FEATURE – 2017 Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary
Words: Mike Ryan
Photos: Lorbek Luxury Cars
FOR SALE
A modern Shelby Mustang is a special machine, but this example is extra special, not just because it’s the desirable Super Snake version, but also because it’s a 50th Anniversary model, comes highly specified and has done virtually no miles from new.
Modern Super Snakes like this one pay tribute to a one-off Shelby Mustang that was built more than 50 years ago.
Snakes and Horses
The 1967 GT 500 Super Snake Mustang was actually the second Shelby vehicle to carry the ‘Super Snake’ name. The first was a Cobra roadster from 1966.
Back in 1965, Shelby planned to build competition-specific Cobras with the 427ci V8 instead of the Cobra’s standard 289 V8, specifically for racing. Rule changes and high price tags for these racers saw only a handful ordered, forcing Shelby to retrofit a bunch of unsold examples as ‘Semi Competition’ to make them road legal. Two more of these 427-engined Cobras would be further modified into the ‘Super Snake’.
Retaining most of their racing-spec parts, these original Super Snakes were frighteningly fast and a real handful for inexperienced drivers. One was destroyed in a crash, while the other, driven regularly by Carroll Shelby himself, was made even more potent with the addition of twin Paxton superchargers. This surviving Cobra Super Snake sold for US$5 million at auction in 2007 – a record for an American-made car at the time.
The Cobra Super Snake was all about power (and lots of it!), so when Shelby looked at applying the same formula to a Mustang, it made sense for the name to carry over, too.
Shelby had already started to offer Mustangs with a 427 V8 - badged as the GT 500 - for 1967, but this was a milder, long-stroke version of the engine and not the hi-po, lightweight racing 427 fitted to the competition Cobras.
Interestingly, the idea to fit a racing 427 into a Mustang was not Carroll Shelby’s. Rather, it was put to him by a former sales manager for the company, who believed a supercar-spec Shelby Mustang could be an All-American alternative to high-performance European exotica of the time.
Responding to the idea, Shelby built a GT 500 with a lightweight 427 engine (essentially the same as what was in a GT40 MkII), with a special 4-speed manual transmission and strengthened diff added to suit.
Producing more than 600hp, this package walloped the 355hp from a standard GT 500, but the price tag was more than double the GT 500’s, which meant plans to produce 50 of these beasts never came to fruition and the first ‘Super Snake’ Mustang remained the only one until Shelby American revived the name in 2007.
Modern Snake
For the first modern Shelby Mustang Super Snake, Shelby upgraded their own 5.4 V8-engined GT 500 to 605hp. An optional supercharger increased this to 725+hp, with an aluminium driveshaft, 3.73:1 diff ratio, upgraded brakes and 20-inch wheels amongst changes specific to the Super Snake.
Shelby has offered the Super Snake sporadically ever since, but in 2017, the 50th Anniversary of the original GT 500 Super Snake Mustang rolled around, which was the perfect opportunity to create a tribute.
"When Carroll Shelby introduced the Super Snake version of the Ford Mustang in 1967, it earned universal respect for its astonishing capabilities," said Shelby co-CEO Joe Conway at the introduction of the tribute edition in January, 2017.
"When Shelby American reintroduced the Super Snake in 2007; the world was awed by the 600+ horsepower street legal muscle car. That tradition continues [with the] Shelby Super Snake, which is better in every way. Carroll's bold spirit lives on through this amazing car."
Limited to 500 units, the 2017 ‘Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary Edition’ was based on an MY17 Mustang GT. The key difference was the addition of a supercharger to boost the Mustang’s 5.0 V8 to deliver 670hp (500kW). Australian-spec 50th Anniversary models were also available with a 750hp (559kW) supercharger – as fitted to this car.
Converted by Mustang Motorsport in Victoria, these local specification Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary Editions also came with a Shelby performance exhaust, Shelby track handling package, a Wilwood brake upgrade (6-piston front, 4-piston rear calipers) with Shelby-exclusive cooling ducts and 20-inch ‘Vision’ forged aluminium wheels as standard.
The Shelby specification meant a full appearance makeover, too, with the Shelby bonnet, grille, front bar, front splitter, rear spoiler, rear diffuser, sills and other parts ensuring these cars had their own identity against a regular Mustang GT.
A full-length tri-stripe on the body – like the ’67 original - was standard, with identifying badging inside, outside and under the bonnet.
The original purchaser of the car featured also selected the optional Super Snake interior upgrade (that added Fog Grey accents to the black leather Katzkin seats), a Barton short-throw gear shifter, custom window tint, 50th Anniversary rear spoiler, Steeda bonnet struts, Shelby valve covers and more.
Only 500 units of the Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary Edition were offered for 2017 and the example featured would be one of only a handful in Australia.
Made to Enjoy
While fitted with a plethora of Shelby-specific parts, these cars usually retained the standard Mustang comfort and convenience features. In this instance, the power windows and mirrors, dual zone climate control, seat heating and cooling, rear parking sensors and reversing camera, 8-inch touchscreen, GPS, Bluetooth, push-button starting and all still in place. So, while it’s a hard-core performance machine, this Shelby’s got the conveniences expected in a modern grand tourer, allowing the driver to put in long miles in comfort.
When the 50th Anniversary Edition was launched, President of Shelby American, Gary Patterson, described it as a throwback to a time when people enjoyed driving. The irony here is that the first owner of this particular Shelby spent hardly any time in it: the drive from Mustang Motorsport to a Melbourne storage facility was apparently the only miles the first owner put on the car.
That first owner’s loss can now be someone else’s gain, as the car is on the market through Lorbek Luxury Cars in Melbourne (see breakout).
As mentioned at the top of this article, all Shelbys are special, but some are extra special. This is one of those special cars, so maybe it’s specially for you.
FOR SALE
Lorbek Luxury Cars recently added this MY17 Shelby Super Snake 50th Anniversary Edition to their showroom stock.
With only 242km on the odometer, it’s essentially a new car and like most locally-available late-model Shelby Mustangs, this unit was converted by Mustang Motorsport; Australia’s only authorised Shelby Mod Shop.
Supplied with a Certificate of Authenticity from Mustang Motorsport, documentation confirming the car’s inclusion in the Official Shelby American Registry is also included, along with the car’s build sheet, owner’s manual and other literature.
Asking price is $159,990 (+ ORCs), backed by a warranty to 10/20.
Contact Lorbek Luxury Cars on (03) 9646 7100 for more details, or view the car online with more photos at https://www.lorbek.com.au/
