Category: Aftermarket, Ford, Ford Mustang, Coupes, Sports
Say you wanted to pay tribute to a legendary drag racer, how would you do it? If you're Carroll Shelby and the racer in question is long time friend Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, you build a monster Mustang that will run 10-second quarter-miles on the way to the drug store.
"Don is an exceptional drag racer and I'm proud that he drove my first Top Fuel car in 1968," said Carroll Shelby. "By leveraging Don's experience, we turned a really good car into a great drag racer that will beat up on the MOPAR and bow-tie brigade right out of the box."
The Prudhomme Edition Shelby Super Snake pays homage to the top fuel dragster that Prudhomme drove for Shelby in the late 1960's. The street-legal dragster features Ford's 5.4L V-8 wearing a Kenny Bell supercharger and custom ram air intake that pokes through the hood. For everyday shenanigans, this combination is good for 750 hp on 93 octane, but drop by the dragstrip, slap on the slicks and top off the tank with race gas and you'll run sub-10 second quarter-miles with over 800 hp on tap.
Putting that kind of power down and keeping the car straight are difficult tasks, but the team at Shelby was up to the challenge. They fitted the 2007-2009 style Mustang GT500 with a Ford Racing 3.73 rear end, a big rear wing, a short-throw shifter, a Borla side-exhaust kit, a strut tower brace, a caster/camber kit, adjustable front struts, a custom rear lower control arm with a solid third link, six-piston brake calipers up front, Bogart custom wheels and a set of boost, fuel pressure and oil pressure gauges to keep track of it all. Inside, Shelby ditched the rear seats, installed an eight-point roll cage and replaced the front seats with racing units.
Of course, it wouldn't be a Shelby Mustang if it didn't have a little show with its go. The Super Snake gets a special tilt front end, a new rear fascia, new rockers, aluminum quarter window inserts and special paint and graphics. All said and done, a turn-key car will set you back $145,995, though if you already have a GT500 you'd like converted, you can have it made-over for just $99,995. You'd better hurry, though, because Shelby is only planning to make 100 of these cars.
"It's been a great opportunity to work with Carroll and the Shelby Autos team on this amazing program," said Prudhomme. "I'm honored that Carroll gave me this honor to build a car that's true to his legacy and my efforts to move them across the finish line first. The car can be tuned to deliver over 800 horsepower on race gas, which should pretty fast. It's a well sorted out package that is capable of dusting the competition in the Shelby way. The thing I really think is cool about this car is that you can drive it both on the track and on the street. It reminds me of how drag racing used to be back in the day when we would drive our cars to the drag strip, race them, and drive them home at the end of the day. That's maybe the neatest thing about this car."
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