2012 has proven to be an eventful year for Shelby American for reasons both good and bad. The new 2013 Shelby GT500 is the most powerful street-legal Mustang Ford has ever built, the 1,200 horsepower Shelby 1000 is already under production, and the Shelby GT350 has gotten more than a few needed updates as well.

But there is one Shelby we haven’t heard much about yet; the much-feared GT500 Super Snake. While details are still scarce, Shelby did see fit to send Mustangs Daily a few pictures of the work-in-progress of the 2013 Super Snake…and it looks like its coming together quite well.

Yet with the launch of the Shelby 1000, a huge amount of horsepower just won’t cut it anymore. And Shelby seems to know that, judging by John Luft’s remarks. With the base car being such a performer, it’s going to cause us and push us to look at where we can gain in the handling performance. That’s going to be the suspension, the braking, the weight in the vehicle. We are doing a lot with composites and carbon fiber. We’ll look for opportunities like that. The bottom line is that a Shelby has to be distinctly different than the base vehicle. That’s our obligation, and if we can’t give you as much under the hood then we have to find places to increase performance elsewhere.”

So sounds to us like the next Shelby Super Snake won’t just be a straight-line brute, but an all around handling machine. And we think that is exactly the kind of car Shelby could use in its lineup. We can’t wait to see what the legendary automaker comes up with next.