[falcongtho3]

The latest issue of Muscle Car Review has a nice piece on a low milage '87 Shelby Charger GLHS. There are some nice shots of this car, that was apparently seen at the Vegas '09 Shelby bash. There is a good article as well, possibly news to some, old news to others more in the know about such things.
It is in the June issue for those interested, pages 90-92. There is a blue big block Impala on the cover, so it'll be easy to spot from earlier issues.
The reason I feel i tis important to those who are interested in these cars is that there is a question posed by the autor as to whether this is a muscle car or not. I'm sure opinions vary, especially now. In its day it was a quick car, and had atributes that vintage muscle cars couldn't imagine. Again for those who are fans of the Dodge Shelbys, it might be a way to be heard.
I had a good friend who bought a blue/silver Shelby Charger brand new. He kept it until the family/kid thing started to happen, and the rest is the same ole story.

[black86glhs]

Thanks for the info. I'll have to look at it and see what is said.

[falcongtho3]

The article itself, which surprised me showing up in a normally vintage muscle car magazine, gives a breif history of the Shelby Chrager and highlights its strengths in comparison to period competitors as well as early Shelby Mustangs. The car featured has less than 4,000 miles in it and is the Stage II 175 hp GLHS version. I'm not any kind of expert on these cars, but you see so little coverage on them I thought those here who do follow them would be interested in such an article.

[GLHS0136]

falcongtho3, on May 23 2009, 04:33 PM, said:

The latest issue of Muscle Car Review has a nice piece on a low milage '87 Shelby Charger GLHS. There are some nice shots of this car, that was apparently seen at the Vegas '09 Shelby bash. There is a good article as well, possibly news to some, old news to others more in the know about such things.
It is in the June issue for those interested, pages 90-92. There is a blue big block Impala on the cover, so it'll be easy to spot from earlier issues.
The reason I feel i tis important to those who are interested in these cars is that there is a question posed by the autor as to whether this is a muscle car or not. I'm sure opinions vary, especially now. In its day it was a quick car, and had atributes that vintage muscle cars couldn't imagine. Again for those who are fans of the Dodge Shelbys, it might be a way to be heard.
I had a good friend who bought a blue/silver Shelby Charger brand new. He kept it until the family/kid thing started to happen, and the rest is the same ole story.

Thanks for posting this Falcongtho3. From MCR's calendar, I saw the issue would hit the stands on the 26th. I saw your post and ran out to Barns and Noble. Seems all places didn't have the new issue yet. Maybe that's the 26th then. My parents found it in Walmart in Pennsylvania, but here in Ca, the Walmarts in my area do not have it yet. You're right about the attributes the GLHS has over the 60's muscle such as braking and cornering. But I think from a power to weight ratio, the formula is the same. Having the GLHS in the magazine may draw a younger crowd to the magazine as well. It's a great article.

Robert

[GLHS0136]

falcongtho3, on May 25 2009, 05:05 AM, said:

The article itself, which surprised me showing up in a normally vintage muscle car magazine, gives a breif history of the Shelby Chrager and highlights its strengths in comparison to period competitors as well as early Shelby Mustangs. The car featured has less than 4,000 miles in it and is the Stage II 175 hp GLHS version. I'm not any kind of expert on these cars, but you see so little coverage on them I thought those here who do follow them would be interested in such an article.

and it's the Stage II 200 HP GLHS ..

[shelbymotorsports]

Have the issue sitting on my desk but haven't had a chance to read it yet. Thanks for posting Falcon, I'll move the mag to the top of the stack.

The article was written and photographed by Jerry Heasley. Mr Heasley joined us for the Vegas Bash where he met Robert and his GLHS. The rest is history.

Robert got some great exposure for the Dodge cars.

Steve

[falcongtho3]

Glad to be of help. I know as a member of a small Mustang specific group (Mach 1) that we all have to look out for each other. I get excited about these things. I remember what a big deal it was when the Shelby Dodges first came out. It was a big deal, and I appreciate those who continue to follow that niche.

[johnl]

Thanks for the "heads up." I'll be lookin for it.

[shelbymotorsports]

Well it looks like the editor of Muscle Car Review, Drew Hardin, has had a change of heart and feels Shelby Dodges do not belong in Muscle Car Review magazine.

Earlier this year MCR featured a 1987 Shelby GLHS, owned by a fellow Team Shelby member, in their magazine.The article and pics were great and the following issue had nothing but praise of the Shelby in the letters to the editor column. In fact Mr. Hardin said he hadn't received a single negative comment on the article and suggested the door was open for more to follow.

That all changed with the November 2009 issue of MCR magazine. Mr. Hardin now says that the GLHS article was a one time experiment and uses a readers letter to sum up his positon with the following quote, "The '80's Shelbys are cool cars, just not muscle cars".

Yup a complete 180 turn. From praising the GLHS to now calling it an experiment that will not be repeated.

Mr. Hardin continues with not all 1980's cars will be banned from MCR. He says he has no problem featuring a mid 1980's Monte Carlo SS for the readers to drool over.

Hmmm perhaps we can arange a race between a Shelby GLHS and a 305 V8 powered Monte Carlo SS and then let Mr. Hardin explain how his Monte Carlo musclecar got out muscled. For the record I like the 80's SS Monte Carlos but that 305 V8 was crap and didn't deserve the SS monkier.

