Jalopnik: shelby gt500kr road trip

Shelby GT500KR Road Trip, Chapter IV: Death Valley Car Spy Photographers Are NOT Fooled By Manufacturer Plates

Ray Wert — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:40:00 EDT

It was the Wert-spotting by Jalopnik reader Nick outside the Shelby HQ gave us an idea for our run through Death Valley yesterday on our Shelby GT500KR Road Trip. Would the car spies spending the summer months in the Valley of non-Life find the GT500KR with manufacturer plates a compelling enough target to shoot — perhaps thinking it to be some kind of development mule? After a quick 150 mile jaunt through the Valley's 110-degree temperatures yesterday afternoon, we found the answer to be "No."

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!

Wert Spotted In GT500KR At Shelby HQ

Matt Hardigree — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:30:00 EDT

Jalopnik reader Nick M. didn't expect to see the Shelby GT500KR Road Trip in person when visiting the Shelby HQ on the long road between California and Texas. Nick was shocked to see the bright blue GT500KR in person and grabbed some photos of the car next to another Shelby Stang. Of course, he also snuck in a photo of his own super Mustang in with the others. If you see a Blue-and-White KR crossing this great land of ours please sure to take a picture and drop us a line.

Shelby GT500KR Road Trip, Chapter III: Fresh Alien Jerky Is Much Better Than, You Know, Cow Jerky

Ray Wert — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 01:28:43 EDT

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.

Shelby GT500KR Road Trip, Chapter II: What's Your Favorite Beef Jerky?

Ray Wert — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:54:53 EDT

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.

Shelby GT500KR Road Trip, Chapter I: Ready, Set, Buy A Whole Lot Of Crap And Go!

Ray Wert — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:40:00 EDT

Well, we're about to take off on our Shelby GT500KR Road Trip outside of Los Angeles and we decided we needed to stock up on supplies first. We've got what we're bringing for the trip below the jump. Let us know if we forgot anything. Remember, we need to make it through Death Valley — a place we've never been to, but Brenda Priddy says is a comfortable place to hang out — all the way to Vegas and then down through Phoenix to Dallas. Obviously we'll be stopping for food and sleep. Who do you think we are, Alex Roy* ?

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?

What Would You Do With A GT500KR?

Ray Wert — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

You already knew one of us was out here in sunny Southern California after our little photographic fun with all three new American muscle cars in one photo for the very first time. But that wasn't the only reason we were out here on America's Left Coast. The other reason? The 2008 Shelby GT500KR. We've been given the keys to the only super 'Stang in Ford's media fleet to drive longer than any other car outlet's gone in the car to date. We'll be taking this 580 HP über-muscle car on a 1,779 mile trip from LA to Dallas. Along the way we'll stop in Las Vegas and Phoenix, liveblogging the entire way. Follow along with us at our Shelby GT500KR Road Trip tag. Although this now begs today's question of the day, what would you do and where would you go with the GT500KR and a full tank of gas?