A leaked product sheet for the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 reveals that the mighty muscle car will have a whopping output of 720 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. In addition to the uptick in power, the product sheet also shows that the Shelby GT500 will 4,225 pounds, almost 300 hundred pounds heavier than its predecessor. The document looks skeptical, so even with these headline-grabbing numbers, it's hard to trust what it says without any word from Ford itself.

2019 Shelby GT500 Leaked Document

Teasers notwithstanding, we all know that the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is still a ways away from arriving, so any speculation or rumor about it should at least be taken with a grain of salt. That includes this leaked product sheet.

On the surface, the attention-grabbing details check out, or at least they do when you take into context the improvements we can expect from the new model. According to the leaked document, the new Shelby GT500 will use a 5.2-liter, supercharged, V-8 that produces 720 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Those are impressive numbers in their own right, but they’re also in line with expectations. The last Shelby GT500 sold from 2013 to 2014 and had a 5.8-liter turbocharged and supercharged V-8 engine that produced 662 horsepower and 631 pound-feet of torque. We’ve heard from Ford that the new GT500 would bring at least 700 ponies on the table so 720 horsepower would fit right into those proclamations.

Unfortunately, the power output is about the only thing that makes sense from this product sheet. Look closer at the information contained in the document, and you’ll notice a few suspicious items. The car’s weight, in particular, is head-scratching. According to the document, the new Mustang Shelby GT500 will have a curb weight of 4,225 pounds. That’s great and all, except that the last Shelby GT500 weighed 3,845 pounds. It’s hard to imagine the new model being heavier than its predecessor. Suppose that weight is accurate, it still doesn’t explain why the new GT500 will weigh 520 pounds more than the current 3,705-pound 2019 Mustang GT, 440 pounds more than the Shelby G350, and almost 400 pounds more than the last Shelby GT500. Is the supercharger that heavy?

The top speed on the sheet is also questionable. Make no mistake, a top speed of 190 mph is impressive and certainly doable with a car that has 720 horsepower. But the last Shelby GT500 came with a top speed claim of 202 mph. That’s 12 mph slower for a slightly more svelte muscle car with less power and torque than the model that’s succeeding it.

2014 Shleby GT500 vs 2019 Shelby GT500

Note: Data for 2019 GT500 is based on leaked information and could be innacurate

Suspicious irregularities abound in this document, and I haven’t even gotten into all the silly typographical errors in it. Look at the top left corner of the document. “Petrol” is spelled as “patrol.” Look at the vehicle data, and you’ll also see that “trailer” is spelled as “trailor.” Even the box where the 720-horsepower is bared is supposed to indicate the power unit in kW, not horsepower.

These mistakes shouldn’t be there if this is an internal document from Ford. Some parts of it sound legitimate, maybe even a little exciting. But the right move here is to hear from Ford directly and let the automaker announce the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500’s spec details when it’s ready to.

Further Reading

2019 Ford Shelby GT500

Get the latest and greatest from our full speculative review of the 2019 Ford Shleby GT500}

2013 - 2014 Ford Shelby GT500

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Read our full review of the 2013-2014 Ford Shelby GT500}

2019 Ford Shelby GT350

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Get in the know with our in-depth review of the 2019 Ford Shleby GT350}