So who has ordered the new S550 Mustang?
Discussion
All in all, absolutely definitely well worth the drive. Looks SO good in real life. Big, but no more so than an SL. I'll post some photos when I get home but overall no worries about the interior or panel fit, back seats for soft bags only, didn't really notice the door mirrors looking out of place, sounds good without being too loud (unfortunately
) .... and the front LED's don't seem to come on at all. Basically I'd be well happy spending £35k on this ... which is lucky, because I have! ... sort of 
They do look good don't they
I saw my first about 2 months ago outside Bill Shepherds in Surrey. I parked my car and walked back, I was shaking with excitement. It looked bloody gorgeous and it was in Competition Orange, the colour I have ordered.
Pictures don't do them justice and the interior is absolutely fine.
I saw my first about 2 months ago outside Bill Shepherds in Surrey. I parked my car and walked back, I was shaking with excitement. It looked bloody gorgeous and it was in Competition Orange, the colour I have ordered.
Pictures don't do them justice and the interior is absolutely fine.
foliedouce said:
It would be a bit stupid if you couldn't get your UK ordered RHD car picked up at the Ford USA factory and taken to Shelby for upgrades before being shipped over to the UK dealers for UK PDI and registration. You'd need to speak to someone with half a brain in Ford USA to make it happen, but I suspect it could be done.
Good luck. The Shelby conversion is nothing to do with Ford.It's almost impossible nowadays to get a dealer to supply a car to a non US resident.
Shelby conversions are post title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvCdoEfYXao
Above is at the Ford Racing Driving School at the Miller Motorsports Track in Utah. I prefer the z28 camaro over the s550 shelby.
You may want to check on where there built as the s197 shelby gt500 were never built at shelby american in Nevada but at the ford factory. If you ordered the super snake then the gt500 would then be delivered to shelby american for the conversion.
Above is at the Ford Racing Driving School at the Miller Motorsports Track in Utah. I prefer the z28 camaro over the s550 shelby.
You may want to check on where there built as the s197 shelby gt500 were never built at shelby american in Nevada but at the ford factory. If you ordered the super snake then the gt500 would then be delivered to shelby american for the conversion.
Stig said:
There are a couple of Mustang specialists (Yellastang / Modurstang on here for one) but no-one like Saleen/Shelby/Roush etc.
To be honest, they're so easy to work on anyone half competent with a spanner can do it. I carried out all the mods to my S197 - have a look
www.mustang-gtcs.info
What a fantastic car. I notice your website hasnt been updated for a long time though, do you still own it? If so did you put a supercharger on it? To be honest, they're so easy to work on anyone half competent with a spanner can do it. I carried out all the mods to my S197 - have a look
www.mustang-gtcs.info
Wilksy288 said:
What a fantastic car. I notice your website hasnt been updated for a long time though, do you still own it? If so did you put a supercharger on it?
Thanks No, it remained N/A. Had the pound been stronger I may have gone for a supercharger (the Saleen version), but never got round to it. Frankly it didn't really need it anyway for normal fast road use.After many happy years with it (albeit not that many miles!) I finally decided to sell a couple of months ago. It sold with a couple of days - but was immaculate.
Initially, i wasn't going to replace it with anything (lack of use being the cause for selling), but after two weeks I found myself going to the to the local Ford store and ordering an S550 Fastback GT to replace it!
I was lukewarm at best to the looks of the S550 at first and have seen it/sat in it since it first appeared at the motorshows (as I'm usually there on press days). But now, I'm smitten with it! That it's RHD and more powerful than my old car is just a bonus (not that either of these things were issues for me for the GT/CS).
Miss the old one, but it's gone to a great guy who use it as intended
WIll be leaving the S550 absolutely 'stock' by the way!
...well, for now at least
Right, pictures and thoughts, as promised .....
First a bit of scene setting;
I think I should say that, although I've always liked some of their cars, I've never been a huge fan of American vehicles and had never even considered buying one - until I saw the concept s550 a couple of years ago. So hopefully I'm not looking at the new Mustang through rose-tinted specs.
This car, as we all suspected, IS a pre-production model EU spec (sort of) car from the back end of last year - so detail such as lighting arrangements (there were no DRL's on this car, for instance) may well differ on the final version.
Outside;
Standing back and looking at it (once the melee had cleared!) I couldn't find an angle that it looked bad from. High, low, front, rear, side - it looked ideally proportioned. Subjective opinion I know, but I think I'd be in the majority. It's not as big as I was imagining - that said, it's by no means small. I would guess the footprint is SL sized but the car is chunkier. I think the proportions give the impression that it's bigger than it is .... kind of reminds me of the old Aston V8 Vantage in that way.
