There's horsepower, and then there's dyno-tested, can't-lie-to-your-friends horsepower. If you want to know how much power a car really makes, you've got to strap it to a dyno and spin it to redline. The guys over at 5.0 Mustang & Super Fords are always eager to find the true horsepower of a car, and so when they took delivery of a GT500KR to review they headed straight to the dyno to see how much power the supercharged V8 is putting out. What they found was somewhat surprising -- the KR produced 509 horsepower and 467.7 lb.-ft. torque to the wheels. Adjusting for an estimated driveline loss of 15 percent, the actual output at the flywheel is 589.82 hp and 550.24 lb-ft torque -- nearly 50 more horsepower and 40 more lb-ft than Ford is claiming. Take that Z06!
When Ford announced the GT500KR's based price of $79,995, many of you thought that it was pretty steep for a Mustang. Even though it's a limited edition Shelby with 540 horsepower, $80,000 can buy a lot of really nice cars. What's even more insane is that we know people will not only buy the KR, but they will pay tens of thousands of dollars over MSRP just to have one. The only question was how much dealers would try and gouge. That question has been answered. Lone Star Ford in Houston, TX has put up a red GT500KR on eBay Motors with a "Buy It Now" price of...$154,991.00. That's nearly double the MSRP. Who knows if anyone will actually buy it at that price, but going off what happened with the standard GT500, then it's quite possible. While we enjoyed our first drive in the GT500KR (check out Part 1 and Part 2), we can think of quite a few cars we'd rather have for $150,000.
Click above for a high-res gallery from our First Drive of the GT500KR.
Ford will be producing 1,000 GT500KR Mustangs this year, with another 700 in 2009, so FoMoCo is pricing the ultimate 'Stang accordingly. For $79,995 (including destination and gas-guzzler tax), you get everything included in the "standard" GT500, plus Ford Racing's Power Upgrade Package, which includes a new exhaust and a recalibrated ECU to push out 540 hp and 510 lb.-ft. of torque from the supercharged 5.4-liter V8. The only options on the ordering form are a Shaker 1000 stereo, Sirius satellite radio and a navigation system. Ford hasn't disclosed fuel economy numbers yet, but we doubt anyone willing to drop $80k on a blown V8 is troubled by topping off their own KR with $4.00-a-gallon premium. Get your orders in now; sales begin later this month.
Don't forget to check out Part 1 and Part 2 of our First Drive: 2008 Shelby GT500KR if you haven't already, as well as the galleries below that contain a number of high-res images begging to be your next desktop wallpaper.
Hit the jump for the full press release and a video of Mr. Shelby talking up the GT500KR and its history.
Click above for new high-res gallery of our GT500KR First Drive
Our initial drive of the Shelby GT500KR on public roads revealed that Ford, SVT and Shelby had addressed many of the issues that we had with the standard GT500. The KR's revised suspension is better balanced and more capable of handling the excessive amounts of horsepower and torque that the blown 5.4L generates, and a new short-throw Hurst shifter makes changing gears a joy instead of a chore. To top it all off, a Ford Racing cold air intake, new exhaust system, and 3.73 gears give the KR an extra kick in the pants. The changes were so spot-on that we wondered why Ford didn't build the GT500 this way in the first place.
With a ride like the GT500KR, however, only so much of the car can be experienced on public roads. At 540 horsepower and 510 lb-ft torque, the KR quickly reaches posted speed limits and the car stays well under its limits around corners. Fortunately, Ford let us loose to run hot laps around Miller Motorsports Park. Follow the jump to see how the "King of the Road" fared at the track.
You'll see more of him this Fall. Click above for a gallery of the new KITT.
The Knight Rider TV movie was not good. The updated, Shelby Mustang-based KITT looked undeniably cool (when not in Ugly... er... Attack Mode, at least), but the acting was wooden and the writing was a horror show. Still, the ending completely set up a potential ongoing story. Today comes word that the ratings were apparently good enough for the suits to give a thumbs-up for a new weekly series starting this Fall. Early reports suggest a Friday night timeslot is in the works, but that's subject to change; all will be known on Wednesday when NBC presents its early upfronts.
