1968 Shelby GT500KR

Starting at

$333,500 USD

The "KR" in GT500KR stands for "King of the Road", and in 1968, it was. Powered by a 7.0-liter (428 cubic inch) Cobra Jet V8 putting out nearly 400 gross horsepower, the 1968 GT500KR was the fastest and most luxurious Mustang ever produced. For 1968, Ford ratcheted up its involvement in the Shelby program. Until then, Shelby models were built at Ford's San Jose assembly plant and shipped to Shelby's Venice, California facility for completion. Starting in 1968, all Shelby models were built at Ford's Metuchen, New Jersey plant and shipped to Ford supplier A.O. Smith in Ionia, Michigan for completion. The 1968 Shelby models were powerful and luxurious, and many collectors consider them the among the best built Shelby models in terms of quality. The Revology Shelby GT500KR captures the style and character of the original with improved performance, drivability, reliability, comfort, and safety.

Engine

The standard engine in the Revology Shelby GT500KR is the supercharged Ford/ROUSH Performance 5.0L Ti-VCT “Coyote” DOHC V8, rated at 710HP. This engine makes massive power when prompted, yet is docile and easy to drive in stop-and-go traffic.

Driveline

All Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs are equipped with a Ford 8.8″ rear end and Traction-Lok limited slip differential for quiet operation with superior durability. Unlike aftermarket gear sets, the 3.31 (A/T) and 3.73 (M/T) gear sets are Ford engineered and built at Ford’s Sterling Axle plant. Heavy duty 31-spline axles reliably transfer the car’s prodigious power to the pavement.

Carbon Fiber Driveshaft

Carbon fiber is the choice for high performance driveline applications due to its high strength and light weight, but it is also more forgiving than steel or aluminum, which serves to reduce driveline harshness, improving the overall level of refinement of the vehicle and making it more enjoyable to drive.

Brakes

With a power-to-weight ratio on par with a Ferrari 488, the GT500 brakes have to be top notch. Large six-piston forged aluminum calipers clamp 13.06″ slotted and vented rotors in front while four- piston forged aluminum calipers work on 12.88″ rotors in the rear.

Exhaust System

The stainless steel dual exhaust system is built by Borla to our specification. Tuned specifically for the Ford Coyote engine, it delivers a soft burble at idle and is quiet with no drone at cruise speed. The optional Performance Exhaust system features lower restriction mufflers to provide more power and a more aggressive tone.

Functional

Twin-disc clutch and revised clutch geometry for reduced pedal support. A precisely tuned double wishbone suspension and power rack and pinion steering deliver modern handling.

Interior

The GT500KR comes with Shelby sport bucket seats, Shelby wood rim steering wheel, and the Deluxe interior with quarter cut walnut veneer dash and door trim.

Exterior

100% LED exterior lighting, including head and driving lamps, reverse and parking lamps, tail lamps w/sequential turn signals, and exterior door handle courtesy lamps provide improved visibility at night as well as a distinctive appearance, day or night.

Hood Hinges

All Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs feature aluminum hood hinges with nitrogen filled struts for stable, quiet, and reliable operation—a notable improvement over the wobbly, squeaky 1960s hinges.

Doors

Revology 1967 and 1968 Mustangs and Shelby GTs feature modern door hinges and door latch mechanisms. While it doesn’t sound very sexy, these modern components make the car much more enjoyable to use. No more squeaks and creaks as you open the doors—they open smoothly and quietly, and close with a solid “thunk”. When closed, the precisely latched doors contribute to the overall rigidity of the body.

Decklid Latch

If you’ve ever owned a 1960s automobile, you are familiar with having to slam the decklid multiple times to get it to stay shut. To address this problem, we’ve equipped all Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs with a modern decklid latch and striker mechanism. The decklid can be opened using the key fob remote, via a release button located on the driver’s side kick panel, or via an emergency release.

Polyurethane Bonded Windshield and Backlite Glass

All Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs come standard with polyurethane bonded windshield and backlite (fastback models) glass. Polyurethane bonding is the way all modern automotive glass is secured not only because it seals better than rubber but also because it makes the glass part of the body structure, increasing body rigidity. Increased rigidity reduces noise, vibration, and harshness, but most importantly improves safety, as the stiffer roof is less likely to crush in a roll over and the glass won’t pop out and allow passengers to be ejected in a collision.

100% Steel Unibody

Modern cars all feature unibody, or monocoque, construction because it is stiffer and lighter than body on frame. For a unibody vehicle, the body provides the structure for the powertrain and chassis, which makes it much more important that it is designed and built properly. To ensure the structural rigidity and tight tolerances that allow the packaging of powerful new engines, we reengineered the Mustang unibody with added structural components and additional welds for increased strength. We build all Revology unibodies in-house, using locating fixtures, jigs, and templates to ensure proper dimensional control and sophisticated automated spot-welding equipment that senses the thickness and composition of metal that is being welded and applies the proper amount of current to ensure good quality welds.

Charging System

A convenient 4.3A on board trickle charger connects via a magnetic contact under the rear bumper to keep your battery charged even while the car is not driven for long periods.

