Detroit's modern muscle car era certainly aims to please fans of both massive, brawny engines and timeless styling. Little details turn into big deals when they're introduced on legendary models like the Dodge Charger or Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro, or Ford Mustang. Dodge's supercharged drag-strip monsters, Chevy's Camaro ZL1 1LE track scalpel, and the most powerful Ford Mustang ever built have all emerged in recent years.
And yet, there's something great about the old classics that today's crop of muscle cars just can't quite live up to. On the other hand, nobody can argue that an early Ford Mustang could come anywhere close to the performance level offered by the modern iterations.
Enter the world of restomods, where backyard builders and custom shops marry the old with the new to create nearly perfect combinations of style and performance. And it doesn't get much newer than the fully carbon-fiber Shelby Mustang GT500CR announced by Classic Recreations, which will pair a seriously lightweight body with up to 900 supercharged horses worth of power.
So what does this insane creation have to offer? Keep reading to find out!
Where Science Meets Style
Classic Restorations has been building continuation Mustangs for years now, though this new project being completed with SpeedKore Performance Group of Wisconsin looks to take things to a whole new level. For their own bonafide, SpeedKore is the shop that built the entirely carbon-fiber Dodge Challenger that headed to SEMA in 2018.
The two shops have teamed up to take advantage of the miracles of carbon fiber, a material that burst onto the automotive scene when McLaren introduced the MP4/1 for the 1981 Formula 1 season. What was once a highly futuristic material that was purely the domain of legit supercars and motorsport has been developed into a more commonplace—albeit still quite expensive—way for builders to achieve unbelievable strength-to-weight ratios when applying it to anything from high-end bicycles to planes to fancy cars.
Major automakers have long included carbon fiber trim options, which look great thanks to the way the individual fibers are woven together like thread into a quintessential grid pattern. And the Mustangs from Classic Recreations and SpeedKore will be finished so perfectly using SpeedKore's proprietary process to achieve what they call "Perfect Weave Orientation" so that all the weave patterns on all the panels match up.
Jason Engel, Founder and President of Classic Recreations, said in a statement, "When we decided to build the carbon-fiber-bodied GT500CR Mustangs, we wanted to work with someone who shared our vision for the future of custom car building... Having a supplier that is equally committed to high-quality craftsmanship and producing innovative vehicles is incredibly important to us and we found that matched commitment in SpeedKore.”
Building A Carbon Fiber Car Sounds Hard
The carbon is laid upon a restored steel tub from a donor 1967 or 1968 model year Mustang, which is brought back to like-new condition after hundreds of hours of labor. SpeedKore produced a 3D digital model by using a blue light scan, then a five-axis CNC machine perfectly shears the molds before the plugs and panels are created out of carbon fiber. The carbon is then cured in SpeedKore's in-house autoclave to ensure that they're perfect and ready to stun when combined with Classic Recreations' mechanical work.
But looks aren't everything this project is about—a car that looks this good has to perform with the best or buyers aren't going to line up to drop gobs of cash. This part of the project is the domain of Classic Recreations and, in classic form, they'll build a carbon-fiber Mustang with anything from a 5.0-liter Ford Performance Coyote V8 pumping out 490 horsepower to a wicked, hand-built 427ci V8 that receives an intercooled ProCharger supercharger bolted on to produce up to 900 horses.
Whatever the engine choice, a Tremec five-speed stick shift is standard, though a six-speed and an automatic are both available as extras. A MagnaFlow Performance exhaust system will help the lightweight pony breathe, while coilover suspension at all four wheels is complemented by oversized sway bars and an available Pro-Touring track package to help keep all that power confidently routed to the ground.
Other details include power rack-and-pinion steering, braking handled by a Wilwood system, American Racing wheels shod in Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires, and, of course, plenty of interior and exterior options to help buyers feel like their carbon-fiber Shelby recreation won't be too commonplace at Cars and Coffee meetups.
Pricing starts at $55,000 for a painted carbon fiber option on top of a Classic Recreations build. For exposed carbon, add another $5,000. All in, a car like a 427-powered fastback in carbon will cost about $270,000—which really doesn't sound too bad for a legit supercar with vintage styling unlike anything else on the market today. And next up for the duo of Classic Recreations and SpeedKore should be a fully carbon-fiber Shelby Cobra, as if the widowmaker moniker wasn't bad enough with a fiberglass or aluminum exterior.
Sources: Classic Recreations, Motor Authority, and SpeedKore Performance Group.