Shelby Black Hornet up for auction
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With the holidays approaching faster than a Detroit exec headed to Washington, you may be worried about what to get that car lover on your shopping list.
Well, we’ve found one item that’s black, shiny and signals to others that you’re bad.
No, it’s not coal. It’s a one-of-a-kind Shelby EXP500 CSS, or Black Hornet.
Yes, it will set your Secret Santa back more than a lump of coal. About $175,000 more, to be precise. Carroll Shelby is offering up the car on EBay, just in time for the holidays. Proceeds are to go to the Carroll Shelby Children’s Foundation.
Shelby fanatics will recognize ....
the hornet reference, as in Green Hornet. The Green Hornet was a prototype Shelby and his crew put together in 1967 to test technologies such as independent rear suspension (a feature still missing from stock Mustangs today) with disc brakes and an electronic fuel-injection system.
Rather than use an existing Shelby Mustang, which came only in fastback or convertible form, the crew modified a ‘notchback’ body style prototype, which is to say, the body style of traditional Mustangs. The prototype still had the Thunderbird-inspired taillights and rear deck, and other Shelby-style bodywork.
To commemorate this watershed vehicle, Carroll Shelby granted his friend Barry Smith a license to reproduce it in the form of the Black Hornet in 2002. An original 1968 Mustang served as the starting point, onto which Smith faithfully grafted Shelby bodywork on the front and rear of the car.
While the Black Hornet does not have the independent rear suspension or the electronic fuel injection of the original Green Hornet, it does have the Cobra Jet 428 engine, good for 335 horsepower, and the disc brakes. Like its green cousin, it too is a rare ‘notchback,’ a feature Shelby himself appreciates.
“I like the fact that it’s unique. When we go to a Shelby function, you’ll see 150 GT 350s and 150 GT 500s and so forth, but when you see a Black Hornet, or even a clone of a Green Hornet, that stands out,” Shelby told us in his office in Gardena. “It’s something that is very special to us here at Shelby.”
-- David Undercoffler
Full details about the car and the auction can be found on Restoration Hardware’s website. The auction itself is on EBay and pre-approved bidders have until Friday at 5 p.m. to submit a bid.