We'll assume that at the very least, stars Justin Breuning (Mike Traceur) and Deanna Russo (Mike Traceur's Girlfriend) will return to fill our flatscreens with emotionless line reading. And since voicing KITT should be a relatively easy payday for Val Kilmer, we'd expect him to reprise his role, as well. As for the Hoff, who walked on for a brief cameo at the end of the pilot, who knows? The big winner here is Ford, which now gets an hour-long weekly showcase for the Shelby GT500KR KITT. Based on the stupendously lousy pilot, however, we're going to put on our prognostication hats and set the over/under for this Knight Rider reboot at 10 episodes. Unless NBC ups the quality in a big, big way, the under is a lock. I am ordering Alex to live blog every single episode like he did the pilot, which probably won't be a long-term commitment considering. - John
As we all know, Knight Rider will be returning to television this Sunday at 9PM EST on NBC. The new Michael Knight played by Justin Bruening and his car companion KITT, voiced by Val Kilmer, made an appearance on the Today Show this morning (disclaimer: the Today Show is also an NBC program) to promote the mini-movie that will eventually become a full series next fall. Bruening reveals a bit more about the story we'll be watching this Sunday, some of which we already knew and a few new bits. His character is playing the estranged son of the original Michael Knight, a role that will be reprised by David Hasselhoff himself in the movie, though the new Mike Knight is unaware the guy standing next to him with the same name is his dad. Bruening also reveals the loophole that supposedly fills in the 25-year gap between the original series and the new one, which is that the original writers never identified KITT's inventor. OK, well we'll have to see how that one plays out. Ford, meanwhile, which paid a pretty penny to have the GT500KR Mustang play the part of nuevo KITT, has released three more photos of the Knight Industries car, which make lovely desktop wallpaper backgrounds if you're a true fan. We'll decide our degree of fanboyosity after we watch the movie this weekend.
One week from today, we'll be watching Knight Rider, the 2-hour telemovie that resurrects KITT as a new car (Mustang) with a new voice (Val Kilmer), a new driver (Mike Traceur, son of Michael Knight), and, if ratings are good enough, a probable weekly gig in primetime next Fall. But lets not get ahead of ourselves. Before that can happen, the pilot needs to be a success, and we're as interested as everyone else in seeing what the network and executive producer Doug Liman have cooked up. Liman's body of work as a director and producer is so moneythat despite our fears, the Knight Rider reboot could actually work.
Then again, based on some of what we've seen in the commercials and promos so far, it could just as easily wind up being a giant black hole of suck. On the upside, we expect to be entertained either way. The latest TV spot introduces us to KITT's new, raspier voice and magic disappearing shifter. If you have any issues watching the fancy-schmancy NBC embed above, the YouTube version's pasted after the jump.
550 horespower, race-tuned suspension, and the little things like nanotech-enhanced camouflage. These are just some of the features you'll find on the new, heavily-Fordified Knight Industries Three Thousand when Knight Rider, the TV movie, airs next month. No word yet as to whether all of KITT's nifty accessories will be supplemented by other nice-to-haves like a good plot, quality acting, and seamless visual effects. We'll find out soon enough. Watch the new TV commercial for yourselves after the jump.
Wouldn't you like to believe that the producers of the new Knight Rider series saw something in the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500KR that evoked the essence of what it is to be KITT? Yeah, that's not what happened. According to AdAge, Ford snagging the role of KITT had more to do with timing and a certain boat load of money that was exchanged hands. As we've explained before, Pontiac doesn't even have a car that would be suitable for the part of KITT, while the Camaro just wouldn't have been ready in time. Same goes for the Dodge Challenger. That leaves the Ford Mustang, which found a new way to enjoy its time without a competitor in sight by taking some acting lessons and landing the spot. Curiously, Jalopnik reports that the article, which isn't accessible without a subscription (natch) mentions that the Chrysler Crossfire was being considered. Not that it should have ever gotten the job, but Chrysler cancelled the Crossfire anyway. We're sure the Corvette was being considered, if for no other reason than it would have made as much sense in the role as the GT500KR, but we guess GM didn't think it was money well spent. Time will tell whether or not Ford's investment was a smart one.
Click the image above for more pics of Carroll Shelby's 1969 Shelby GT500
When the GT500 KR was unveiled at New York this past spring, we pressed Ford's SVT team as to why the SVT badging was absent from their creation. Their answer was so simple and obvious that it bears repeating. A 500 HP SVT Mustang doesn't sell for $30,000 over invoice, but if you add Carroll Shelby's name to it, a killer car becomes an instant sensation. Much of the street cred Shelby currently has was earned during the 1960s, when Carroll took the Mustang from a "secretary's car" to a hot-rod pony car.
Mr. Shelby is apparently too caught up living in the present to give much thought to what he did 40 years ago, as he plans on putting his 1969 Shelby GT500 convertible up for auction in January at Barrett Jackson. The vintage hotrod, which has nearly 70,000 miles on the odometer, is sure to fetch quite a premium over an already valuable '69 owned by some lucky schlep. The great-looking collectible is powered by a 428 Cobra Jet engine and has recently undergone a restoration. If you want to get in on the bidding action, make sure to get a lean on your mortgage, or just show up rich. It's gonna fetch a bundle. The press release is available after the jump.
New KITT Attack Mode revealed at Comic Con
London 2008: Honda OSM concept roadster says, "Cheerio!"
London 2008: Lotus unveils the Evora
2010 Chevy Camaro - Official Details and Images
2010 Chevy Camaro - LIVE from the reveal
First Drive: Maserati Quattroporte S in Europe
First Drive: 2008 MINI Cooper S JCW
In the Autoblog Garage:2009 Nissan GT-R
North American Exclusive First Drive: Alfa MiTo
First Drive: 2009 Kia Borrego
