The sixth-generation Ford Mustang has pushed the Blue Oval’s iconic speed machine closer to the realm of true sports cars than every before. The Shelby GT350 and GT350R come close to matching the performance of German legends like the BMW M3 and Porsche 911, and the upcoming GT500 will almost certainly push the ‘Stang into the outer limits of genuine supercar territory. So how do you build on such potent performance? Well, you could make like Lebanon Ford in Ohio and simply cram as many horses under the hood as you can, then offer it at a low enough price point to grab eyeballs across America.
But Shelby American took a different tact for its latest modified Mustang. Instead of simply amping up the power, it took a sixth-generation Mustang, widebodied it, and equipped it with the suspension and brake hardware needed to battle it out on the road course…and then added a bunch of power.
The car is based on the current 50th Anniversary Shelby Super Snake, a package of Mustang performance upgrades that revolves around a supercharged V8 capable of cranking out either 670 or 750 horses, depending on how you spec it. The body kit adds roughly four inches to the car’s rear track and around two and a half inches up front, according to Vince LaViolette, Shelby American vice-president of operations. That extra width let the company cram wider wheels and tires—12.5 inches wide in back, 11 inches wide in front—beneath those shapely arches, helping put more Michelin surface area onto the road. Combine that with other handling upgrades (fully adjustable coilover suspensions, upgraded spindle & control arms, rear lower control arms, and Brembo brakes packing 16-inch rotors up front and 14-inch ones in back), and the widebody Super Snake has the potential to be just as impressive on a track as it’s sure to be at picking up chicks in the Dairy Queen parking lot.
The new car marks the first time Shelby American has offered a widebody kit for the current Ford Mustang. Company president Gary Patterson said in a statement that buyers of previous widebody ‘Stangs chose the larger body because it allowed for bigger tires, thus giving the car a drag racing advantage. But the latest Shelby Super Snake, he says, is about more than just trying to whip Hellcats at the strip.
“Instead of being optimized for straight line performance, the Super Snake wide body concept provides more grip on all four corners. It was designed to give drivers a serious competitive edge on the road course,” Patterson said in a statement.
The Las Vegas-based shop—whose wares shouldn’t be confused with the official Shelby Mustangs coming out of Ford these days—describes the car as a concept in its press release, and says the company is considering it for production. Considering that one page away on the company’s website there’s a picture touting it as “available fall 2017,” however…we have a feeling we’ll see these widebody Super Snakes hit the streets by the time of the SEMA show this year.
