2+2 Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 A regular Mustang GT convertible caught my eye at a dealer this week, so I stopped in to check out the price. I wanted to talk to them at some point about pricing on the new 2008 Shelby GT anyways and see if they would be open to price dealing. As we headed toward the showroom the salesman told me they had a Shelby GT 350 for sale inside. That is about the third salesman at different dealers that told me they have a GT 350. Well when I walked in, sure enough it was a Shelby GT. So I had to tell him all about how they do not make a GT 350, and how this car was sent to Vegas to become a SGT. Now keep in mind that this is the guy I was going to ask about ordering a 2008 SGT convertible from. So why do you think so many dealers are calling the SGT a GT 350. I even talked to a freind of mine that swears is son just bought a GT 350. He got really mad at me when I said there was no such Ford /Shelby built 2007 car. Needless to say, after looking at that white SGT on the showroom floor while I was dealing on the regular GT you know what the outcome was. The Shelby GT made the regular GT seem plain jane.That is one sharp car. So I will be getting either a SGT or a GT/CS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrazyDave_merged Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 I bought mine off Ebay. It was listed as a GT350. I think Ford may have sent out a memo, or had a meeting where somebody mentioned the old GT350 and the new Shelby GT in the same sentence, and it stuck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFBLUE Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Also this MotorTrend article may have helped blur the two in people's mind. I think regardless of the name difference, people can't help but think of the SGT as a modern day version of the GT 350. http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/...y_gt/specs.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShelbyCobra826 Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 According to my next door neighbor, he has a GT500 on his right and a GT350 on this left. :rolleyes: I think that old habits just die hard, and given that neither Ford nor SAI attempted to market this car in print (I've seen a few write-ups by the automobile mags) or on TV (I've also seen a "commercial" on YouTube...), it is easier to explain to people what they are have available for sale. And some just think that it is a GT350... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SWEDESHELBY1 Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 I agree. It is just easier for people who sell these cars to call the SGT a GT350 due to the GT500. This is so they can separate the two easier. I have heard it called a GT350 more times than a Shelby GT! We'll all see a GT350 soon enough but this is a SAI built Shelby GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShelbyPilot Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 ....The GT350 name is also a better selling point for them. Just the name, GT350 or GT500, sparks the emotion of the prespective buyer. For the everyday salesman calling the car the GT350 is probably ignorance and repeating what their salesmanger said. It will be interesting to see what happens when Shelby actually releases a S197 GT350. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Morris Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 when i talked to the Zone Mgr she get confused when i call it a shebly GT. i asked her 2 times in 07 for more allocation on SGTs, both times she told me that she had no control on GT500s. i then explained i needed more "baby shelbys" and she new what i was talking about and got me the allocation for them. same thing happened in 08. i had to tell her "baby shelby" for her to help me. the GT500s are alloctated in MI and she has not control over them, but she can help me with the SGT. i think the misinformation comes all the way from the top. some sales folks dont care what the cars are and just want to sell them so that they can make a dime. so why learn what they are they aint getting many fo them and proably wont be able to sell them if they get one in. michael morris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mffarrell Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 when i talked to the Zone Mgr she get confused when i call it a shebly GT. i asked her 2 times in 07 for more allocation on SGTs, both times she told me that she had no control on GT500s. i then explained i needed more "baby shelbys" and she new what i was talking about and got me the allocation for them. same thing happened in 08. i had to tell her "baby shelby" for her to help me. the GT500s are alloctated in MI and she has not control over them, but she can help me with the SGT. i think the misinformation comes all the way from the top. some sales folks dont care what the cars are and just want to sell them so that they can make a dime. so why learn what they are they aint getting many