Shelby is building ten glorious Mustang continuations…

It’s Shelby’s turn to get in on the continuation car game. And with not one, but two reborn classics. We’re talking about ten more 1960s-spec Mustangs, and four more Series 1 sports cars from the 1990s – to be titled Series 2. Obviously.

Let’s uncover the Mustang first. The ten continuations are faithful recreations of one of the best-looking Mustangs ever: the one-off 1967 GT500 Super Snake. Its descendants aren’t all-new cars, but rather original 1967 Mustang bodyshells that’ll be built with an official Shelby VIN.

The Super Snake was a mad creation: developed as a tyre-test bed for Goodyear, Shelby then toyed with the idea of turning its one-off into a limited production run. Because the 520bhp race-spec V8, front disc brakes, limited-slip differential and stiffer suspension was so expensive at the time, the idea was canned for being unprofitable. Despite Caroll Shelby himself taking the wheel of the prototype and posting a 170mph top speed, proving the Super snake’s pedigree, the Mustang remained a one-off, which fetched $1.3m at auction last time it changed hands.

A 550bhp big-block V8, and a four-speed manual gearbox will power the new run of ten cars. They’ll cost from $250,000 – and stripes are included.

Want something a bit more… round-looking? Well, Shelby is also doing a run of four more Series One sports cars, to be called Series 2. Following on from the somewhat unloved spiritual successor to the Cobra, specs have been ramped up a long way from 1996’s 4.0-litre V8 powered version, which was available with either 320 normally aspirated horsepower, or 460 supercharged ponies.

The new Series 2 is 12 per cent lighter, has trick modern suspension, brakes and steering, and the small matter of twice the power of the original. Its V8 will send 800bhp to the rear wheels via a five-speed, transaxle gearbox. That’s the power of progress…

No prices have been disclosed for the run of four Series 2s Shelby will build, but that’s alright by us. We’d prefer the 1967 Super Snake anyway. Wouldn’t you?