You can’t talk about muscle cars without mentioning the Mustang. This is the car that changed the muscle car game and introduced not only street-styling but also street-performance to these previously underrated vehicles.
Of course, not so much of this would have been possible without the help of the chicken-farmer turned mechanic, Carroll Shelby. Shelby helped Ford to not only beat Ferrari at Le Mans but also make Chevrolet chase their dust in the quest for muscle car dominance.
So, did they win?
That’s a hard one to answer. Today, the muscle car community is split right in the middle between Camaro and Mustang fans. And as far as the second camp is concerned, it hasn’t been all merry working towards what is possibly the most powerful muscle car of all time, the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500.
But the journey has been worth it. Today, many Mustang fans smile proudly whenever they drive, meet, or think of any of these 10 Ford Mustangs.
10 2011 Shelby GT500 Super Snake
If you think the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is rad, then you’ve quickly forgotten the 2011 GT500 Super Snake that made the standard, 550 hp GT500 look like a Shelby sloth. This tire ripping, 800-hp machine was the most powerful GT500 Super Snake Ford had ever produced.
All that power didn’t go to all the four wheels. Rather, Ford still trusted the rear-wheel-drive system they’d been using in their Mustangs, albeit with stickier tires to make sure you weren’t shredding rubber at the touch of the throttle. The transmission was still a six-speed manual, with the rear-end spotting a final 3.73 drive ratio.
Despite the similarities, this was the track-focused GT500. It came with a Ford Racing Kit that had dynamic adjustable dampers, tuned anti-roll bars, lowering springs, and a front strut tower brace.
9 2020 Shelby GT500
Then comes the latest pony, the 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. Nothing about this GT500 is near equal to Ford’s previous offering. The 2020 model comes with a supercharged, 5.2-liter V8 that produces a whopping 760 hp. This makes it the first GT500 to almost kiss the 800 hp mark—a dimension only the revered GT500 Super Snake is known to operate in.
Plus, it’s the first to ditch the manual stick shift transmission, and hook in a rapid-shifting, seven-speed, dual-clutch transmission, a first in the Ford Mustang nameplate. Before you complain about how Ford has butchered the raw driving experience of a Mustang on stick, try and digest the ridiculous numbers the combination of that power unit and transmission give.
On a 0-60 mph run, the 2020 GT500 clocks in at 3.3 seconds. It also gives a dragstrip worthy quarter-mile run of 10.7 seconds at 132.96 mph.
8 2018 Roush GT Jackhammer
This car is a testament to what adding a supercharger can do to a regular Mustang GT Coupe. Yes, underneath, the 2018 Ford Mustang Roush GT Jackhammer is a Mustang GT Coupe. However, add Roush’s R2650 supercharger to that 5.0L V8, and you get a power unit that produces 710 hp and 620 lb-ft of torque, from a block that could only do 460 hp and 410 lb-ft of torque at best.
Roush has been in the business of modifying Ford Mustangs for over two decades. However, this Roush GT Jackhammer was a rather special one. First, it donned the name of the company’s founder, Jack Roush. Second, it was the only Roush Mustang to sport gloss-black wheels, making it not only an aggressive build but also a unique one.
7 2013 Shelby GT500
The GT500s stand as some of the most unique and best Ford Mustangs ever built. And this 2013 model is yet another one that stuck in the minds of gearheads for years until 760 hp was enough for Ford’s best-performing factory Mustang.
The 2013 GT500 took radical steps forward in terms of power. That 5.8-liter Supercharged V8 unit—developed by SVT that brought us the 2005-06 Ford GT and F-150 SVT Lightning—was good for a monstrous 662 hp. Couple that with the Tremec 6060 six-speed manual transmission, and you have a car that can get to 60 mph from 0 in 3.5 seconds, and that hits a ridiculous top speed of 200 mph, a milestone few thought the Mustang would ever reach.
6 1967 Shelby GT500
This is where it all started. The 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 started the production of what would be one of the most powerful Mustangs ever produced by Ford. And the recipe that created the 760-hp monster we see today, started with this 1967 build.