fo them and proably wont be able to sell them if they get one in. michael morris Holy cow! How could a zone mgr. not have a clue on the products being sold to the public? Sounds like she needs to go back to class. :o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdear Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Heck I was test driving a Mustang GT vert with a salesman and he said "don't you just love this Triton engine?? " He is lucky he had seat belt on or I woulda pushed the eject button :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Morris Posted August 10, 2007 Report Share Posted August 10, 2007 Holy cow! How could a zone mgr. not have a clue on the products being sold to the public? Sounds like she needs to go back to class. :o she is good at what she does, but when they have 2 cars with pretty much the same name folks get confused. in her defense MOST dealers are calling begging for the GT500 not the SGT. so she just assumed when she heard Shelby i must be begging for the 500. she got me 7 cars last year and so far 2 in 08. i cant talk bad about her. michael morris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFBLUE Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Too late now but maybe the SGT should have been named the GT-281 (c.i. ref) or GT-320 (hp ref), or GT-330 (torq). Better yet, how many feet from Mr Shelby's office at SAI to the SGT lifts? Bud, John, Amy? This would be a fun trivia fact to know. The most annoying part of the name "shelby GT" is when you are doing a google search on "Shelby GT" I get all these GT 500 and GT-350 hits. Just to narrow my search I end up putting +"Shelby GT" -GT500 -GT 500 -GT 350 -GT350 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShelbyGT/SC Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Too late now but maybe the SGT should have been named the GT-281 (c.i. ref) or GT-320 (hp ref), or GT-330 (torq). Better yet, how many feet from Mr Shelby's office at SAI to the SGT lifts? Bud, John, Amy? This would be a fun trivia fact to know. The most annoying part of the name "shelby GT" is when you are doing a google search on "Shelby GT" I get all these GT 500 and GT-350 hits. Just to narrow my search I end up putting +"Shelby GT" -GT500 -GT 500 -GT 350 -GT350 AFB, we think alike. I threw that out back in March. No one took a stab at it so I assumed not all knew the story. I forgot exactly which two shops I was trying to guess the difference between, but either way, I was trying to call it a GT400. So, like the GT350 where Carroll asked Phil Remington what the difference between the production shop and the race shop were (ie 350 feet), I say that the difference between the production shop at SAI and the mod shop is about 400 feet, 425 feet or 450 feet. Either works for me. And, one other difference is that at first they called it a G.T. 350, not GT350. BTW, for the trivia buffs, they also considered calling it as follows (just for you Matt - LOL): 1) Mustang Cobra 2) Cobra Mustang Gran Sport 3) Mustang G.T. 4) Skunk (because of the twin stripes) Anyone care to learn more, it's on page 356 of the 1997 SAAC World Registry. Oh, and to answer your question, it's about 25 feet from Carroll's office to lift number 1. I'd rather have a SGT rather than a GT25 LOL. And, that's the lift that my car was transformed into an SGT back in May. You can hear all of the zip guns, hammering, banging, yelling, drilling and so forth from there. Tough place to nap LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
04Retro Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 Also this MotorTrend article may have helped blur the two in people's mind. I think regardless of the name difference, people can't help but think of the SGT as a modern day version of the GT 350. http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupe/...y_gt/specs.html It is! That picture isn't by accident. It is simply taken from the Shelby GT350 Hertz/ 06 Shelby Gt Hertz. Folks screamed about buying the Hertz cars so Ford and SAI rushed the 'retail' car into production fixing the few flaws folks found in the Hertz version (hood and rear wing)--again, look at the comparison photos above--no wing on the 66 and infamous scoop on the 07 hood also shows its resemblence to the 66 above. The 07/08 Shelby GT is just that a modern recreation of the 66 GT 350H. So why not the GT350 name...naming rights...Ford used it in the 80s and a suit developed between Ford and Shelby...I think Ford ended up with the rights...but maybe a split...anyway...that name (GT350) has HUGE $$$ VALUE and Ford wasn't about to 'use' that value on the 06 experiement with the Hertz cars...thus the "Shelby GT Hertz"... drop the Hertz and you have the 07/08 name: Shelby GT As to the flaws in the 06 Hertz..once the car took off...folks (not all but those in the Mustang community with serious knowledge of the history of the cars) objected to the wing and CS hood as being just 'wrong" (and they are!) But why were they on the car then in the first place...think