Shelby American will celebrate the company's 60th anniversary in 2022. To honor the six decades since Carroll Shelby first broke onto the sports car scene in 1962, Shelby decided to once again revive the iconic "King of the Road" moniker for a limited run of Shelby GT500KR cars built this coming year. The new model harkens back to the original King of the Road that debuted in 1968, as well as the 2007 and 2008 variants that heralded a new era of partnership between Ford and Shelby.
Now, as the automotive industry transitions to electrification, this new 900-plus-horsepower modern King of the Road could very well serve as the pinnacle of internal-combustion Mustangs. And the potential for such historical significance should help the very first 2022 GT500KR fetch serious bids at Barrett-Jackson's Scottsdale auction in January, where all the proceeds will benefit the Carroll Shelby Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Introducing The Segerstrom Shelby Event Center
At a new Shelby museum in Irvine housing the incredible collection of Ted and Rae Segerstrom, a select group of industry insiders and journalists gathered to watch Shelby American president Gary Patterson and Carroll's own grandson Aaron Shelby announce the new GT500KR. The recently opened Segerstrom Shelby Event Center provided a perfect backdrop for the debut, with everything from Cobras and GT40s to all five of the original yellow convertible GT500KRs in the room, as well.
The new King of the Road takes performance far beyond the original's 428ci Cobra Jet V8, which produced a conservative rating of 385 horsepower and was complemented by modified suspension, a custom hood, a roll bar, and redesigned front and rear ends. The 2008 KR, meanwhile, bumped power output up to 540 horses and included a short-throw shifter, more aggressive 3.73:1 final drive ratio, and a composite hood. The 2022 model will almost double that, with a 3.8-liter Whipple supercharger bolted atop the 5.2-liter V8 to produce over 900 horsepower.
Performance Enhancements Inside & Out
That Whipple unit measures 43% larger than the factory GT500's blower and also receives a 175% larger intercooler to help the engine perform reliably during spirited mashes of the throttle pedal. The new KR also gets adjustable springs, Ford Performance sway bars, a new Shelby by Borla exhaust setup, and one-piece forged monoblock wheels. Additional aerodynamic enhancements should improve downforce and aid in cooling the massive powerplant under the (now carbon fiber) hood.
Track Tuning The GT500KR
Patterson told me that Shelby began prototyping the King of the Road after taking a pre-production GT500 to the track for some fun.
"We started running the Ford car at the racetrack a lot," he said. "We used that for the development of the Signature Edition package and in doing so, we learned a lot about suspension, we learned some more about aerodynamics."
Where the Signature Edition produces over 825 horsepower from the stock supercharger, the King of the Road needed to go bigger and badder.
"We tried some different things with the stock supercharger," Patterson explained, "But we realized that what we really wanted was even more power, and with more power, we needed to add more content. And not just because of the supercharger, which is very efficient and very repeatable, but also those things that you see under the skin."
Now, Patterson sounds confident that Shelby American's newest King of the Road will command respect just like the previous two generations.
"It’s a lot of fun," he laughed. "One of my favorite times is when you get an unsuspecting guy in a McLaren, in a Ferrari, in a Porsche, and they’re not always prepared for 900 horsepower. It’s just a good time."
Serious Hood Venting
Nobody will mistake the new GT500KR for a stock GT500, thanks to seriously aggressive hood venting and carbon fiber used everywhere possible. But the package adds much more than just cosmetic goodies, so little upgrades to support the additional performance necessarily entered the mix.
"Where there were challenges, we fixed them," Patterson said about the nitty-gritties, "Like hardened wheel studs and half-shafts."
I asked Patterson about the future of electrification at Shelby, given the Mach-E concept revealed last month at SEMA.
"For all the naysayers who say, ‘Carroll Shelby would roll over in his grave if he saw that you were going to do an electric car.’ No, he wouldn’t—in fact, he was very excited about it."
Shelby plans to work over the Mach-E with suspension revisions and battery enhancements to make sure it lives up to the aggressive styling (all of which remains functional, in classic Shelby form).
"There’s never been a better time to be alive in the automotive industry," he replied. "There are the good-old-days with the 60s, but we also have the brand-new cars so you can enjoy both for different reasons at different times. Carroll’s favorite car was always the next one."
Vin No. 001 Will Auction At Barrett-Jackson For Charity
Also on hand at Segerstrom, Craig Jackson of Barrett-Jackson announced that the very first 2022 GT500KR will be officially revealed to the public and then auctioned at Barrett-Jackson in January, with all proceeds split between the two charitable foundations. That will leave 224 more Kings of the Road slated for production through the rest of the calendar year, including 60 per model year 2020, 2021, and 2022 for American customers (who may already own their stock GT500). And Shelby will also build another 15 per model year for international delivery. Pricing starts at $127,895 for the complete package including a 2022 GT500—or $54,995 for customers who bring their 2020-22 GT500 in for the upgrades.
Shelby Executive Vice President and Team Shelby International Director Tracey Smith revealed plans to help fans of the brand experience the new King of the Road at Scottsdale.
"We developed these VIP packages," she told me, "Where people can come in and get behind the scenes. They get to meet Craig and Carolyn [Jackson] and we bring them in on the vehicle introductions and they get up close and personal with Aaron [Shelby]."
Smith believes the new GT500KR fully lives up to Carroll Shelby's original, as well as the 2007 and 2008 cars that were some of the final projects that the Chicken Farmer from Texas presented to the public.
"He loved that car," Smith explained, "That's not lip service, he was so excited to see that come back after ‘68."
Today, Shelby American actually sells about four times more pickup trucks than Mustangs. And the future of electrification at Ford looks well underway, with the revived Lightning and new Mach-E already proving the performance potential of instantaneously available torque.
Will Ford go the same route as Dodge and pivot towards a novel era of e-muscle? Shelby execs neither confirmed nor denied, but the serious question remains whether the 2022 King of the Road will serve as the final iteration of internal combustion-powered Shelby Mustangs after six decades of the auto industry's most iconic partnership. If so, 900 horsepower (or more) should do the trick.
Sources: shelby.com, barrett-jackson.com, jdrf.org, and segerstromshelbyeventcenter.com.