15 YEAR OLD SHELBY GR-1 CONCEPT GOING
INTO PRODUCTION
Debuted way back in 2004, the Shelby GR-1 concept was a modern
re-imagination of the seriously cool Shelby Daytona racer. There was some
talk about it being a successor to the Ford GT, continuing the halo car
retro vibe, but nothing came out of that. What did was a fully functional
car with a 6.4-liter V10 good for 605 horsepower and noise that makes a
lion scramble to safety.
But now, the fastest mirror mirror on the road is finally going to be
produced, and it won't be Ford making it. Instead, it will be a classic
car replica maker from California - Superformance - that will do the job.
Lance Stander, Superformance CEO, has been hounding Ford for years for
permission to build the GR-1, and finally announced at the Petersen
Automotive Museum that he has received Ford's blessing to make the modern
Daytona Coupe.
"It's been a project I've been working on with Ford for about six years.
We originally said we want to do the GR-1, and we spoke to everyone at
Ford, and they said, 'it's never going to happen. Just forget about it.'"
"We could have done a replica, we could have done a kit car, but that was
never good enough for us. We had to get licensed by the original
manufacturer, and it had to have all credibility. So I just kept plodding
along and eventually the stars aligned, the right people at Ford got to
hear about it and... a couple of guys at who really wanted to see it
happen at Ford Design in Europe, and the next thing I know is Ford
Licensing is contacting me."
POSSIBLE ELECTRIFICATION?
The first 200 examples will have aluminum bodies, either polished as seen
on the original concept, or painted.
SUPERFORMANCE
Later cars will have carbon fibre bodies, and that's not all the
modernization Superformance has in store for the GR-1. Carroll Shelby was
toying with the idea of using electric motors for performance before his
passing in 2012 so the GR-1 will be available as an electric vehicle too.
"Carroll was always on the edge. He was an innovator. And that's the way
we still hold the company. You know, the world's changing, and we have to
go with the world," said Laviolette. "It's gonna be very fast."
Some details of the GR-1 remain fuzzy, like if it will even be possible to
call it GR-1 in the first place.
It's unknown whether the original concept's V-10 will power the internal
combustion version. Modified Ford modular engines such as the 6.8-liter
Triton V-10 could serve as a substitute with modification if Superformance
elects not to copy the concept's 6.4, though customers would presumably
prefer the aluminium engine.
Fuzziest of all is when the GR-1 will actually arrive. According to a
spokesperson for Shelby American, a piece of legislation that would give
the companies approval to build the car can't go through during the
federal government shutdown.
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