boys and girls...the car was an experiment..no one knew what the public reaction would be..including marketing types at Hertz. If the idea failed they could pull the gold stripes and have instant black GT's to rent/sell....GT Mustangs have rear spoilers, 6 bangers do not-in most rental fleets...thus that rear wing had to stay for Hertz so their customers (Joe Blow who has heard of the 66 Hertz but doesn't know squat about it in reality) will know its a GT Mustang. As far as the hood...well...they had to do something to the car to make it 'different' then the normal "GT"...Shelby already had access to that hood from the CS program...basicly...a quick modification of a stock Mustang....and when the program went 'retail' those errors (hood and spoiler) were corrected...apparently the hood still needs correcting. Ford didn't market it...no $$ in the budget so such a small production run..and with the GT500 running amok Ford execs probably just assumed the public would fly after the car...they didn't understand the basic mentality of the American male (sorry sdear) that more power is better and tune out everything else -being blind, dumb and stupid in the process. Most of you young'ns don't know of nor see the parrallels here...way back...look at the changes in the 65 and 66 GT350's, they weren't by accident......no they were the result of Joe Poser....in 65 folks (guys) walked in, saw the 65 GT350...went WOW...salesman told them it had more HP then the normal Mustang...at that point they went deaf and ignored the rest of the sales pitch about the mod'd suspension, noisy Detroit locker rearend, lack of a back seat, battery in the truck taking up space and potentially leaking on stuff in the trunk, the side exhaust exitiing behind the drivers ear, etc. So what happens...Joe Poser buys the car and drives it home...after a month the complaints started...its too noisy...it rides too rough...bitch bitch bitch...again, Joe Poser out wanting to be 'bad' but really a nerd at heart (ie 45 yr old Dentist on a Harley dressed up in full leathers being "bad to the bone" at 43 mph in a 45 zone going to Starbucks for a double decaf on Sun am)...so in 1966 Ford had Shelby ease up on the car...front suspension changes gone (once the 240 left over cars were sold)...side exhaust gone, Detroit locker an option, battery moved to the engine bay, rear seat put back in..the car became sissyfied. Well those same Posers have spoken 40 yrs later..ignoring the good looks and better handling etc...they just look at that blower, the GT500 name and the 500 hp rating and that is all they see...can't and won't use the added HP but it doesn't matter........the pose does. And general Joe Public doesn't know crap about the 66 nor 06 Hertz program but in the back of their mind they have heard the term "GT350" thus today's salesman will and do grab that term to brig the buyers in...heck, most the salesman are what 19-21 on most lots..they don't know crude about the history of the car either--just look at the buyers here who questioned why no wing or put on a stupid ducktail spoiler--sorry folks its modeled after a 66 NOT at 67.... All comes down to a lack of knowledge and seeing what 'they' want to see. LOOK at the pics above..that resemblence is NOT by accident...even more scary...look at the front angle of the two cars--head on...that grill overlay and tribar pony on the 07 takes you right back to 66....its dead on and intentional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFBLUE Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 even more scary...look at the front angle of the two cars--head on...that grill overlay and tribar pony on the 07 takes you right back to 66....its dead on and intentional. I'm sorry, I'm just not seeing it j/k Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShelbyGT/SC Posted August 11, 2007 Report Share Posted August 11, 2007 I think the license plate is throwing you off. LOL Also, FYI: http://www.caradvice.com.au/4516/2007-shel...-reader-review/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mccoystudio_merged Posted August 12, 2007 Report Share Posted August 12, 2007 04 RETRO TOTALLY!!!! I have a self built and rebuilt shovel I have had for many years........man what has happened in the world of RUBs, amazing. My favorite is full leathers in the summer standing all together in the new leathers in a bar man looks very very funny, especilly when the raise thier voices in conversation to look "harley guy" tough. The SGT rules the way it is. Your post was the best I have read. I find myself unfortunentally in Bozo conversations about my bike and my car with the creeps you are describing, on the bike usually they are too intimidated to strike up a conversation, its a seriously flat black crazy looking scoot that has been spray painted black way before old school and JJ was a hipster term. But the sgt, I am always asked why did,nt you get the 500. Lifes a trip eh? You hit it all on the head, period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.