Shelby unveils an insane 627-hp Mustang – and you can hear it roar now

If I have one complaint about the new 2015 Mustang GT it would be this: It doesn’t feel special enough.

However, out in the deserts of Nevada, I may have just discovered the solution — a 627 hp, mildly crazy solution called the Shelby GT.

Back when I first drove a newer ‘Stang, on my first assignment as an auto hack no less, I was taken aback by the rumbling, raucous V-8 that felt so unapologetically raw and stentorian, and while it wasn’t the best handling car I’d ever driven it still made me smile. It was, for the most part, precisely as I envisaged a new Mustang would be.

But all that has now changed, thanks to a desire for global domination. Ford has watered down the 2015 Mustang GT, softening its edges and refining its character. It’s what European buyers want, they say. But I’m not so sure.

As a European myself, hailing from a tiny island famous for rain and wonky teeth, I’ve always remained giddy over American muscle. Sure, our roads in the UK are less friendly for U.S.-bred ponies, but a buyer won’t care — they’ll pay a tidy premium for a ‘Stang in anticipation of annoying the neighbors, and they’ll expect chicks to see them as a reincarnation of Steve McQueen.

Yes, that’s a gross stereotype, but it’s how we non-Americans feel. We want it to be like the movies, and the new GT, Europeanized for an alternate culture, doesn’t behave like that at all. It’s simply a good, well-mannered sports coupe. A BMW without the baggage-slash-prestige.

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Shelby American, though, has done something about it: The company is determined to keep the spirit of the late Carroll Shelby alive, and to do so, it must keep the Mustang alive, too. That means the muted exhaust note is the first thing to go, replaced by a snarling Borla pipe that makes the Shelby GT sound like a pre-historic, saber-tooth beast dreamt up by a clan of opium-infused tribesmen.
In other words: It sounds glorious.

Power derives from the 5-liter Coyote V-8, only now with a giant supercharger bulging from within the custom carbon-fiber hood. Shelby engineers say 627 hp is the right power number, although torque figures and performance stats are still being uncovered. Further carbon graces the body, along with 20-inch WELD wheels, Wilwood six-piston front brakes and Ford Racing suspension and sway bar upgrades. When it arrives on sale in a few months, a short throw shifter with 3:73 rear gears will come standard, and a performance upgrade with output beyond 700 hp will also be optional.

Sure, the Shelby GT looks good in pictures, but in flesh – holy mother of evil. Like Loki running a combination pawn shop/orphange evil. It deserves a garage in the depths of Alcatraz, or Mordor, or Deadwood.

I spent an afternoon driving the car at Spring Mountain race resort, about an hour outside of Vegas. We didn’t get to drive the car on the street, but for a machine that has only been revealed to the public and mass media today via the Barrett-Jackson auctions, having already been granted a few hours at speed is pretty special.