Think back to the year 2006 and recall the way the Internet buzzed with discussions about over-inflated pricing for Ford's top-tier S197 'Stang, the Shelby GT500-and moreso about the widespread speculation that the factory-blown, 500hp (flywheel) Mustangs would only be purchased by people with lots of money, who would store the cars away or leave them bone-stock in the hopes of "cashing in" on their high-dollar investments after several years.
As strong advocates of modifying Mustangs, regardless of their stature, we're really glad things didn't play out the way it looked like they were going to. Sure, Shelby GT500s and their non-supercharged-siblings, Shelby GTs, definitely are special Mustangs, but we're glad to see that owners are not being conservative about making performance and cosmetics changes to their rarer Mustangs.
This month's Tech Inspection focuses on improving a Shelby's appearance by installing a new cosmetic bolt-on from Raceskinz of Van Nuys, California. Raceskinz is a customizing outfit that has been on our radar since 2006, when we came across a pair of Shelby 'Stangs at the SEMA show that were dressed in the company's badass carbon-fiber stripes.
We made note of how cool the stripes were, but we also later learned that working with carbon fiber is Raceskinz specialty, and the carbon S197 stripes we drooled over were just a precursor of things to come. Well, after nearly two years of conceptualizing and development, Raceskinz is taking the wraps off of the S197 Mustang pieces its been working on, and called your tech editor and offered an exclusive opportunity to check out the first installation of the company's super-sexy, 100 percent carbon-fiber Rear Diffuser Cover for '07-'09 Shelbys (PN CF1004RLD; $860).
As our resident carbon-fiber king and Shelby GT500 owner, we know that Editor Steve Turner has a keen interest in this diffuser and many of the other carbon-centric Mustang products in the Raceskinz catalog. Look for more info about those items in future reports on Project Vapor Trail.
Right now, it's all about the rear diffuser cover, and the following photos and captions show you how Raceskinz technicians Clay Bush and George Bryant went about applying one to the back of Rollen Robertson's Vapor Silver '07 GT500.