Steve

[sdac guy]

Its a shame that magazine has adopted such an attitude. But there are other magazines out there, even competing with MCR on their turf. Hemmings Muscle Machines has had a few articles on the 80's Shelby's and Dodge's. And the latest Hot Rod magazine has a smal article covering SDAC-19 including a pic of Brian Slowe's 10 second Shadow. I was thrilled to see the coverage for SDAC in such a mainstream auto enthusiast magazine and only hope that we will continue to see the cars we love spotlighted in other publications also.

[shelbymotorsports]

The Shelby Dodge cars have received more press these past few years than any other time since they were new. Something unexpected but surely welcome.

I'm not sure what happened with MCR magazine. If I had to guess I'd say that their magazine is limping along in sales/readership and someone there must believe they will lose more readers then they would gain with the inclusion of Shelby Dodges.

On the flip side its good to see magazines like HMM and Collectible Automobile continue to embrace all performance cars from any decade.

Steve

[86glhs76]

shelbymotorsports, on Nov 24 2009, 02:26 PM, said:

The Shelby Dodge cars have received more press these past few years than any other time since they were new. Something unexpected but surely welcome.

I'm not sure what happened with MCR magazine. If I had to guess I'd say that their magazine is limping along in sales/readership and someone there must believe they will lose more readers then they would gain with the inclusion of Shelby Dodges.

On the flip side its good to see magazines like HMM and Collectible Automobile continue to embrace all performance cars from any decade.

Steve

MCR in the next issue commented on the Shelby Dodges. They litterally had hundreds of positive mail on the artical and they got not one single hate mail for it.

My dads era was V8 muscle cars, those people are going away. Todays younger people don't like V8s much, they love turbos and great handling. The Shelby Dodge is in that world and is one of the only real collectors in that world.

It is sad but only the Shelby folks love the Shelby Dodges, Mopar people can't stand them. Everytime they mix with imports the company dies down in sales like DSM cars. If people want a Mitsu they'll go to Mitsu to buy one. Now they will all be Fiats. The last time Chrysler really made any money and did real well they were selling the K cars, all the new Hemi did was bankrupt them....

A couple years ago a Honda Civic made a slt flat record of 200 MPH and everyone in the compact world flipped out. Road and track wrote a story on it to and at the end of it they wrote it should be noted that a 87 Shelby Charger held the record for 16 years! I wish we could see some Shelby Dodge racing history in the Shelby mags some time. Sure the Cobra's did well but that story got old 30 years ago. I was showing a pic of John Crawford making his 5th straight production class Pikes Peak record and win to my workers the other day and they were shocked. Sure Shelby and Mopar aimed for production class racing, but they stomped on everyone pretty hard. It would be nice to see a little racing history that hasn't been seen thousands of times lol.

[Gaoler1973]

86glhs76, on Nov 26 2009, 08:29 AM, said:

MCR in the next issue commented on the Shelby Dodges. They litterally had hundreds of positive mail on the artical and they got not one single hate mail for it.

My dads era was V8 muscle cars, those people are going away. Todays younger people don't like V8s much, they love turbos and great handling. The Shelby Dodge is in that world and is one of the only real collectors in that world.

It is sad but only the Shelby folks love the Shelby Dodges, Mopar people can't stand them. Everytime they mix with imports the company dies down in sales like DSM cars. If people want a Mitsu they'll go to Mitsu to buy one. Now they will all be Fiats. The last time Chrysler really made any money and did real well they were selling the K cars, all the new Hemi did was bankrupt them....

A couple years ago a Honda Civic made a slt flat record of 200 MPH and everyone in the compact world flipped out. Road and track wrote a story on it to and at the end of it they wrote it should be noted that a 87 Shelby Charger held the record for 16 years! I wish we could see some Shelby Dodge racing history in the Shelby mags some time. Sure the Cobra's did well but that story got old 30 years ago. I was showing a pic of John Crawford making his 5th straight production class Pikes Peak record and win to my workers the other day and they were shocked. Sure Shelby and Mopar aimed for production class racing, but they stomped on everyone pretty hard. It would be nice to see a little racing history that hasn't been seen thousands of times lol.

Well said 86glhs.

[GLHS0136]

Not a big deal, I actualy agree with MCR. The term Muscle Car is a term that defined an era of cars and secondly the category. Cars like my ROUSH Mustang and GLHS don't really fit one or both of those criteria, they have transcended that category and into the performance car category. The closest the ROUSH gets to the Muscle Car Category is that it is RWD V8 that can accelerate and the GLHS can accelerate. "Muscle Car" defines the era of the 60's early 70s when a sedan was V8 powered and could certainly accelerate but could not stop or turn. That is where cars like the GLHS or ROUSH or GT500 differ and therefore fit the performance car category, as did the Porsche and Ferrari's that Carroll compared the GLHS to. A muscle car can't fit into the performance car category because it didn't offer that level of performance. (exceptions are the Cobras, GT350s and GT500s of the day). An 80s Monte Carlo SS closer fits the traditional Muscle Car category since it is RWD V8 sedan, but was not a performance car that could could be taken to a track and keep up with a GLHS or Porsche or Ferrari of the day. So, you're right Steve, the GLHS would destroy a Monte Carlo on a road coarse and that's one reason for the difference in categories.

I have a Mopar Magazine somewhere that took the top 12 baddest Mopars to the drag strip and the GLHS placed in the middle of the 60s, 70s muscle in acceleration (6th I believe). Take that top 12 to a road coarse and watch the order change .