The 2011–12 Shelby GT500 Is a Live-Axle Live Wire

That heinous whine, heard off in the distance? Something sideways this way comes. It’s a Shelby muscle car, belting a V-8 power ballad from four-inch stainless steel exhaust tips. You know it, you love it, and there’s no mistaking it: the S197-generation GT500. More than a decade since its debut, people are still pining after this American gladiator, with values growing faster than that of the contemporary Mustang GT as well as the hallowed Boss 302. After getting behind the wheel of this particular 2012 Shelby GT500 for an afternoon, we can see why.

Though it seems menacing, in reality, the GT500 is an absolute peach to pilot. Few cars combine modern niceties and sophistication with old-school brutality like this monster Mustang, which arrived in its earliest form for the 2007 model year. That early car—the first to bear the GT500 moniker since 1970—boasted 500 hp from its supercharged 5.4-liter V-8. But power wasn’t the problem. As was so often the case with American muscle machines, the car’s handling and braking didn’t measure up to out-and-out sports cars like the Corvette. 

That all changed in 2010 with the refreshed S197 Mustang. The 2011-model-year GT500 introduced a new evolution of Ford’s 5.4-liter V-8, itself a wet-sump version of what came in the 2005-06 Ford GT. Extra power, of course, was on the menu—10 more ponies since the 2010 model for a total of 550 hp—and the same 510 lb-ft torque was now available 250 revs lower, at 4250 rpm. The intercooler was 40 percent larger. Most important: The engine weighed a lot less, thanks to an aluminum block and plasma-transferred wire arc liners on the cylinder bores, rather than the ordinary cast iron.

Along with lighter wheels and a switch from hydraulic to electric power steering, the 2011 GT500 shaved 146 pounds from its predecessor’s curb weight, and in doing so improved weight distribution from 57.4 percent on the front end to 55.7 percent. Car and Driver cheered the transformation, describing the 2011 model as “the car it always should have been,” compared with the 2010 car, which “liked entering corners about as much as a pig enjoys being measured for an open pit.”

Standard goodies include Brembo brakes with 14-inch front rotors, a unique stainless steel exhaust, automatic HID headlights, bucket front seats with the embossed Cobra logo, and a Shaker 500 audio system. The real chassis love, however, came in the form of an optional SVT Performance Pack. For $3995, ticking this box netted staggered 19/20-inch forged aluminum wheels, Goodyear Eagle F1 G:2 tires with 285-section rears, stiffer springs (20.5 percent more so in the front, 9.5 percent in the rear), a lower ride height (0.4 inches up front, 0.3 inches out back), a 3.73 rear end, and a big ol’ decklid spoiler complete with Gurney flap.

The car we drove on a cloudy Florida morning (it heads to sale at Broad Arrow’s Chattanooga Auction on October 12, 2024) was so-equipped: SVT Performance Package, Grabber Blue paint, Charcoal black interior, and tape-stripe delete packages for the roof and sides. That last bit makes for a more subtle look, not that there’s anything subtle about a supercharged Shelby. But the removal of the stripes also lets the wide air extractor in the aluminum hood, smoke-colored wheels, and spoiler do the visual heavy lifting.

At the core of this car’s personality is—you guessed it—the engine. It is the beating heart of the experience, its pulse invigorated by your every roll on the throttle. At high-rpm it sounds like a suite of harmonicas pumped full of nitromethane and set aflame. Response is strong and damn-near immediate, which is a welcome throwback compared with the slight lag that even the best of today’s turbocharged engines exhibit. There’s more than enough power to break the rear tires loose with the steering wheel turned, even in third gear, so it’s best to exercise care. And though the car does willingly slide, it does not snap; you need to respect the power even if you don’t need to fear it.

Though the engine seems to bark and whine when you even just think about the gas pedal, all other controls require more input. The clutch pedal, brake pedal, steering wheel, and shift lever all require some force. Nothing excessive, but enough to make you think about every maneuver. It gives the experience a sense of weight and purpose appropriate to a beefy muscle car of this caliber.

Despite the old-fashioned stick-axle out back, the GT500’s rear end stays neutral over bumps. There’s a bit of hop over mid-corner road imperfections, but nothing sketchy or unpredictable. Body control is composed, the ride firm but not punishing. This is, overall, an easy car to drive at sane speeds in ordinary traffic conditions.

It’s a decent cabin in which to spend some miles, too. The ribbed bucket seats have a wide range of controls and offer support suited to mountain roads and endless freeways alike. Other high points are the leather and Alcantara steering wheel, the picture-perfect cue-ball shifter, and the surprisingly powerful Shaker audio system. 

The rest of the interior, despite some attempts at upscale materials (note the bit of carbon-fiber-like dash and cluster trim), is redolent of, well, a 2010s-era Mustang. Plastics abound, not all of them manufactured of the finest quality. And thanks to the big spoiler, visibility via the rear glass is limited.

Muscle fans will not mind the GT500’s small shortcomings. All the great ones have a few. It should be noted, though, that this iteration’s track prowess and track durability don’t have the most stellar reputation. For evidence of that, simply look at the prodigious factory upgrades laid upon the subsequent 2013-14 GT500. This 5.8-liter swan-song version of the S197 Shelby received engine upgrades raising output to 662 hp and 631 lb-ft, but also a list of driveline, cooling, transmission, and braking upgrades, not to mention an optional Track package that goes even further in this direction.

When it was brand-spanking-new 12 years ago, this 2012 example would have cost $52,805 (about $72,400 in 2024 money). Today, GT500s in #2 (“excellent”) condition are, on average across the whole 2007–14 run, worth $50,000 in the Hagerty Price Guide. That’s up 27 percent from 2019, which means it’s appreciating faster than both the standard Mustang GT (up 20 percent, to $39,200) and the Boss 302 (up 14 percent, to $42,900). Prices for all GT500s swelled between September 2021 and June 2022, but while #3 (“good”) and #4 (“fair”) condition cars mostly returned to where they started once the market corrected more recently, top-condition cars in #1 and #2 condition have held onto most of their early 2020s gains.

Unsurprisingly, the newer and more powerful the GT500 gets, the more it is worth on the open market. 2011–12 models like the one we drove cost $47,300 in #2 condition, while early cars in the same condition are worth $44,100, and the final, 2013–14 cars top the charts at $65,700 on average. Excluding the track-only 2012 Cobra Jet, GT500s are the most valuable of all S197-generation Mustangs. (All prices discussed above exclude the Shelby American-built Super Snake models.)

As Hagerty’s director of valuation analytics John Wiley notes, the GT500 doesn’t show signs of reckless use: “Despite the potential and a perception of wayward handling, the survival rate for GT500s is likely to be good. A sample from Copart shows only 6 percent of the 8-cylinder 2011–12 Mustangs are GT500s, despite being nearly 15 percent of production.”

Among the last of the live-axle Mustangs, the Shelby has an attitude and personality quite different from the most recent GT500, which is more or less a front-engine supercar with a thirst for road courses. The horsepower battle Ford helped re-ignite with this monster invited both the Camaro ZL1 and, ultimately, the Challenger Hellcat into the fray. And while the low-mile car we drove has a $40,000–$50,000 pre-auction estimate, keep in mind that the bulk of available GT500s can be bought in the $25,000–$35,000 range. For new-Toyota-Camry money, the Shelby offers an immense performance wallop, not to mention timeless style and sound. Who wouldn’t take the reins?