Ford fitted a 7.0-liter V8 engine that produced a whopping 355 hp into the ’67 GT500. With 420 lb-ft of torque, this GT500 instantly became the big brother of the GT350. The 1967 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500 has become one of the most sought-after collectibles in the market.
5 2012 Boss 302 Laguna Seca
This is not just one of the rarest Mustangs ever produced—it’s also one of the most hardcore, top-performing Mustangs ever produced by Ford. The story behind this marque is that Ford wanted to produce a car that would be street-legal but still carry the performance of the track-focused Ford Mustang Boss 302R and 302S.
Thus, the 2012 Boss 302 Laguna Seca was born. In each of the 750 units produced over one year was the basic 5.0-liter V8 engine we had seen in most Mustangs. However, this one was tuned to produce 444 hp, channeled through the now popular six-speed manual transmission.
Combine that with an upgraded performance package that included Pirelli Corsa R-Compound tires, and you get a Mustang that beat the Porsche 991 to braking and was faster around Hockenheim than the Audi R8, Aston Martin DBS, BMW M3, and Ferrari California.
4 1967 Shelby GT500 "Eleanor"
This is a car born out of pure engineering excellence and a Hollywood heist. The 1967 Shelby GT500 was not just the object of gearhead desire, as even pop culture nerds wanted a taste of this marque after it appeared in Nicolas Cage’s Gone in 60 Seconds. This franchise is where the name “Eleanor” came from.
Originally, Eleanor was a 1967 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Fastback. It packed a massive 7.0-liter V8 that was hooked to a three-speed automatic or four-speed manual transmission. However, Fusion Motor Company took this original marque, got rights to make new versions of this classic, and ended up with something exotic.
Thanks to Roush, Eleanor now has a 560 hp V8, with the top trim getting up to 750 hp from the same engine. Given how unique and in-demand the 1967 Shelby GT500 Eleanor is, at the relaunch by Fusion Motors, one Eleanor was going for a base price of $200,000.
3 2000 SVT Cobra R
When this car launched in 2000, it was dubbed the fastest factory Mustang Ford ever produced. And the name SVT should tell the whole story, which starts and ends at the engine bay.
Nothing about that naturally aspirated 5.4-liter V8 from Ford’s high-performance division screamed tame. It had a rated output of 385 hp, which could rocket this car from 0-60 mph in 4.7 seconds, and break the quarter-mile mark in 13.2 seconds. Keep your foot pinned, and the SVT Cobra R would max out at 170 mph.
The secret behind the 2000 SVT Cobra-R’s superb, unparalleled, and unheard of track performance at the time, was its light weight. Ford even removed any “unnecessary” equipment in the interior to make sure the Cobra R was as light as possible for flat-out track performance.
2 1969 Boss 429
The Ford Mustang Boss 429 is one of the most important and respected Mustang variants. In the late '60s, Ford rolled out the Boss 302 that was built to meet the Trans-Am rules. The Boss 429 on the other hand, was introduced to homologate a new engine that was used in the NASCAR variant.
The Boss 429 was fitted with a 7.0-liter engine that produced 375 horsepower and 450 lb-ft of torque. This engine was more powerful than the Cobra and 100 ponies more potent than the 4.9-liter V-8 engine that powered the Boss 302.
This beauty even had a more aggressive styling than the Shelby GT500. Its features included a big splitter below its front bumper, vents in the rear fenders, and a massive scoop on the hood.
1 1965 Shelby GT350
Motorsport rivalries have always been the catalyst to some of the most aggressive builds ever witnessed in the motor industry. The 1965 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350 was the product of such.
The birth of the GT350 started simply out of the need to compete in the SCCA B-Production class. Ford felt that the regular Mustang needed a bit of beefing up for it to be competitive in the series. Thus, Carroll Shelby was called to do the job.
He fitted a 4.7-liter V-8 engine in the GT350, which amped the power up from the regular 271 hp to a monstrous 306 hp. Fast forward a couple of races later, and the GT350R was born, an even racier variant of the GT350.
Fast forward a couple of decades later, and Ford decided to ax the production of this historic marquee. What a sad note to end this on.