Shelby American has released its first teaser for what’s thought to be the 2026 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 and announced it will be unwrapped on August 13 at Monterey Car Week in California.
Created to sit above the fearsome 620kW Ford Shelby Super Snake that’s available in Australia via Melbourne Shelby distributors Mustang Motorsport, full details of the latest white-hot ’Stang remain thin on the ground.
Rumours suggest the Nevada-based tuner might have swapped out the Super Snake’s 5.0-litre V8 for the 5.2-litres ‘Predator’ V8 and bolted on a larger supercharger, high-flow fuel system and fresh sports exhaust to liberate a peak power output closer to an incredible 1000bhp (746kW).
The darkened sunset pic also reveals how much wider the GT500 front and rear fenders will be, with both needed to accommodate a wider track and to package a broader set of rear tyres needed to deploy huge amounts of torque to the rear wheels.
Look closer and you might spot the huge rear wing that employs motorsport-derived swan-neck mounts that will almost certainly be accompanied by a larger rear diffuser, revised front splitter and other air-bending elements that will look like they’ve been lifted off the GT3 race car.
Incredibly, despite what’s set to be epic power and torque, Shelby American says its latest creation will be available with a manual transmission, with the 10-speed auto thought to be available as an option.
More details of what’s set to be the most powerful Ford Mustang ever will be released in the build-up to the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s Monterey debut on August 13.