One thing that photo's don't show too well are the contours of the panels. There are some fantastic curves and flares that just don't show up unless you see it for real. I tried to show it in the next photo but you really need to see it in real life. It also shows the mirrors, which do look over-sized in this photo but when seen against an overall image of the car you don't really notice them.
Panel fit was 9.8/10 (see below), but I'll caveat that with the pre-production tag. The only slight issue I could find was the o/s boot lip. Front and rear screen fit was good, any slight lip was symmetrical. Everything else A-OK.
As I've mentioned, there were no DRL's on this car. There seemed to be wires going to the front tri-bar LED's but I'm not sure if there were any actual diodes in the headlamp unit. They certainly didn't come on with either the side or main lights. If they're inactive or plain not present on the final car it looks like it'll be an easy fix to make them operational.
Rear lights I've never had a problem with but I know it's a bit of an issue for some people. The only thing I can say is that a) they're not really white, they're more of a silver/grey and b) the red and orange side/brake/indicator light colours show up as red and orange rather than some washed out shade of either.
It was started up a few times and sounded really nice. It was revved a bit but obviously with the engine not under load you don't really get the full-on sound. My preference for noise would have been a bit more muscle-car than grand-tourer, but there you go.
I still haven't decided on a colour, but again I think you really need to see the colours in real life - if not on a Mustang, most of the colours are available on other Ford models. The difference between photos/internet and actually seeing it is marked. If you haven't already finalised your spec I'd urge you to get to some of your local Ford dealers and see all the colours you can on other cars. The yellow, for example, did look really good - very different to the photos and the Ford website car configurator.
Inside;
Overall, better than perfectly acceptable - again with the caveat of pre-production. Some real cows died, some plastic cows died but in general it was far better than any Ford I've ever been in. Switchgear not too bad either. No, it's not a BMW/Audi/Merc (thank goodness), but then you're not paying £60k either. The only thing I thought was not quite right was the plastic-y glove box door.
The standard seats were very good - Recaros would have been a nice option but such is life. Driving position was good with plenty of adjustment on everything. No sign of memory seats and I'm not quite sure how many of the adjustments were electric (front to back certainly was). Steering wheel felt nice with plenty of tilt and reach adjustment. Obviously I didn't drive it or play with it while the engine was running so any observations here are just how it felt standing still. Clutch pedal seemed to have A LOT of travel, it really felt like it needed some kind of stop or it's going to hamper your Ayrton Senna-like gear changes. Brake pedal felt absolutely solid, so I assume there is some kind of hydraulic lock on them if the car isn't running. Weight of the throttle pedal was good (personal preference again though) - travel seemed ok but without driving it it's difficult to say.
Gearbox felt really nice - as far as I could tell. Not too baulk-y and nicely weighted across the gate. The hand brake, which is on the drivers side of the tunnel in this car, felt too close and would probably interfere with the operation of your gigglestick in my opinion. I think it's going to be much better on RHD cars if it stays on the left side of the tunnel.
Under the bonnet;
What can I say ..... other than leave you with a picture of this delicious, yummy, wholesome, goodness ....
PS .... and I got through a whole, massive post without mentioning the GT350 once .... Oh! knickers!, I've just mentioned it ...
... 
First a bit of scene setting;
I think I should say that, although I've always liked some of their cars, I've never been a huge fan of American vehicles and had never even considered buying one - until I saw the concept s550 a couple of years ago. So hopefully I'm not looking at the new Mustang through rose-tinted specs.
This car, as we all suspected, IS a pre-production model EU spec (sort of) car from the back end of last year - so detail such as lighting arrangements (there were no DRL's on this car, for instance) may well differ on the final version.
Outside;
Standing back and looking at it (once the melee had cleared!) I couldn't find an angle that it looked bad from. High, low, front, rear, side - it looked ideally proportioned. Subjective opinion I know, but I think I'd be in the majority. It's not as big as I was imagining - that said, it's by no means small. I would guess the footprint is SL sized but the car is chunkier. I think the proportions give the impression that it's bigger than it is .... kind of reminds me of the old Aston V8 Vantage in that way.
One thing that photo's don't show too well are the contours of the panels. There are some fantastic curves and flares that just don't show up unless you see it for real. I tried to show it in the next photo but you really need to see it in real life. It also shows the mirrors, which do look over-sized in this photo but when seen against an overall image of the car you don't really notice them.
Panel fit was 9.8/10 (see below), but I'll caveat that with the pre-production tag. The only slight issue I could find was the o/s boot lip. Front and rear screen fit was good, any slight lip was symmetrical. Everything else A-OK.
As I've mentioned, there were no DRL's on this car. There seemed to be wires going to the front tri-bar LED's but I'm not sure if there were any actual diodes in the headlamp unit. They certainly didn't come on with either the side or main lights. If they're inactive or plain not present on the final car it looks like it'll be an easy fix to make them operational.
