In 2007, Shelby introduced to the world the Shelby GT500KR, or “King of the Road” as fans call it. In 2008 and 2009, Shelby built and sold just over 1,700 of these supercharged badasses, and starting at around $80,000 a pop the GT500KR isn’t exactly a bargain muscle car. But with 540 horsepower on tap and a slow of carbon fiber and composite body pieces, this very well could have been the best Mustang built up until that time. So you would imagine someone rich enough to buy an $80,000 Mustang would have the sense enough to keep it in one piece or, at the very least, hold on to the bits they replace.
Alas, such was not the case, as Bangastang came across a few GT500KR parts up for sale. As they dug a little deeper, they found out that the seller was getting rid of all the stock GT500KR parts…to turn his limited edition Shelby into a widebody track car (pictured above.)
“So what?” you say, and often times you’re right, taking an expensive car, stripping it, and turning it into a track car is nothing new. Why people do that on a regular basis with the Ford GT. Well for one, the owner is ditching the GT500KR parts for a widebody kit. To each their own, we suppose. But the madness comes when you consider that GT500KR parts, especially rare, often-damaged bits like the hood, come at a high price premium.
In fact, Shelby won’t even sell you GT500KR replacement parts unless you can prove you own a GT500KR and that the body part in question is beyond repair. The aforementioned hood can cost $20,000 to replace, while the front splitter commands over $3,400. The widebody GT500KR owner sold his carbon fiber hood for a pittance, netting just $1,400. The front splitter? That sold for about $1,300. Yeah…wish we had got some of these parts while the getting was good.