According to Shelby, their carbon-fiber hood is the only CF hood in regular production (we're guessing the ZR-1's polycarbonate panel disqualifies it from consideration?) and that all the required federal testing and so on adds to the cost. Also, evidently, keeping the prices high — and demanding all damaged KR parts be returned before new parts are shipped — prevents just anyone from slapping a KR hood or other parts on their base Mustang.

Whatever their rationale, the fan forums went understandably nuts. In response, the price of the hood will be reduced to $9,700 and Shelby is reconsidering the prices of other carbon-fiber components. We love the KR, but that still seems like a lot of money for Ford parts.

[Spokentorque.com, Team Shelby via Autoblog]

Here's the sad, sad story of how a Shelby GT500KR turned into a shaving mirror and overall emblem of vehicular douchebaggery. Also, out of curiosity, can someone answer three questions for us — first, is the dude with the hat talking with marbles in his mouth. Second, is that a sheik? Third, does the guy with the hair neck know he's supposed to be speaking English?

[via Streetfire.net]

Photo Credit: Alex C. Conley

Just a reminder, the first episode of the new Knight Rider premieres tonight at 8:00 PM EST. We've already all seen it, but don't let our snap review stop you from watching. Although you'd be a stupid piece of KITT not to listen to us.

Fralick said of the car "I just turned 50. So it actually made me feel like I was 18 again." Now, she's cruising around in an early '90s Buick Regal GS, which is good transportation but hardly a Mustang GT. Fortunately, if her now KITT-ified Mustang ever goes back up for sale she gets first dibs. [WOODTV]

But the cosmetics are still what makes this one-off car something special. Ford's turned this $80,000 Shelby into KITT thanks to a sweet-looking black-on-black paint job, the addition of 20" Shelby "Super Snake" wheels, 90% tinted windows all-around and of course, the Auto Indulgence 15" LED "Knight Rider" security scanner lightbar. Sure, it's all stuff you can buy off the rack — but when combined together, it makes this "King of the Road" look bad-ass.

But what's great about this customized Shelby is when the novelty of cruising around in KITT wears out, and you've turned the lightbar off, you remember you're still driving a Shelby GT500KR. That said, there's now even greater incentive to pull to a stop, shift into first and floor it. Because when you do, your world shrinks into a tunnel of motion with only a pinpoint of clarity ahead, wild-eyed narration provided by an unnatural banshee wail emanating from the supercharger. You watch, almost from outside of your body, as time dilates and you are no longer subject to the rules of physics. You feel as though this motor will pull the stars from their places in the heavens. And then the rev limiter brings it all back to reality.

A sideways grin spread across my face as my autonomic nervous system registers how close I just came to some form of fiery death. The manic rush, instead of acting like a deterrent, plays a powerful stimulant, and you do it again, and again, and again.

That's because the GT500KR is a much better car than its predecessor, the Mustang GT500. The GT500 is a mean and nasty car, operating at the limits of the chassis — it's twitchy, overpowered and hard to live with. Driving it always makes you feel like you're toeing the line of control, even when toting the groceries. To be perfectly honest, the notion of driving a GT500 with more horsepower was, at the outset, mildly terrifying. But the GT500KR is much more refined — the extra power is met with a much better suspension thanks to upgraded KR-only dampers, springs and shocks. All of it works together to provide a far more confident drive than the GT500. No more skipping across expansion joints at speed on a sweeping freeway corner, only planted, firm and predictable driving over the bumps and potholes of Michigan roads. But, then why the taken-to-the-limits feeling? It's because that added confidence is underscored with the notion that instead of being more controllable, the razors edge has just been raised to a new and more frightening level.

In spite of this knowledge, you smile like any man charming a Cobra; resigned to the danger, but addicted to the exhilaration of it. It doesn't matter if the car handles incredibly well for a solid axle design on a heavy car with monster mill, it doesn't matter if the interior has no upgrades over a standard 'Stang, it doesn't matter that the windows are tinted so dark you strain to see headlights in the night because none of that changes the mechanical the wail of obscenities the supercharger hurls at you as it takes over your world.

People point. They stare. The silent back and forth sweep of the red light draws the questions of curious passers-by. Camera phones are wielded, friends are called over and disbelief removed. But in the face of the crushing power of this car, the tight hold that childhood memories maintain over the aura of KITT shrink, and become insignificant as you pull runs — again, and again, and again. The show may be in need of some "Turbo Boost," but this GT500KR has all the boost we need.

Photo Credit: Alex C. Conley

KGP's Glenn Paulina radioed in late yesterday he spotted us winding our way through Mud Canyon but wasn't fooled by our manufacturer plate. Instead, he was too busy looking for other M-plated Fords in case it was part of a test group. And despite the shot above, Brenda Priddy wasn't fooled either— she'd seen the posts about our plans to hit the Valley — but she did take a moment out of her spy shooting day to run us down, catching up to us in the Super-Stang after pulling us over to warn us to drink lots of water in the hot desert sun. Maybe next time we'll strap garbage bags to the taillights Winding Road-style.

Follow along at our tag page for our full three-day four-day Shelby GT500KR Road Trip!

Actually, we realized at some point it was "Alien" brand beef jerky, but you know, for like a minute there...we thought we were gonna dig into some extraterrestrial hide. But, we still thought it worthy of a shot. We're almost to Vegas — we'll save any more updates until the morrow.

