Topnotch
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http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/ford/2014/11/18/ford-shelby-gt-mustang-unveil/19217823/
2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang to go on sale next fall
There will be limited availability of the 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang that dealers will start taking orders for next year.
LOS ANGELES — The 2016 Shelby GT350 Mustang will go on sale next fall, 50 years after the original GT350 that was never really designed for the road. It was designed to win a race.
This modern reinvention was designed to do both and to appease those who loved the Boss 302 that was a limited run for the 2012-13 model years and the 2013-14 GT500.
There will be limited availability of the GT350 as well, said Joe Hinrichs, Ford president of The Americas.
He would not say how many Ford will make.
Dealers can't start taking orders until next year. Pricing will be announced closer to the sale date. The GT500 was just under $55,000.
Ford's recent performance vehicles have seen demand exceed expectations, including the GT500 which sold a couple thousand each year and the F-150 Raptor which was much more popular than forecast, said Jim Farley, head of global sales, marketing and service.
The Shelby GT350 will be made at the Flat Rock assembly plant in Michigan that is the only source of global Mustangs. But it will not be available in right-hand drive.
Nor is the extra volume enough to warrant a third shift, Hinrichs said.
Creating the GT350, executives knew history matters when it comes to Mustang and especially a Shelby performance Mustang.
"We wanted to pay homage to Carroll Shelby," Hinrichs said at an event Monday in Los Angeles at the Carroll Shelby building that is to become a museum.
Design chief Moray Callum said the car was designed as a Shelby Mustang and the GT350 name came about halfway through the process.
For Farley, a huge Mustang fan, it was a GT350 from the start. He briefed the Mustang team when the specs were not even developed yet on what makes a GT350 a GT350.
Carroll Shelby, who died in 2013, knew of the project, Hinrichs said, but probably only saw details of the GT350 on paper.
Jamal Hameedi, chief engineer of Ford's Global Performance Vehicles, said the 2016 Shelby GT350 was inspired by the 1965 model but is a modern interpretation. He was not given a mandate to include anything retro, but was encouraged to re-create the spirit of the original vehicle with modern technology.
Designer Calllum said this is much more technically advanced car than the GT500, largely because of the engine that generates more than 500 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque.
Being true to the car's heritage meant a naturally aspirated V8, not a turbocharged engine.
Engineers took the basic architecture of the 5L V8 made in Windsor at the Essex Engine Plant and transformed it. The new 5.2-liter V8, an engine known internally as "voodoo," is essentially a new engine with different block, cylinder heads and intake.
Having a flat-plane crankshaft with a different firing order for a more even exhaust and more high-revving power is rare. It exists on vehicles such as the Ferrari 458, Porsche 918 or McLaren 650, said Hameedi, The different firing sequence of the pistons required at least 30 engineering changes to the engine to ensure it was smooth, and there was no additional noise, vibration and harshness.
"Only a few cars do what this car does," Farley said of the latest Mustang
Hinrichs would not say if the voodoo engine will find its way into another future vehicle.
But Hameedi said the engine in the GT500 was custom designed and the GT350 might also have an exclusive powertrain.
Ford has not yet certified the mileage figures for the new engine and it is not known whether the GT350 will be subject to the gas guzzler tax.
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