The GT350 was Carroll Shelby’s answer to Ford when asked if the car could be made to be more of a sports car and less of a commuter. The GT350 featured an uprated horsepower figure of 306 due to a revised intake. Beefier brakes and partly magnesium wheels were added, as were high-speed-rated tires.
The rear seats were removed to fit a full-size spare tire, allowing the GT350 to go racing and comply with SCCA rules. Later, Shelby made a deal with Hertz, and 1001 GT350H designated cars were built for the “Rent-A-Racer” program. The cars were then sold off to customers as they left the rental fleet.
Performance
The 1965 Ford Mustang GT350 is a NASCAR-ready racecar tuned down to be street-legal, which meets the requirements of the racing circuit and offers a street car that is a cut above the others. It may look like a basic Mustang from the outside, except for the badging, but once you start looking under the hood and chassis, you will see that there have been numerous changes to the original design.
For example, the average intake has been removed and replaced with a high-rise intake, headers, aluminum valve covers, racing brake package, a de-cambered front suspension, altered steering geometry, and a roll bar built inside.
4 1987 Mustang Foxbody 5.0
Top Speed: 150 MPH
Perhaps the most popular “5.0” Mustang, the Foxbody Mustang 5.0 GT still stands as a wildly popular way to obtain 5.0-liter status for a reasonable amount of money. Modified Foxbody Mustangs are often found at drag strips running unbelievably powerful engines, making the boxy 80s muscle car fly down the track. The Foxbody Mustangs just have a “cool” about them that seems to resonate with the Mustang community.
Performance
The base-level Ford Mustang for 1987 came with a small four-banger. Gone were the six-cylinder and the turbocharged 2.3-liter from the previous year, so the only other choice was the 5.0. One of the main problems owners found with these cars is that if they went all-out most of the time, the frames would bend from the constant torque amounts put to them, especially if any work was added to make them produce more horsepower and more pound-feet of torque.
3 2012 Ford Mustang Boss 302
Top Speed: 155 MPH
A muscle car with a “surround sound” exhaust. That’s how the 2012 Boss 302 was marketed. The beefed-up 5.0 Mustang was aimed at slightly better handling and providing an astounding aural experience by adding small exhaust outlets that exit right below the driver and passenger, giving occupants the very best of the 5.0 Coyote V-8. With a unique intake setup and higher horsepower, the 2012 Boss 302 was a force to be reckoned with.
Performance
The rebirth of a legend is always something that people await with an anticipation level that can only be satisfied by climbing into the final product. Those waiting for the 302 Boss to come off the production lines in 2012 were pleasantly satisfied and completely caught off guard when they attempted to launch from the line for the first time.
It was a comical sight from the sidelines because all you could hear was the roar of a beefy engine accompanied by a scream of tires and then nothing but a line of black smoke as far as the eye could see. But once launching was figured out, the 302 Boss was a muscle car to be reckoned with on the streets.
2 2000 Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R
Top Speed: 170 MPH
More wing, please! The 2000 SVT Cobra R took the standard Cobra and added a slick side exit exhaust, tall rear wing, front splitter, and proper Recaro racing bucket seats. Additionally, the R-badged Cobra meant light-weighting measures were taken to make the most of its already punchy 385 horsepower. The SVT Cobra R was the wildest of the “Terminator” generation Mustangs.
Performance
To clarify, the standard 2000 Mustang Cobra had a 4.6-liter V-8 under the hood that pushed out up to 320 horses, which is still a decent amount considering that these cars only weighed about thirty-five hundred pounds.
The difference between the SVT and the street version was all in the aerodynamics, which, combined with the extra horses and torque, made for a mean machine on the tracks. Too bad only around 300 units were produced, making it a hard model to find when you want to go out on the track and have a little fun.
1 2016 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350
Top Speed: 175 MPH
An instant classic, even upon its launch in 2015, the GT350 proved to be and will remain one of the most desirable Mustangs ever built. With its flat-plane crank V-8, the GT350 brought a European flair to the Mustang that the world has never seen.
A factory Mustang with a redline of over 8,000 RPM and an engine that shares characteristics with Ferrari V-8s were elements the world never thought they would see from the humble American muscle car. This, combined with the S550 generation’s independent rear suspension, was the car that solidified the Mustang’s place as not only a muscle car but an all-out sports car.
Performance
One specific aspect of this car that needs mentioning is the MagnaRide Dampening System that Ford Motor Company made sure to have installed on every Shelby Mustang coming off the assembly lines. Both the street-legal Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and the track-only GT350R came with this system that would continually adjust how the suspension rode by passing an electric current through the hydraulic fluid in the shocks. Each corner and every bump is adjusted for within seconds to improve handling and performance