Rear lights I've never had a problem with but I know it's a bit of an issue for some people. The only thing I can say is that a) they're not really white, they're more of a silver/grey and b) the red and orange side/brake/indicator light colours show up as red and orange rather than some washed out shade of either.
It was started up a few times and sounded really nice. It was revved a bit but obviously with the engine not under load you don't really get the full-on sound. My preference for noise would have been a bit more muscle-car than grand-tourer, but there you go.
I still haven't decided on a colour, but again I think you really need to see the colours in real life - if not on a Mustang, most of the colours are available on other Ford models. The difference between photos/internet and actually seeing it is marked. If you haven't already finalised your spec I'd urge you to get to some of your local Ford dealers and see all the colours you can on other cars. The yellow, for example, did look really good - very different to the photos and the Ford website car configurator.
Inside;
Overall, better than perfectly acceptable - again with the caveat of pre-production. Some real cows died, some plastic cows died but in general it was far better than any Ford I've ever been in. Switchgear not too bad either. No, it's not a BMW/Audi/Merc (thank goodness), but then you're not paying £60k either. The only thing I thought was not quite right was the plastic-y glove box door.
The standard seats were very good - Recaros would have been a nice option but such is life. Driving position was good with plenty of adjustment on everything. No sign of memory seats and I'm not quite sure how many of the adjustments were electric (front to back certainly was). Steering wheel felt nice with plenty of tilt and reach adjustment. Obviously I didn't drive it or play with it while the engine was running so any observations here are just how it felt standing still. Clutch pedal seemed to have A LOT of travel, it really felt like it needed some kind of stop or it's going to hamper your Ayrton Senna-like gear changes. Brake pedal felt absolutely solid, so I assume there is some kind of hydraulic lock on them if the car isn't running. Weight of the throttle pedal was good (personal preference again though) - travel seemed ok but without driving it it's difficult to say.
Gearbox felt really nice - as far as I could tell. Not too baulk-y and nicely weighted across the gate. The hand brake, which is on the drivers side of the tunnel in this car, felt too close and would probably interfere with the operation of your gigglestick in my opinion. I think it's going to be much better on RHD cars if it stays on the left side of the tunnel.
Under the bonnet;
What can I say ..... other than leave you with a picture of this delicious, yummy, wholesome, goodness ....
PS .... and I got through a whole, massive post without mentioning the GT350 once .... Oh! knickers!, I've just mentioned it ...
... Edited by sumpoil on Thursday 4th June 13:50
Edited by sumpoil on Thursday 4th June 13:53
Front tri-bars may be more complex than you might think as all the electronics are CAN-BUS and use an integrated power control module (SJB) to drive them.
I'd be inclined to use them as DRLs and just take a seperate battery live (relay switched from ignition) to them.
One issue with LEDs (as I found on my S197) is that they draw so little, you have to artifically create enough load for the SJB to supply them.
I'd be inclined to use them as DRLs and just take a seperate battery live (relay switched from ignition) to them.
One issue with LEDs (as I found on my S197) is that they draw so little, you have to artifically create enough load for the SJB to supply them.
Great pics of the yellow one chaps, thanks. I can feel the enthusiasm and excitement coming through in your words which is highly infectious
They promoted me to get in touch with my dealer who can see the order on their system now - so I just finalised my spec as:-
Race Red
Black Roof
Heated/Cooled Seats
Rear Sensors
Shaker Pro
He confirmed that the price to pay will be price as at order time, not current price list.
Spec gets locked in and thereafter not changeable on 14th June.
We're getting closer!
They promoted me to get in touch with my dealer who can see the order on their system now - so I just finalised my spec as:-
Race Red
Black Roof
Heated/Cooled Seats
Rear Sensors
Shaker Pro
He confirmed that the price to pay will be price as at order time, not current price list.
Spec gets locked in and thereafter not changeable on 14th June.
We're getting closer!
Just received an official invite to see the unveiling of a US Mustang at their newly built Mustang Sales area at Think Ford, Guildford.
It says tomorrow night so I called as instructed, to say that I was coming and the sales guy says see you Monday. 'Hang on! it says Friday 5th June from 5pm', I says.
'Does it?' he says 'I haven't actually seen the email, but it's definitely Monday, when do you want to come down?'
'Err, it says from 5pm on the invite'
'That's ok, just come down when it's easy for you' he says.
More mis-information. You couldn't make it up.
It says tomorrow night so I called as instructed, to say that I was coming and the sales guy says see you Monday. 'Hang on! it says Friday 5th June from 5pm', I says.
'Does it?' he says 'I haven't actually seen the email, but it's definitely Monday, when do you want to come down?'
'Err, it says from 5pm on the invite'
'That's ok, just come down when it's easy for you' he says.
More mis-information. You couldn't make it up.
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