This King needs just 60 subjects

Today, the vaunted American specialty manufacturer is known as Shelby American, it exists as a subsidiary of Carroll Shelby International Inc., and it’s based in Las Vegas. This most holy of American performance nameplates will mark its 60th anniversary in 2022. And given the sort of delectable mayhem that Shelby unleashed on the street and the track during its unforgettable history, the birthday bash has to be done precisely right. To that end, Shelby American has declared its plans to offer just 60 copies of an upgraded King of the Road package, which will be applied to selected Shelby GT500s assembled between 2020 and 2022, a total of 60 cars for each model year.

So, how do you make an already exclusive, and very expensive, performance coupe even more special? The KR package will take the existing GT500 and add a dry carbon-fiber hood, specific wheels, and tire-and-chassis tuning protocol, and best of all, a lot more horsepower. Precise details are forthcoming but Shelby American expects that by changing the GT500’s supercharger and intake cooling, it can add 140 horsepower to the car in one shot, nailing a tee shot that will put output on the far side of 900 horsepower. The first production copy of the reborn Shelby GT500KR will be offered at no reserve during Barrett-Jackson’s mega-auction next month in Scottsdale, Arizona.