Media | Articles
Shelby American Mines Its History to Resurrect the GT350
Six decades after Carroll Shelby unveiled his first modified Mustang, the GT350, Shelby American is resurrecting the model.
Though modern enthusiasts may most closely associate “GT350” with the 2015–2020 car and its flat-plane-crank, naturally aspirated “Voodoo” V-8, the name’s history runs deep. Shelby American built the first GT350, including its race-spec G350R relative, and its less hard-core descendants, in the mid- to late-’60s (Ford took over production in late 1967). Ford then built an obscure run of 5260 tribute cars in 1984. Shelby American brought back the name from 2011 to 2013 on a supercharged S197, and Ford took matters into its own hands once more in 2015, when it introduced the Voodoo-powered car. For the 2025 version, Shelby American is at the helm, and boost is back in the picture. So is racing … but more on that in a minute.
The latest version of the GT350 will be available in two street-legal configurations: One tailored for the road, the other for the track, with the storied GT350R moniker. The former, the GT350, is available in two versions: a naturally aspirated one with 480 hp and a supercharged one with 810 ponies, assuming you feed it 93 octane. Both the GT350 and the GT350R are based on the current (S650) Mustang GT, with its 5.0-liter V-8.

If you’re mostly interested in refined handling, the 480-hp GT350 will be just your speed. It has the same horsepower output as a regular Mustang GT (without the active exhaust) but new springs and anti-roll bars, front and rear. Overall, the car has been lowered about an inch and a half. The “deep draw” aluminum hood with its injection-molded vent is exclusive to the GT350 and built to OE specs. The front fascia, reminiscent of the 2024 Super Snake, is unique to Shelby American. Out back is a new ducktail spoiler, and a “pedestal” wing is optional. The exhaust breathes more freely thanks to a cat-back system from Borla. Brakes are from Ford, the same as on the Performance Pack.



If you want more, and will be doing most of your driving on the street, the supercharged GT350 is the way to go. With 810 hp, thanks to a 3.0-liter, twin-screw Whipple supercharger, it is the most powerful Mustang to bear the GT350 name. Like its 480-hp sibling, it’s available with either a manual or an automatic. The supercharged car is the only one, so far, with a price: $109,999, which includes the cost of a Mustang GT (at least $42K).
The GT350R is for the track rats. Built by Turn Key Automotive / Motorsports out of Oxford, Michigan, it makes over 830 hp from a supercharged 5.0 liter backed by a six-speed manual transmission, the only available gearbox. The GT350R “[embraces] the character of the 1966 competition model Shelby,” says Vince LaViolette, vice president of operations and senior designer at Shelby American.

While street legal, the GT350R is advertised as track-ready, with an integrated roll cage, a carbon-fiber interior tub, and an optional set of carbon-fiber racing seats and harnesses. Chassis modifications include a set of racing brakes from Alcon, a carbon-fiber aero package, and fully adjustable JRI race struts and shocks with a remote reservoir. Though the release isn’t specific, we suspect the cooling system has been modified as well, given the track focus. MSRP for this beast will be announced “shortly.”
Like Shelby American’s first model on the S650 chassis, the 2024 Super Snake, the GT350 and GT350R will be limited-run: For 2025, Shelby American will make 562, including 36 of the track-oriented R models. Why that number? It’s how many Shelby made in 1965.
The parallels don’t end there: The Shelby brand is returning to racing, in Trans Am, for 2026. The “future track-only version of the sports car” will be developed by Shelby American in collaboration with Turn Key, already approved by the series as a builder for its entry-level, SGT and GT classes. It will borrow the hood and carbon-fiber fenders from the Super Snake, says Gary Patterson, president of Shelby American. “Everyone looks forward to seeing a Shelby officially back on the track,” says Aaron Coalwell, Trans Am Race Company’s technical director.

“Along with capturing the FIA sports car world championship in 1965, Shelby-built cars and teams won Trans Am championships in 1966 and 1967,” said Aaron Shelby, grandson of Carroll Shelby and board member of Carroll Shelby International. “Along the way, Shelby American beat some of the best racing teams in the world. We’re excited to return Shelby to racing with a car built to compete, and win, through our association with Turn Key.”
Racing aside, where does the GT350 sit in the pantheon of Mustangs?

