We all know the name Carroll Shelby, the Shelby brand is a household name with Mustang fans and even those who aren’t car enthusiasts recognize it as something special. While we may like to reminisce about the Mustang’s performance past, the truth is that it took the influence and hard work of Shelby and his team to make the car into the performance legend it is today.

The latest video in the Ford Mustang Countdown series, talks about the impact that Carroll Shelby had on the Mustang as a performance car and as a brand. Shelby was skeptical at first that the Mustang could be turned into a performance car. At the urging of Lee Iacocca, Shelby took on the project and the rest is Mustang history.

Always cautious about what he put his name on, Shelby didn’t want the accountants in the front offices at Ford to saddle his creation with low-dollar parts. Shelby was given the final say in what made it on the cars that would bear his name. GT350’s and GT500’s were expensive cars for their time, but just like today’s examples you got what you paid for, this wasn’t just a badge and stripe package, the cars were exceptional examples of what the Mustang could really do with the right engineering.

An interesting fact that comes out of this particular video is how the GT350 got it’s name. Apparently the shop manager was called out of the shop and asked to count the steps between the Shelby facility in Van Nuys, CA, and the airport. He counted 347, and so the car was named GT350, with Shelby saying the car would make the name, not the name would not make the car.

Shelby’s involvment with the cars that bear his name will set the standard for years to come in terms of how engineers design and test cars. If it wasn’t for Shelby’s influence the Mustang might have just been another commuter and secretary car, one that would likely already be forgotten instead of getting ready to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary.