A flat-plane crank V8, carbon fiber wheels, and a sound that we’re pretty sure will rip your face off. All that with an MSRP of only $61,295, the Shelby GT350R Mustang puts its spiritual predecessor, the Ford Mustang SVT Cobra R, to overpriced shame.
Of course, all of this is assuming you can actually get a GT350R for its MSRP base price. But! For this fun little thought experiment, let’s pretend you can. Earlier today, I was reading Road & Track’s 2000 review of the original Cobra R. At the time, it was just about the craziest Mustang you can imagine, with the highest technology Ford could imagine at the time, like independent rear suspension, and the rear bumper off of a cheap-o V6 model.
That said, the Cobra R was a track-ready Mustang a lot of people were dreaming of. Unfortunately, Ford only made 300 of them, so they’re still incredibly rare. And at the time, they went for the price of an incredibly rare car, too, with an MSRP of $54,000.
$54,000 doesn’t sound like a lot of money in the grand scheme of things these days, not when you’re talking about extremely limited track-day specials. Hell, that’s the price of a nicely equipped BMW 3 Series.
But we are all actually now aged and decrepit, as it was actually 16 years ago when the Cobra R debuted in 2000. Inflation, being the wonderful thing that it is, puts the Cobra R’s base price higher. A lot higher.
We’re talking $74,355.37 in today’s money.
That’s more than 10 grand more than a GT350R is supposed to go for, and the Cobra R definitely didn’t have carbon fiber wheels.
This is what progress looks like, everyone.