By Andrew Wendler

The only surprising thing about Shelby’s recently unveiled take on Ford’s Raptor is that it took them this long to work one over. After all, Shelby has been operating in near-lockstep with Ford for years, unleashing tuned, tweaked, and twisted versions of Blue Oval products in a reliable cadence.

For the princely starting price of $17,995, the gang at Shelby American will poke and prod a production Raptor’s 6.2-liter V-8 to 575 horsepower, a hearty increase over the stock Raptor’s already randy 411. The additional 164 ponies arrive in the pasture largely due to a 2.9-liter supercharger, a “massive” intercooler, and a Shelby/Borla Exhaust system. Both the supercharger and intercooler come from Whipple (it also supplies Ford Racing with many performance components), as does the ECU re-flash. And you don’t need a brand-spanking-new Raptor to bring it in for the Shelby makeover: John Luft, president of Shelby American, told C/D that current owners are welcome to bring their Raptors to its facility.

Originally slated for a production run of only 100 units, the initial response was so strong Shelby American now says production will be capped at 500. “Not a week goes by without someone asking us about doing a truck, so I guess we shouldn’t be too surprised that we received dozens of phone calls within an hour of its New York debut,” says Luft. Interestingly, most buyers are planning on putting their Raptor to work, not shrink-wrapping it and stowing it away as an investment: “The Raptor will probably see more miles than any other Shelby vehicle,” Luft says, “as the overwhelming amount of buyers have made it clear they want to use their Shelby Raptor as a tow vehicle—preferably for their Shelby track car—or for real off-road use.”

• Comparison Test: 2012 Chevrolet Silverado 2500 LTZ 4WD Crew Cab vs. 2012 Ford F-250 Super Duty King Ranch 4×4 Crew Cab, 2012 Ram 2500 Laramie Longhorn 4×4 Mega Cab
• Road Test: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 6.2
• First Drive Review: 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor 6.2

Exterior graphics packages come in three Shelby-fied flavors: faux mud splashes and two stripe packages differentiated only by the hood graphics. The custom Shelby leather interior is designed by Katzkin and is included in the standard package. You can add wheels and tires, light bars, bumpers, and roll bars, and an off-road performance package of unspecified components is in the final stages of development. And it wouldn’t be a Shelby without a badge bearing the signature of Ol’ Shel’ himself and inclusion on the Shelby Registry. Build one for yourself here.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver