SHELBY American Inc., a division of the company owned by the living legend Carroll Shelby, will introduce its most powerful model ever on April 5 at the New York International Auto Show. Called the Shelby 1000, the car started life as an already potent 2012 Ford Shelby GT500 before Shelby himself, leading a team of crack gear heads, kicked its handling, horsepower and braking to the performance edge.

The Shelby 1000 will come in street and a Shelby 1000 S/C “off-road” track version. As the cars’ names suggest, the street-legal, pump-gas version churns out about 950 horsepower while the track-oriented S/C edition is rated to produce 1,100 horsepower.

In building the car, Shelby American took a Ford 5.4-liter V8 and stripped it down to the block so it could add new rods, crank and pistons. The team flowed the heads, upgraded the cooling and exhaust, replaced the supercharger, tuned it up and then sprinkled it with major doses of Shelby magic. Complementing the added oomph are six-piston brakes in front and four-piston calipers in the rear while the suspension received new struts, sway bars and bushings. The car’s new solid driveshaft is connected to an equally new nine-inch rear end.

True to hot rod sleeper fashion, the Shelby 1000’s body wears the subtlest clues regarding its beneath-the-sheet metal capabilities, and its hood, rear panel and splitter aero pieces are all functional.

Expectedly, the Shelby 1000 will be built in limited quantity, with each car numbered and documented. It’s forecasted to cost approximately $200,000—which, in relative terms, is actually cheap considering its power potential.

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