The GT350R Mustang may have been overshadowed by the stunning Ford GT at the Detroit Auto Show, but let’s not forget: this Shelby is the most track-capable road-going Mustang built.
Ever.
The aggressive pony car wears a magnetic suspension system, the first Mustang to do so, and the high-performance flat-plane crank V8 was developed specifically for this special edition car.
It’s no surprise, then, that when the first GT350R was listed at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction in Arizona, it garnered top dollar.
VIN #001 was sold for a $1 million at the event, with all proceeds going to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Ford CEO Mark Fields reportedly drove the car into the arena and who added an extra $150,000 for the JDRF.
Ford first partnered with the foundation in 1983, and has since raised millions of dollars for type 1 diabetes research. In January, Ford teamed up with the JDRF to auction off the inaugural 2015 Mustang GT, which raised $300,000.
The Mustang’s 5.2-liter V8 produces upwards of 500 horsepower and 400 pound-feet of torque, making it the most powerful naturally aspirated engine Ford has ever produced. It also saves 130 pounds over the already extreme GT350 by chucking the air conditioning, radio, back seats, while wearing super light carbon fiber wheels as standard.
Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction saw over 1,600 vehicles sold in total, another of which was a 1966 Shelby Cobra 427 Super Snake that fetched $5.1 million.
The Shelby GT350R will be built in very limited qualities and will be available in North America later in 2015.
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