2007 Shelby GT Modified By Shelby American Motorsports - Speed Shop Special

The collision with that spinning SUV made an unlikely starting point to my odyssey to create a spiritual street successor to Shelby's iconic '65 GT350 R-model. At the time, I was traveling on a southern California freeway in an '06 Mustang GT, and my evasive maneuver wasn't quite evasive enough. In that split second, my beloved car was history.

As I lay in the hospital bed, I vowed I would get another Mustang. Only this one would be cooler and faster. I bounced between Shelby, Saleen, and Roush; talked with friends in the business; and drove several examples of each. While each car had its strengths, the driving impressions-and the heritage-made the choice obvious. My next Mustang would be a Shelby.

I eventually located '07 Shelby GT No. 4896 on a trader website. It was 75 miles from home with the color combo I wanted (white with grey leather). It also had the optional center gauge cluster and an owner who was an unfortunate casualty of America's economic crisis. The car had barely 1,000 miles on the odometer when it was repossessed.

I preferred white because I wanted to replace the original silver stripes with blue to play off the vintage Shelby white/blue color scheme. A comparison with a friend's '65 GT350 revealed that the newer Performance White is much stronger than the original Wimbledon White. That made the '65's stripe color too soft to properly contrast with the modern white, so Salinas Collision Repair's Gary Bloxham and striping guru John Clements showed me a number of blue stripe samples. The choice was made, and they re-striped the car.

Owens put me in touch with Gary Patterson, Shelby American's vice president of operations. He was also intrigued, so I put together a detailed design brief that highlighted the envisioned mechanical and cosmetic modifications. Subsequent conversations covered every area of the car: brake and suspension, engine performance, and cosmetic alterations from the Shelby Performance Parts catalog.

Because the original GT350 R was all about lighter weight, my vision for the GT-R focused on what I call balance-acceleration, cornering, and braking, all working in concert with each other.

Project GT-R's targeted flywheel horsepower was 410-425, especially if it could be mated to a six-speed transmission. Patterson said Shelby was considering a six-speed conversion program and asked if I would like to have my car serve as the test bed. The "yes" came without hesitation.

To reduce weight, I would supply Centerforce's lightweight flywheel, clutch, and pressure plate. We would also use the GT500 Super Snake's one-piece aluminum driveshaft, and the factory Shaker 1000 stereo would be replaced by Shelby's Kicker system. Wheel selection remained up in the air, as did how to add power.