Typically, the GT350 sits above the base GT and beneath the top-dog, high-horsepower GT500—when the GT500 exists, that is. In contrast to the GT500, and the current Shelby-fettled Super Snake, the GT350 is tuned for the twisties rather than the track or the drag strip. The picture gets more complicated for the current, S650 generation because of Ford’s introduction of the Dark Horse, essentially a sharper, track-tuned step above the GT. The Dark Horse also has a race car relative, with its own IMSA-sanctioned spec series. The supercharged form of Shelby’s GT350 has the Dark Horse beat on sheer power, though it costs nearly twice as much.

Unless Ford introduces a GT500 on the S650 platform—or a Boss, as recent filings suggest—Shelby’s Super Snake is top dog, with a price of $159,995 and 830 supercharged horsepower. While it has only 20 more hp than the supercharged GT350, the Super Snake gets extra, expensive goodies, like a set of magnesium wheels and fenders made of carbon fiber, plus a rear wing made of the same. “The 2025 Shelby GT350 models are pure sports car, while the Shelby Super Snake is the highest performance supercar in our lineup,” said Patterson.

For fans of Shelby history, it’s a good day—and not just because 2025 is the 60th anniversary of the first GT350. The Shelby brand will race again, and in Trans Am, a series with rich connections to the Mustang. The GT350 is back, and boosted, with a track-prepped version to boot. To see—and hear—more, join Larry Chen as he gets the exclusive on this new American hero.
To be brutally honest. Too many people cash in on the name and take credit for a predecessors work that they’ve never done themselves.
Yes but they USE the Technolgy that wasnt around then ,Your getting a totally different vechicle but it all came from the genetics of shelby himself. If you ever have the opportunity to sit in a 65-66 then walk over to the newest gt 350 , you will see and feel the similarities
I’m a little conflicted on this one. Th Shelby American brand has existed for awhile and does modded Mustangs all the time so this is no different. I’m just not sure what makes this a “GT350” when it seems more like the past gen GT500 Ford sold. It’s a little confusing. It’s a little pricey either way.
I predict Ford will bring the 350 back in about 4-5 years. History will repeat itself once again! 😁
No flat plane crank?
Forget it.
👍🏼👍🏼
That thing sounded Satanic when lit up- I wonder if the flat plane V8 noise influenced GM in building the twin turbo V8 for the C8 ZR1? I’d love a centrifugal supercharged Voodoo motor in a Factory Five Daytona Coupe with the side dumps, btw. Santa, I’ve been good!(Cough😋)
yessssssssss
Would rather get the predecessor with flat plane crank… but thats just me
Joseph – See the similarities yes, feel them not so much. In terms of a tactile feel from the drivers seat two different animals obviously. Not that I’d want the latest to have the same creature comforts, or lack of, sixty years later. So the same genetics? Does this car have the some spirit as the original? I’m loosing that connection here. You have people saying this is the car Shelby would want to build but would you expect them to say differently. Did he have a real desire to build pickups or was it just a profitable venture. Nothing wrong with that.Who among us is adverse to making a buck. Still for me that was a shouldn’t have. Sounds to me like the GT-350 everyone wishes Shelby American built would have an emissions legal Alluminator under the hood. That’s a car I can imagine Shelby grinning ear to ear about. As for me currently happy to watch the 64 & 65 Mustang running in GTD Pro.
No one in their right mind would want a GT350 with a Coyote.
I have posted before that I am no fan of modern cars in general but here I have to congratulate Ford and Shelby on a continuation of something very iconic. I am not a tech nit picker. I could car less if the car has 400hp or 800hp. I do care that I opened my browser today and saw a Mustang. I opened the browser and saw a GT350. Not the 350 of days gone by but a car that looks like a Mustang GT350 and it has a V8 and a shifter that moves side to side as well as back and forth. As someone old enough to remember when car mags stated that I would never see a V8 engine in the future and I would be driving around today in a compact van-like contraption I commend the purists at Ford and Shelby for holding fast on what is important.