Ever Wonder Why the Racing Stripe on a 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Costs $10,000?

The 2020 Ford Shelby GT 500 starts out at $72,900 or about $1,300 a month if you have amazing credit – that’s some $12,460 more expensive than the base GT350 and $535 cheaper than the GT350R. Does it blow your mind to know that the GT500 can be customized to the extent that it will set you back $107,080? Just how the hell do you add $34,100 worth of options to a freaking Mustang – especially the, arguably, best Mustang you can buy? Well, as I was customizing mine, I noticed something – the GT500 has a $10,000 racing stripe option, one that is now available next to the usual $1,000 vinal stripe. How does Ford justify charging $10,000 for a racing stripe that, regardless of what you think, doesn’t make you go faster? Well, here’s the deal….

That $10,000 Racing Stripe on the Shelby GT500 is More Special Than You Think

It’s well-known at this point that the Shelby GT350 was available with a $1,000 racing stripe and, for a period of time, the only stripe available for the GT500 was a $10,000 stripe, and this raised some significant controversy. Ford has since added a $1,000 stripe to the GT500’s configurator too, but the difference in name – one is a “vinyl stripe” and the other is a “painted” stripe. This doesn’t represent the significance of the difference, though, as $10,000 still seems like a hell of a lot of money to pay for a couple stripes of paint across 10-percent of the car’s body.

Well, we can actually shed some light on the situation. They are hand-prepped, painted, and then clear coated – an entirely different and much more time-consuming process than applying some cheap – and I do mean cheap – vinyl decals. It should also be noted that Ford’s production capacity for applying these $10,000 painted stripes is thin and, should too many be ordered at once, there could very easily be a backlog that could take months to get down. It is a specialized process, after all. That explains the high cost, to some extent, but something tells us that there’s quite a bit of profit involved as the manpower to hand-prep, paint, and clear coat can’t be all that bad. But, then again, we’re not in the car-building business, so we’re a little ignorant in that regard. There is one big question that remains, though.

Should I Get the Painted Racing Stripes or Vinyl Stripes on My Shelby GT500?

Let me come right out and say that, if you have an extra $10,000 to burn on some painted stripes, then you should go ahead and go for the painted stripes over the vinyl stripes. I understand that it’s a huge difference in price and it might sound crazy given the purely aesthetic natureBut, you’ll be extremely disappointed if you go with the Vinyl stripes. In fact, you’re better off going to your local parts store and spending $200 on an aftermarket stripe kit because, I’m sorry to say, after a year or two, those vinyl stripes are going to degrade and start peeling anyway. Just look at any 2017 Shelby GT350 with vinyl stripes and see how bad they look. It’s downright horrible, and I’m not even kidding. Of course, it may be a slightly different story depending on how the car is kept, how often it is driven, etc., but at the end of the day, they will not last more than a few years with normal use of the car.

Is $10,000 still a little high to pay for some painted racing stripes? The painted stripes are available in the same colors – black, blue, or white – and at least you’ll have confidence to know you’re not going to lose your mind over your (probably) $90,000 car (after a few options added) looking like shit a few years down the road. If you’re going to spend north of six figures on a Mustang, please do it right.