The Ford Shelby GR-1 Concept May Happen

The Shelby name came back into the spotlight last week at the Detroit Auto Show with the new GT500, and now there’s a blast from the past with the GR-1 Concept.

The original Shelby GR-1 Concept was unveiled in 2005 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Based on a 1964 Shelby Daytona, the GR-1 Concept didn’t gain any traction at the time but it doesn’t mean it’s dead.

Earlier this month, California-based tuner Superformance announced its intention to add replicas of the GR-1 Concept to its lineup.

It took a while for the project to come to fruition and it’s still not 100% confirmed. According to sources who are close to all parties involved, there’s still a ways to go including the enactment of the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act that has been delayed by the recent government shutdown in Washington.

Once that gets done and the other bits of the project come together, Superformance plans to build around 200 units of the GR-1.

Superformance has teamed with Shelby American to develop both electric and gas-powered variants of the the GR-1, but we don’t know anything else in regards to powertrain.

Shelby American vice president Vince Laviolette did say that the production GR-1 would be fast.

“We’re shooting for a two-second Shelby” Laviolette said to Car&Driver.

Any car enthusiast can agree, we need a little more Shelby in our lives. Although the GR-1 would be a limited production car out of the range of most bank accounts, we can’t help but love the idea of a 1964 Daytona-based modern car arriving on the market.