F-150 Lightning two months after driving it off the dealership lot
So when I saw Bruce was selling his ’07 Shelby at a pretty low price, I had to have it if at all possible. So I talked to Bruce and set the wheels in motion to sell the Lightning and buy the Shelby. After one guy backing out on me, I started looking for other options to sell the truck and ended up doing the trade in option on Autotrader’s website. All went as planned and I walked out of the dealership with a check in my hand for the truck. A week and a half later I was in Wisconsin picking this bad boy up and haven’t regretted it for a moment!
As the car sat it already had several aftermarket mods, JLT intake, Corsa mufflers, Ford Racing suspension pack, MM panhard bar, MM caster camber plates, and a tune. Bruce told me it spun 509rwhp. I’ve only driven it several times before I had to put it away for the winter, but there is No Doubt (yeah that’s for you Bruce) that the car has that amount of power. The Ford Racing suspension is firm but for a younger (almost 30) guy it feels rather good. It does seem the car has a significant amount of road noise compared to other street S197’s I’ve driven but I will have to assume that is due to the MM panhard bar’s solid rod ends compared to the rubber bushing stock panhard bar.
Overall I am VERY happy with the car, and my biggest surprise is how much the car just likes to cruise. I was originally afraid I’d only like the car when it was doing it’s thing at wide open throttle but that hasn’t been the case at all. I don’t know if it’s the mufflers since I never drove it with the stock pieces but it sounds great just rolling along at part throttle. And being bright red with white stripes it gets looks from everyone, which will probably be my downfall with law enforcement.
I do have plans for a couple more little changes but nothing significant at this point. Looking to add an aluminum diff. cover with provisions for a diff. cooler in the future, rear lower control arms, poly bushings on the front arms and switching out the factory two piece driveshaft for a one piece aluminum one. Hopefully the money tree blossoms nicely in the spring
Anyways, the rest of my picture whoring of the car, sorry nothing as nice as the scenes Tob sets up for his car.
I’ve known Bruce for several years through SVTOA track events even though I’m not sure exactly when we did meet. I always did kind of stick out though since I started open tracking my F-150 Lightning two months after driving it off the dealership lot
So when I saw Bruce was selling his ’07 Shelby at a pretty low price, I had to have it if at all possible. So I talked to Bruce and set the wheels in motion to sell the Lightning and buy the Shelby. After one guy backing out on me, I started looking for other options to sell the truck and ended up doing the trade in option on Autotrader’s website. All went as planned and I walked out of the dealership with a check in my hand for the truck. A week and a half later I was in Wisconsin picking this bad boy up and haven’t regretted it for a moment!As the car sat it already had several aftermarket mods, JLT intake, Corsa mufflers, Ford Racing suspension pack, MM panhard bar, MM caster camber plates, and a tune. Bruce told me it spun 509rwhp. I’ve only driven it several times before I had to put it away for the winter, but there is No Doubt (yeah that’s for you Bruce) that the car has that amount of power. The Ford Racing suspension is firm but for a younger (almost 30) guy it feels rather good. It does seem the car has a significant amount of road noise compared to other street S197’s I’ve driven but I will have to assume that is due to the MM panhard bar’s solid rod ends compared to the rubber bushing stock panhard bar.
Overall I am VERY happy with the car, and my biggest surprise is how much the car just likes to cruise. I was originally afraid I’d only like the car when it was doing it’s thing at wide open throttle but that hasn’t been the case at all. I don’t know if it’s the mufflers since I never drove it with the stock pieces but it sounds great just rolling along at part throttle. And being bright red with white stripes it gets looks from everyone, which will probably be my downfall with law enforcement.
I do have plans for a couple more little changes but nothing significant at this point. Looking to add an aluminum diff. cover with provisions for a diff. cooler in the future, rear lower control arms, poly bushings on the front arms and switching out the factory two piece driveshaft for a one piece aluminum one. Hopefully the money tree blossoms nicely in the spring
Anyways, the rest of my picture whoring of the car, sorry nothing as nice as the scenes Tob sets up for his car.
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