New Mustang Cobra Jet announced

Think expensive, track-only cars are a waste of time? Better look away now, this one can't even go around corners...

Ford has announced a new Mustang Cobra Jet - not to be confused with the Mustang Super Snake - to mark the 50th anniversary of the original car taking the drag strips of America by storm.

Powered by a strengthened, 5.2-litre version of the 5.0-litre V8 found in the Mustang GT, the Cobra Jet also employs a 3.0-litre(!) Whipple supercharger, enabling quarter mile runs "in the mid-eight-second range" and making it the quickest factory Mustang dragster ever built.

To handle its as-yet-unannounced but presumably enormous power output, the Cobra Jet also features a 9-inch solid rear axle, four-link rear suspension with anti-roll and panhard bars, two-way coil-over shock absorbers with adjustable ride height, and a low-drag disc brake system. Oh, and there's also an NHRA-certified safety roll cage and seats incase all that turns out to not be enough.

You may well question the relevance of such an offering but Ford certainly doesn't, seeing it as the continuation of a lineage which inspires customers to purchase and modify some Mustang muscle of their own. Eric Cin, Global Director of Ford Performance Parts explains: "From the very first Mustang Cobra Jets dominating the 1968 NHRA Winternationals to our modern-day racers, the Ford Performance Parts team continues to build on Cobra Jet's success at the track over five decades. This has inspired generations of Mustang fans to create their own performance machines for the street."

The new Mustang Cobra Jet is available in either Race Red or Oxford White and can be optioned with the throwback 50th Anniversary decals seen here, because why not? Production is set to be limited to just 68 cars, in honor of the Cobra Jet's 1968 debut, with each example priced at $130,000.