Showing a mere 66 miles at the time of writing, this 2023 Ford Shelby Super Snake is powered by a supercharged 5.0L/825 HP V-8 engine and a 10-speed automatic transmission. The car is fit with the components that make it a Super Snake, including the Shelby Extreme Cooling System. Engineered to keep the engine and transmission up to 50-degrees cooler, the System includes a transmission cooler, a heat exchanger, an extreme radiator, increased capacity coolant and supercharger tanks, an intercooler, high-efficiency fans and special directional air ducts. Another Super Snake standard is the Ford Performance Suspension Package, which includes lowering springs, upgraded upper strut mounts and adjustable front struts, rear shocks and sway bars. The Shelby by Brembo brake system scrubs off speed with great efficiency, and the Shelby by Borla exhaust system sings a great tune while offering gains in power. The body is awash in Shelby performance bodywork including the aluminum widebody front fenders, a Super Snake ram air hood with functional vents, a rear spoiler, the tail panel and diffuser combination, side rockers and moldings, and louvered quarter windows. The interior is equipped with the Shelby interior upgrade, which includes a carbon fiber gauge pod centered atop the dashboard, special auxiliary gauges below the pod, embroidered seating and other unique nuances. While built to take on the racetrack, the Super Snake is also surprisingly luxurious with supportive bucket seats, a center console, power windows, power locks, dual-zone climate control and tinted glass among other amenities. The Super Snake name originates from a partnership between Carroll Shelby and Goodyear tires, which dictated the production of a modified GT500. The car needed to be much quicker and faster than a stock GT500 in order to test Goodyear’s new tire concept, the Thunderbolt. Shelby’s idea was to not only build a hot GT500 to test the new tires but to market a very limited number of what became known as the Super Snake. The original Super Snake cost nearly double a standard GT500, meaning just one was built at that time. In 2007, when the GT500 returned, Shelby offered the Super Snake package, improving on the already spectacular performance of the GT500. When the GT500 ceased production after 2014, Shelby began using the Mustang GT as the basis of the Super Snake. Interestingly, while a GT500 could have been purchased at nearly any Ford dealership, the Super Snakes had to be ordered from a Shelby-authorized Ford dealership, which emphasized its exclusivity. Even more interestingly, when the GT500 returned in 2020, Shelby continued to use the GT to build the Super Snake instead of modifying GT500s.
