Though the life of Carroll Shelby has come to an end, his legacy has not. Shelby has always been closely linked with Ford, and now that he has passed, there are unanswered questions going forward regarding Shelby’s relationship with the Detroit automaker. All we know for sure is that Ford says the GT500 will continue to be an option going forward with the next-gen Mustang…and that’s all.
New speculation however seems to suggest that Shelby could become even closer with Ford, and perhaps even be fully absorbed. Mustang Evolution reports that this could lead to the resurrection of the Shelby GT350…as a factory Ford product.
As you no doubt already know, Shelby already builds a Mustang-based GT350, accepting shipments of finished Mustangs and converting them at their Las Vegas shop. The Shelby GT500, however, comes right off of the Ford assembly line. So which is the true Shelby? That is up to you.
However, it seems as though Ford and Shelby have only been growing closer…and soon could be one and the same. The rumors of Ford absorbing Shelby have been around for awhile, but with Carroll’s passing it might actually happen now. That means the Shelby GT350 could step in for the Boss 302 Mustang, which was discontinued after the 2013 model year, slotting between the Mustang GT and Shelby GT500 as the dedicated track offering.
We’ll have to wait and see what happens, though we wouldn’t be surprised if it actually happened.