The 900-HP Ford Shelby GT500KR: Shelby American Celebrates 60 Years with the “King of The Road” Mustang GT500KR. And yes, we’d drive it for the rest of our lives.
The year 2022 will be a pivotal one for the auto industry — and for car buyers. But for many true blue pony car fans, 2022 means the return of the famous KR (“King of The Road”) version of the Shelby Mustang. It is spectacular.
While celebrating Shelby American’s 60th anniversary and in honor of the King of the Road Mustangs, Shelby American is building a limited number of GT500KR Mustangs. With its a larger supercharger pushing more than 900 horsepower, a tasty vented dry carbon fiber hood, sweet one-piece forged mono-block wheels, carbon fiber body components and a beautifully reimagined interior — the King rules.
The 2022 version will only be the third time Shelby will release a King of the Road GT500—previous versions of the model were released in 1968 and again in 2008. This version features a bad-ass carbon-fiber hood as well as a carbon-fiber front splitter (the carbon hood is fully functional and focuses on cooling the supercharged engine bay), and rear diffuser. The tires are performance-spec, and tuned gracefully with on the unique one-piece 6061-T6 forged aluminum wheels (20 x 11.0 front and 20 x 11.5 rear). Shelby rocker stripes and badges, a Shelby hood strut system, and leather seat re-covers all add to the enormous attention to detail in this instant classic.
Mind-bending power and handling — It’s freakin’ supercharged!
The King features Whipple superchargers, an all new massive 3.8L supercharger, pushing the very capable 5.2-liter V8 to over 900 horsepower. The twin screw supercharger system is equipped with a larger throttle body, cold air intake, updated pulley system and innovated dual core dual pass intercooler.
And if all those standard features aren’t enough, you can grab some optional components including a Shelby widebody kit, a polished supercharger, painted stripes, rear-seat delete with harness bar, and over-the-top stripes. Hey, go all the way since you’ll drive it for the rest of your life!
The price for the new edition? It’s a lofty $127,895 (or just $54,995 for the KR package if you bring your own 2020–2022 Shelby GT500, however only 60 KR packages will be available). The starting price for a 2022 Shelby GT500 is $72,900.
Shelby will make 180 GT500KRs, 60 for each model year, to be sold in the U.S. That leaves 45 for overseas buyers. Production will start in the first quarter of 2022, but the new Shelby GT500KR will be revealed to the public at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale event in January, with the first production car being auctioned there January 29 to benefit charity.
The specs
- • Shelby by Whipple Supercharger System
- • 900+fwhp* 3.8L supercharger
- • Black finish
- • High volume supercharger intercooler
- • High volume supercharger heat exchanger
- • Open cold air intake system
- • Shelby by Borla cat-back exhaust system
- • Performance half-shafts
- • Ride–height adjustable front and rear springs
- • Ford Performance front and rear sway bars
- • MagneRide suspension recalibration
- • aster camber plates
- • Shelby forged aluminum wheels
- • One-piece 6061-T6 forged aluminum
- • Polished or gloss black finish
- • 20×11 front
- • 20×11.5 rear
- • Performance spec tires
- • Extended and hardened wheel studs
By the way, if you’d like to buy one, Ford says that Shelby GT500KR production will begin in the first quarter of 2022. Orders will begin being taken on February 1, 2022 at 9AM PST.
The King’s History
In 1968, the GT500 was getting some major improvements, namely the engine going to the new 428 Cobra Jet. In a meeting with Le Iacocca, Ford Division General Manager, Lee mentioned to Carroll that they had recently caught wind that Chevrolet was going to name their new Corvette the “King of the Road”. Carroll thought to himself that he always wanted to use that name and immediately called his trade dress lawyer, asking him to quickly find out if “King of the Road” was taken. Turns out it wasn’t, Carroll and his team immediately dubbed the new GT500 the GT500KR for “King of the Road” and successfully filed a trade dress for the name. Only XXX GT500KRs were made in 1968 and are some of the most sought after collector Mustang in existence.
The second coming of the GT500KR was revealed at the 2007 New York International Auto Show, two years after the standard GT500 was announced. The Mustang boasted many performance upgrades including an additional 40 horsepower, new suspension, a state-of-the-art carbon fiber hood, Forged aluminum wheels and Goodyear tires developed specially for the program. The GT500KR was built at Shelby World Headquarters in Las Vegas in the Spring of 2008 and in 2009.
