Shelby GT350, GT350R Heritage Packages on Sale

The 2020 Mustang Shelby GT350  MSRP is $60,440, plus taxes, title, delivery and license fees; GT350R starts at $73,435. The Heritage Edition Package is $1965.

For 2020, Ford is selling  a limited run of Heritage Edition Mustang fastbacks in Wimbledon White with Blue side and over-the-top race stripes in a nod to the 1965 GT350 competition model developed by Carroll Shelby. (AutoInformed: Shelby GT350R Now Shares GT500 Chassis Technology, 700 Horse Shelby GT500 Strongest Street-Legal Ford Ever Carroll Shelby – Sports Car Racer and Builder – Dead at 89)

Briggs Cunningham used blue lengthwise strips over white as a racing color in the 1950s. The scheme was also used by Shelby, Gurney, NART, and Ford, Chaparral, Hendrick  Scarab and Chevrolet, among others. The colors were used to designate a U.S. entry – until commercial interests took over and advertising dictated the trim starting in the 1960s.  My former employer Road&Track documented this in the 1960s, as I recall, including American’s aversion to “unlucky” and ill-defined British Racing Green.

Additional Shelby Heritage Edition cues include front and rear exterior badges finished in Guardsman Blue and a unique dash badge inside. GT350R models have all-black seats with red accent stitching.

The 2020 Mustang Shelby GT350 has a starting MSRP of $60,440, plus taxes, title, delivery and license fees; GT350R has a starting MSRP of $73,435, plus taxes, title, delivery and license fees. The Heritage Edition Package is available for $1,965.

“Looking back on it, what Ford and Carroll Shelby created back in the mid-’60s was so important to Mustang,” said Jim Owens, Ford Mustang marketing manager.

The nostalgia Heritage Edition Package comes a year after Shelby GT350 received upgrades. These include revised front chassis geometry for improved steering feel, plus revised antilock braking and MagneRide tuning for optimized aerodynamic components resulting in improved ride, stability and handling for both road and track. Shelby GT350R gets a redesigned high-trail steering knuckle from the all-new Shelby GT500 for 2020. It also has a new steering rack and with luck the re-calibrated electric power steering control is less numb.

Dealers are taking orders for Heritage Edition Package vehicles now, with cars slated to ship this spring. Mustang Shelby GT350 and GT350R are built with foreign and domestic parts at a former Mazda plant – Flat Rock Assembly Plant in Flat Rock, Michigan.