Posted on 04/28/2025 9:01:30 AM PDT by Red Badger
Carroll Shelby is gone – thank God. He is thus spared the indignity of knowing his name has been affixed to a device that’s neither a Shelby nor a Mustang. It is a device that pretends to be both. More finely, a device that trades on both those names in what is arguably the most embarrassing-ever attempt to do just that.
ELVIS impersonator VIDEO AT LINK.................
Let’s begin by talking about the device in question. It is not a bad device – as devices go. But it is as much a “Mustang” as an Elvis impersonator is Elvis. It’s worse, actually, because at least most Elvis impersonators try their best to look like Elvis and sing like he did, too.
The Ford Mach-E looks nothing like any Mustang ever made because no Mustang was ever made with four doors – and without an engine. The Mach-E is a five door crossover with electric motors. It does not sound like a Mustang, either – because it can’t. See that part about not having an engine.
MAT DAMON as Carroll Shelby Video at link...........
Enter the fakest and gayest part.
Hertz thought it’d trade on Carroll Shelby’s name by affixing it to 100 Mach-E devices painted black with gold accents, like the “rent a racer” GT350H Mustangs Hertz famously offered as rentals back in the mid-late 1960s, when Shelby – who was a very famous race car driver – was working closely with Ford on projects such as kicking Ferrari’s ass at the 24 Hours of LeMans road race. You may have seen the recent – and excellent – movie about it, starring Matt Damon as Shelby.
The real – not fake or gay – 19665-1966 Shelby GT350s that were in the Hertz rental fleet had hotted-up 289 V8s that made 306 advertised (probably more)horsepower and sounded something like this:
Loud Shelby GT350 Throws Down VIDEO AT LINK..............
The device that trades on Shelby’s name – and which isn’t a Mustang – let alone a Shelby Mustang – tries to sound like that. As in literally tries to sound like that. By playing a recording that sounds like that:
2023 Shelby GT-H Mach-E Start Up VIDEO AT LINK............
It breaks your heart, doesn’t it?
No doubt it would have broken Shelby’s – were he around to see (and hear) what Hertz has done. Because he was real and this is fake and very gay. It is also a kind of confession about the inadequacy of these devices. If batteries and motors are so hot – so superior – then why resort to playing the soundtrack of an engine that’s not there? It is akin to a stuffed lion “roaring” – and at least the stuffed lion was once actually a lion, before it got stuffed.
What is this thing? And why can’t it trade on its own merits – if it has them? The question answers itself.
It’s not just Hertz that’s making this confession, either. The mass-produced Mach-E (as opposed to this limited-run iteration) also plays the sounds of what it hasn’t got, piped into the passenger cabin via the audio system. Just not as over-the-top fake and gay as the sounds replayed inside the passenger of the “Shelby” GT-H device concocted by Hertz. But it amounts to the same embarrassing and depressing thing.
It makes one think of the fake plastic fruit used to dress up a dinner table at the furniture store – and even in that case, the plastic fruit is at least made to look like real fruit and no one is encouraged to taste it. Piping fake engine sounds into the passenger compartment of a vehicle specifically marketed as superior because it lacks an engine is bizarre, cognitively dissonant. Playing them – loudly – outside the device to show off what you haven’t got is just weird and sad. Like a woman strutting around ostentatiously wearing a gigantic codpiece.
The “Shelby” device is not the only such device, either.
Dodge – the people in charge of desecrating the brand, that is – thought they could replace the engine in the Charger with the “Fratzonic” sounds of one. The prototype of this device was ostentatiously “revved” when it was introduced to the automotive press.
FAKE CHARGER VIDEO AT LINK................
It hasn’t gone over well with people who like engines and the sounds they make. Probably for the same reason finding out your blind date’s a he rather than a she (assuming you are a he and not into him).
So it’s more than just a confessional – and embarrassing and sad. It is also arguably the greatest extant example of Marketing Fail ever. Know your market used to be the baseline tenet taught to people who wanted to sell things to people. In order to do that successfully, you don’t try taking away what the people you’re trying to sell to want – and try selling them something fake and gay instead. That being the very definition of fake and gay in that what you’re trying to see is inauthentic and it’s gay – Southpark usage – to push inauthentic stuff on people.
SOUTH PARK BIKER VUYS VIDEO AT LINK...............
That’s why it’s instinctive and natural to laugh at the GT-H “Mustang” and the device they’re calling a “Charger.”
Because they’re fake and gay.
How about Pinto?
Volume control exhaust
Reminds me of glass packs 60 years ago
Yes. It’s a 4 door.
Yes. It’s a 4 door.
Have a look at this click-bait:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly23vZINRCQ
I’m pretty sure it’s totally fake.
Most GT 500’s are snapped up by collectors and never get seen on a street..............................
So they are not selling...Gee! Sure it’s fast;just not a real Mustang.
Tom don’t do cars anymore, now he just sells motors, but he made a few just like the code red for quite a few people as well as other cars. The entire drive train needs to be replaced with extreme performance parts. Full roll cage, parachute, ... they were pretty awesome.
Are they actually a real thing? I’m not a Ford guy, and half the stuff on YouTube is some kind of scam.
A lot of Mustangs were sold to women over the years. Many women have decided they prefer an SUV or a "crossover" which is what this version of the Mustang looks like.
That's the marketing car. The money is in the lower priced variants - just like Stellantis does with the Challenger.
"Check out this Challenger SRT Demon 170 with 1,000+ horsepower. Now let's get you into a Challenger SXT. It's just as cool and it's in your price range."
https://www.hotcars.com/dodge-challenger-trim-levels-list/
“Hertz thought it’d trade on Carroll Shelby’s name by affixing it to 100 Mach-E devices...”
“I actually own of those in that exact color scheme... 1978 Mustang King Cobra... anemic 302 2V with a 4-speed and T-Tops.”
Quick car... Anytime you put a V8 in a Pinto you have a quick car... Throw a four barrel on that and it will be a FAST car... :)
We used to build V8 pintos back in the day and these Mustangs were just Pintos with different shaped sheet metal around them.
Yep.... Pinto frames that needed subframe modifications if running any substantial HP otherwise it got twisted.
“Yep.... Pinto frames that needed subframe modifications if running any substantial HP otherwise it got twisted.”
Yep, we had to beef ours up. And because we were cutting down 9” limited slip rear ends you didn’t even think about driving it in slippery conditions. But they sure were a lot of fun in a straight line... :)
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