2013 Shelby GT500 Durability Test with Carroll Shelby

Here's a historical look at Carroll Shelby and what he meant to the SVT team, as well as the new 2013 Shelby GT500. Watch on YouTube.

The Legendary Carroll Shelby Passes Away

LOS ANGELES - May 11, 2012 - Carroll Shelby International, Inc., (OTC: CSBI.PK) announced today that Carroll Hall Shelby, a man whose vision for performance transformed the automobile industry, has died at age 89. Mr. Shelby passed away yesterday at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Born on Jan. 11, 1923, Carroll Shelby was one of America's greatest success stories. Championship-winning racecar driver, "flying sergeant" wartime pilot, philanthropist, entrepreneur, car manufacturer and racing team owner, he embodied the ingenuity, tenacity and grit to overcome any obstacle. He is perhaps the only person to have worked at a visible level with all three major American automobile manufacturers.

2012 Shelby 1000 Debut at New York Auto Show

NEW YORK - April 5, 2012 - On the eve of its return to the New York International Auto Show, 50 years after the company made its debut, Shelby American, Inc., a division of Carroll Shelby International (CSBI.PK), unveiled the world's most powerful series of muscle cars. Named the Shelby 1000, the 50-state, street-legal car is the high performance dream of founder Carroll Shelby. The Shelby American team enhanced the power, braking and handling of the 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 to create a hyper-performance muscle car available in both street and competition versions.

"We launched Shelby American with the Cobra at the 1962 New York Auto Show," said Carroll Shelby. "The 289 Cobra was considered pretty radical at the time. For our return 50 years later, I wanted something just as incredible that will show how far we've come and where we're headed for the next 50 years."

The Shelby 1000 was born in Carroll Shelby's imagination in 2011. Having just achieved 800 horsepower with the famed Shelby GT500 Super Snake, he and his band of modern day hot rodders at Shelby American believed that they could enhance Ford's well-engineered car even more.

2013 Shelby GT500 Hits the Track

The 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 running footage with a segment of Tanner Foust running a lap at VIR. Watch on YouTube.

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Ford Announces 2013 Shelby GT500 Convertible

The official launch of SVT came during the 1992 Chicago Auto Show with the unveiling of the 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra and SVT F-150 Lightning. Now Ford returns to Chicago to celebrate its past and look to the future with the 2013 Shelby GT500 convertible.

In honor of SVT’s anniversary, a commemorative lighted sill plate will be used in the 2013 Shelby GT500 to celebrate the many years of performance vehicles. The 1993 SVT Mustang Cobra offered a 235-horsepower 5.0-liter V8 engine, which demonstrates just how far the products have come in 20 years. The 2013 Shelby GT500 with its 650-horsepower V8 marks the latest offering from one of the oldest and most successful automotive performance groups in the world.

"The Shelby GT500 convertible is every bit the performer that the coupe is," said Kerry Baldori, SVT Global Performance Vehicles chief engineer. "All of the significant changes we made in the program were instrumental in delivering a convertible that could really shine on the track but can still be driven on a daily basis."