Shelby Super Snake Sport Ford F-150, GT500 Dragon Snake slip into SEMA with big power
A two-door F-150 with 755 horsepower? Shut the front door.
Ford has a lot going on lately. Not only are we quickly approaching the "Mustang-inspired" electric SUV's debut, we got our first taste of the 2020 Bronco in the form of a race-prepped version dubbed the Bronco R. Longtime partner Shelby American is dropping a cherry on top of recent announcements, however.
Shelby announced on Monday that it has two big-power concepts ready for the 2019 SEMA show in Las Vegas this week. The Shelby GT500 Dragon Snake with over 800 horsepower and the Shelby Super Snake Sport F-150 with 755 hp are ready to light 'em up.
What's a Dragon Snake, you ask? Back in the 1960s, Shelby built and sold a version of the Shelby Cobra prepped for drag racing called the "Dragonsnake." The name returns (with a space between the words) on the Shelby Mustang GT500 in concept form. The company imagined the latest Mustang GT500 with the same mission the Cobra Dragonsnake had over 50 years ago. That is to create a "weapon of track destruction" when it comes to the quarter-mile.
Shelby didn't specify how much power it makes, but 800-plus hp was the figure tossed around in the announcement. The suspension's also been upgraded to handle the power and provide the best straight-line acceleration possible. The dual-clutch transmission gets tweaks and Shelby took more weight out of the pony car. A drag-style carbon-fiber spoiler ices the cake that is the Dragon Snake. Still possible is a wide-body version. Two thumbs up from this guy.
The Shelby Super Snake Sport F-150, on the other hand, is perhaps the Ford F-150 Lightning we never received. The company already builds the four-door version, but there's something inherently cool about a two-door pickup with a lot of power. As mentioned, there's 755 hp on tap thanks to its supercharged V8 engine. The new suspension drops the pickup appropriately for a meaner stance and the exterior gets a nip-tuck for aerodynamic purposes.
Both vehicles are potentially headed for production, and this is the part where I implore you to shout it loud and clear so Shelby knows there's interest in both of these vehicles. Of course there's room for a faster, drag-ready GT500. Yes, we want a two-door, supercharged F-150.