Location: Baker, CA
Miles: 187.5 Miles
Drive Time: 5 Hours, 9 Minutes

Follow along at our tag page for our full three-day Shelby GT500KR Road Trip.

As one noted member of the auto press guild told me today, "you can't have a Mustang road trip without beef jerky." He's right. I went with the Carne Asade — what about you?

Although I pulled over for the jerky, it was nice to give my ass a moment of relief from the pains of the road. The Shelby GT500KR's got a helluva lot of horsepower, but no padding's going to protect your rear for long in that car's seat. And I thought the Z06 was a pain in the rear. But, whatever, who cares? You don't buy this car and all its horses for the benefit of your seat bottom.

By the way, L.A. traffic really sucks. It took me over three hours to make it outside the mess of traffic that is the greater Los Angeles area. Looks like we'll be running straight through to Vegas tonight. But fear not, we'll head down to Death Valley tomorrow morning — and do a run from one end to the other and back.

I'll check in again when I get to Las Vegas, baby, Vegas.

Location: Barstow, CA
Miles: 118.3 Miles
Drive Time: 3 Hours, 59 Minutes (I hate LA traffic)

Follow along at our tag page for our full three-day Shelby GT500KR Road Trip.

1 - Cobra XRS 9540 (The Valentine's too rich for our blood)
6 - 1-liter bottles of water
4 - Cans, Rockstar
3 - Packages, Jolt Gum
2 - AAAA batteries for cheap-ass Jabra headset
2 - Bags, chips
1 - Bottle, sunblock
1 - Package, David Sunflower seeds
1 - 100-Watt Power Inverter
1 - Sprint EV-DO card (or whatever the hell their proprietary technology is)
1 - Full tank of gas

See ya guys outside of Death Valley. Somebody call the police if you haven't heard back from us by like, midnight tonight, k?

*Name of Alex Roy used under trademark and copyright, all rights reserved.

"While many might still groan at a GT500KR that can transform on-the-fly into an F-150, Thompson talked to futurists at Microsoft to find some grounding in reality. Their meetings discussed what cars and trucks might be like in 2030. "They (Microsoft futurists) talked about vehicles being able to maneuver between smaller spaces, meaning it would have to squeeze itself, or it would grow larger or grow bigger wheels to get over a large obstacle. I thought, 'Wow, if these guys are already thinking about this now, then we need to be looking at this.'"

It looks like KITT's new off-road program will become a regular part of Knight Rider. Thompson says we'll see it in two of the first four episodes. There might be other modes on the horizon, too. "As long as we stay within about the same mass, you might see other versions of KITT," says Thompson. "You're not, however, going to see it turn into a huge spaceship," Thompson tells us."

Now we're only left wondering when Ford comes out with a special "Knight Rider" edition F-150. Like the Harley-Davidson version, we're assuming the truck bed won't be big enough to hold KITT. Also, note the Shelby cobra that's part of the TV show's logo. We wonder how many ads Ford had to buy to get that level of a boa constrictor-like grip on the creative process? [Knight Rider]

Those kind of numbers are usually reserved for the elite, which explains the car's $80,000 price tag, plus whatever the dealer thinks he should add for his, you know, trouble. [5.0 Mustangs and Super Fords]

Things started off brisk enough with a full field run at 4:30 in the afternoon. All the guys had been warming up in the morning and were eager to put their skills to the test. The field of cars and experience varied widely, starting with a Ford Mustang Bullitt with hot cams and some other goodies and going all the way up to a full-bore Shelby GT500KR. In attendance were:

• 
  
• Christopher Ihara - The Corral - GT500KR
• Jason Reiss - Race Pages - GT500
• Shaun Bailey - Road & Track - Shelby GT
• Don Roy - Mustang Enthusiasts -Mustang GT
• Doug Glad - CarCraft.com - GT500
• Mark Houlahan - Mustangs & Fords - Mustang GT
• Steve Turner - 5.0 Mustangs & Super Fords - Factory Five Coupe
• Sam Abuelsamid - Autoblog.com - GT500
• Evan Smith - Muscle Mustangs & Fast Fords - GT500
• Dave Freiburger - carjunkietv.com - Factory Five Roadster

Just goes to show you that in bracket racing, the size of the check isn't as important as the skill in the hand that signs it. Also, that qualifying runs do not make the win. Congrats to Mark for a good show, and thanks go out to Ford for letting us hacks beat on some of their cars for the weekend.

Wait, what's that? How fast did I go? Well, considering my first run of the day was a 14.88 at 100.41 MPH and a 0.49 reaction time, I'm pretty happy to report that, by the end of the day, I managed a 13.54 at 104.87 with a 0.1799 reaction time. Not too shabby for a days work, if I do say so myself.

The dealership, LoneStar Ford, is offering a brand-spanking new GT500KR for the bargain basement buy it now price of just $154,991. We'll give you a moment to let that sink in. You done? For the math-impaired, that's approximately a $75,000 mark up to the sticker price. Good luck with that, guys — you've officially made us want to throw up over this truck-axled super-powered 'stang. But if for some crazy reason you want a piece of this action, better hurry because you've only got two more days left to slap down your cash. [EBay via Carscoop]