After seeing my first Shelby in 1965 I backed into becoming an owner of a GT500 back in April 2011 - 4,300 miles on the odo, brand new condition. Love it - it's Christmas morning every time I start it up. And the power! Effortless. Came with all the options. Great car, tho like many other owners my clutch is being replaced after it completely failed. Not covered by my purchased warranty. Dealer contacted FoMoCo and were directed to their bulletin on a defective design, so the replacement will cost me 0. In the am I will call the dealer and insure that a corrected-design clutch is being installed, and that my flywheel is not warped. Just learning details about my problem on this great site.
My clutch has been replaced with the same Shelby clutch - but a redesigned clutch. The original clutch was designed for high performance, and it worked flawlessly in that regard. However, the clutch designers did not put the clutch through 100K's of miles of stop and go traffic conditions. I called SVT and spoke with an engineer who informed me that the clutch which would be sent to my dealer would still be the twin disc racing clutch, made with ceramic-metallic materials, which came in my Shelby - with one big exception > the latest clutch has different friction coefficients than the first clutch, and will function both on the track as well as in daily stop and go traffic. My dealer and Ford replaced my warped flywheel, and even tho they and SVT said my syncros were not involved in the problem (as mentioned in some posts), the dealer checked and played with my syncros and clutch for several miles and found my syncros to be in perfect shape. If my dealer had not gone the extra mile and contacted Shelby, I would be out over $2 grand. I regret that several posts state their dealers just said no, pay me. Crossroads Ford in Cary, NC is not even a Shelby dealer - as noted the car I bought from them was a used trade-in. My new clutch is incredible. I have been driving sticks since 1966, but I never felt the slippage until my clutch failed a week ago. The new clutch, with 0 slippage, gives such grip and power transmission from that over-powered Shelby engine that I have a new car, one I will have to learn all over again. When I engage clutch, engine, tranny, and gas pedal - the acceleration is unreal. I have driven Ferraris and home-builts, but nothing has the power of my Shelby. Thanks for your follow-up and interest. I also thank my dealer, Shelby, Ford, and SVT for their honesty, integrity, and great work! I also thank this Shelby Forum for the insight it gave me, and for making me feel part of the Shelby family.
