The Mustang that served as the development mule for the 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 will be on the auction block at this weekend’s annual Barrett-Jackson event in Scottsdale, Arizona. All proceeds from the sale of this one-of-a-kind Shelby-spec prototype will go to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
Originally constructed back in 2007, this GT500 tester was one of the first 10 cars ever built on the current-generation body and platform. Although not street legal, it earned a place of honor in the Shelby GT500 history books by successfully completing 24 hours of endurance testing at Florida’s famed Sebring Raceway reaching speeds of 150 mph. Not to mention having Carroll Shelby, himself, spend time behind the wheel while serving as a hands-on consultant. A Ford spokesperson indicated that in addition to the car itself, the winning bidder also will receive a comprehensive log of all testing and evaluation that was done on the vehicle.
Beyond its 650-horsepower/5.8-liter supercharged V8 engine that gives the production 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 a top speed in excess of 200 mph and all of the other performance enhancements found in the volume-build version that made its debut at the 2011 Los Angeles Auto Show in November, this historic prototype comes with a full roll cage, six-point harness seatbelts and a new set of Recaro racing seats that were identical to those fitted to the car when it was being development tested. As a final bit of enticement to help motivate bidders at the auction, the signature of each member of SVT engineering who worked on the 2013 Shelby GT500 appears on the underside of its trunk lid.
