There's one thing that's universal about car fanatics — we all know the name, Carroll Shelby. His status as the best performance tuner ever lives on in the hearts and minds of every gearhead, even almost a decade after his death.
Of course, Shelby was most well known for turning Ford Mustangs into fire breathing track beasts from the very first GT-350 Mustang in the mid-60s. What's less well known is that Shelby left his mark on a considerable portfolio of domestic and foreign cars, some of which make perfect sense and others seem way out in left field. Shelby's steadfast dedication to turning average daily drivers into tire-shredding, heart-pounding speed machines is one of several reasons the man is a god among gearheads to this day.
Here are a select few of the real highlights from his long and illustrious career.
Small Car, Heart of Gold
The standard Dodge Omni, along with its twin the Plymouth Horizon is probably the most forgettable car in American history. A chance encounter with Mr.Shelby during a sabbatical from Ford in the mid to late 80s, however, did quite a bit to change that. In 1985, Chrysler sold the last 500 production Omnis for the 1986 model year to Shelby's performance tuning company in Southern California. The standard 2.2-liter four-cylinder was fitted with a massive turbocharger, and what emerged from the factory was far removed from the base Omni, so much so that it looked like a spaceship by comparison. Shelby himself rechristened his version of the Omni to the GLHS "Goes Like Hell S' more."
In the mid-80s, most Americans were still struggling to grasp the concept of small, fuel-efficient imports, let alone ever heard the term "hot hatchback ". Even still, what Shelby's company made could go toe to toe with the best European hot hatchbacks of its day. A Golf GTI from the same model year made 137 horsepower, the Shelby Omni had almost 40 more. In hindsight, it makes sense that Shelby had some experience with the European method of designing cars, given his LeMans racing background. His expertise gave Americans their first taste of what would be the new standard for making hot cars the world over.
It's Not An Evo Bro
Need more proof that Carroll Shelby didn't just build muscle cars? Have a look at the 1987 Shelby Lancer. No, not a Mitsubishi Lancer, but a modified version of the Dodge Lancer, dating back to 1955. Although Chrysler did have a fruitful collaboration with Mitsubishi at the time. This provided the engine for the newly introduced Dodge Caravan, but the two cars are entirely unrelated. Shove one of these in Carroll Shelby's face, and the results should've been obvious. Much the same as the Omni, the Lancer got the same 2.2-liter turbo four-pot.
The result was a front-wheel-drive economy car that could keep up with V8 Mustangs at the drag strip and out corner Porsche 928s on the skidpad. Whether or not the car was related to the later Lancer Evo's, it definitely gave the Mitsubishi's a solid precedent for building off.
The Shelby Durango
Let's look at something a bit more traditionally, "Shelby". It should come as no surprise that the 1998 Dodge Shelby Durango CS-360 arrived the same year known steroid junkie Mark McGwire broke the single-season home run record, because this is what happens when Carroll Shelby takes a standard first-gen Durango and puts it on a max dose of the"juice".
They did this by throwing on a racing body kit, painted some gorgeous looking Shelby stripes, and slapped a twin-screw supercharger on the standard 5.9-liter Magnum V8. That was good for 360 horsepower and over 400 feet-pounds of torque. That can launch the almost 5,000-pound full-size SUV to 60 in 6.7 seconds, only half a second slower than a base Porsche Boxster of the same model year. A mint condition Shelby Durango recently went on sale for $25,000. It's safe to say the Durango is more fun to drive than an equivalently priced base model Honda Accord.
Hauling Lumber, Burning Rubber
What if you actually use your vehicle to do something productive, like haul stuff, for instance. Are you forced to live a life of slow accelerating drudgery? Back in the '80s, that was pretty much exactly the case, until Carroll Shelby arrived, of course. The base single cab Dakota's 329 Cubic inch V6 didn't stand a chance when the truck landed on Shelby's desk. In its place was the venerable 5.2 liter Chrysler LA V8. Unfortunately, emission regulation choked the Shelbys V8, limiting power to 175 horsepower; torque was still on the high side at 270-foot pounds. Although it often gets overshadowed by the GMC Syclone, which came out a few years later, it still has a well-deserved place in the catalog of Shelby's greatest hits.
American car culture isn't the same since Carrol Shelby died; no one will ever dispute his importance in shaping the American auto industry. It's often easy to put the public lens on his most famous work turning the Mustang into a monster. If anything, this list proves that the master of tuning pony cars was far from a one-trick pony.