Safety

Three point front seat belts, a dual circuit braking system, fuel shutoff inertia switch, collapsible steering shaft, and optional front seat head restraints help protect occupants in the event of a collision.

Entertainment System

The standard Pioneer 7″touch screen head units feature Bluetooth, reverse camera, voice recognition, Apple Car Play, and Android Auto and can be ordered with or without navigation and SiriusXM. The optional FOCAL Audio package features component speakers, an 720w 8 channel class AB amplifier, and a 10” enclosed subwoofer.

Leather and Alcantara™ Trim Packages

All Revology interiors are cut, sewn, and fitted by hand, including seats, floor mats, dash pad, door panels, quarter trim panels, and sun visors. This old-world craftsmanship takes time but allows freedom to choose materials and colors to ensure not only a flawless appearance but also everyday durability. We use only automotive grade leather and other materials from premium OEMs including Porsche, Mercedes, and Ferrari.

Wool Carpeting

Ultra-rich 100% wool German square weave carpeting w/ hand-sewn leather seams and bindings. Includes floor mats.

Fit and Finish

The Revology Shelby GT350 body is assembled with all-new steel panels. The hood, front fascia, and decklid are fiberglass, as in the original. All panels are painstakingly fit by hand to ensure exceptional fit and flushness.

I’m excited to be here with you today to show you our newest product, the 1968 Shelby GT500KR. I’m Tom Scarpello, founder and CEO of Revology Cars, and I do a lot of videos that feature our cars. But this time, we’re trying something different, a live stream. We thought it would be neat to invite our team members here, and we’ve got our team members with us today. These are the people that make it happen. We really appreciate their hard work. So, let’s talk about the KR!

The 1968 Shelby GT500KR was Ford’s flagship performance car in 1968. KR stands for King of the Road, a self-assured, if not hyperbolic moniker. Now, in 1968, there was a GT500 at the start of the year, and then the KR was introduced midyear, it replaced the GT500. The main difference was the upgraded 428 cubic inch engine.

Now, that engine was rated at 335 hp gross the way engines were rated back in those days, although it’s believed to be higher output, maybe 400 hp gross, which would put it at around 350 to 375 net. Nowadays, that’s not big numbers, but back in 1968, that was huge, and that was a big reason that this car is now legendary.

So, fast forward to 2023. Revology has been at this now for over nine years. We’ve delivered over 170 production cars, all new reproduction 1965 to 1968 Mustangs and Shelby GTs. And now we’ve reengineered the 1968 Shelby GT500KR. Like with all Revology cars, we’ve made it faster, we’ve made it more comfortable, more reliable, safer, better in every way. But it is still every bit a KR – The king of the road. Ladies and gentlemen, the new Revology Shelby GT500KR!

All right, excellent. So this is our first ever 1968 Shelby GT500KR. This is a Ford and Shelby licensed product. Now, Revology Cars is the first company ever licensed by Ford to build a new reproduction Ford. And we’re currently the only company in the world licensed to build a new reproduction 1960s Mustang.

And as for Shelby, all of the Shelby GTs, we build are recognized by Shelby American as real Shelby’s. Some people call them continuation cars. Whatever you call it, a Shelby built by Revology in Florida is no less a Shelby than a Shelby built by Ford at Flat Rock.

Now, our first Shelby KR. This car, 168 was built for one of our most valued clients. This is his fifth Revology vehicle, and he has two more on order for seven total. This car is finished in Royal Maroon. It has a Wimbledon White Lemans stripes and an Ivory Nappa leather interior.

Now, our philosophy at Revology, when it comes to the appearance is to be as true to the original as possible. So we feel that we’re really privileged to be able to recreate these iconic vehicles and we respect their heritage. So when we make appearance changes, they’re really because of functionality. However, you’re really going to have to look closely at the Revology Shelby GT500KR to see the differences. It looks very, very close to the original car.

Now we’ll do a quick walk around and I’ll show you some of the details. So, first of all, at the front for 1968, all Shelby’s had a unique front end distinctive feature here is the rectangular fog lights in the grille. So we’ve recreated this precisely. The only difference you’ll see on the Revology is the headlamps and the turn signals are led. The ‘68 Shelby also had a unique fiberglass hood. They had added vents in the hood for improved engine cooling.

Now, although we don’t have a problem with engine cooling, we kept the vents for authenticity at the side of the car. This ‘68 rides on 17 x 8 inch Shelby 10-spoke aluminum wheels. The originals were 15 inch. The 17 inch allows us to package much larger brakes. It’s a 13.1 inch rotor in the front with six piston calipers, 12.9 in the rear with four piston calipers, and also modern performance tires. These are Michelin Pilot Sport 4S. At the side, the original KR had the Cobra Jet badging with Cobra Jet 428. Obviously, since our engine is a five-liter coyote, we redesigned the badge to feature the 5.0, though little detail most people wouldn’t even notice.

At the back of the car, the ‘68 all featured a unique tail lamp panel with argent satin painted insert. And the tail lamps themselves were also unique for 1968. We’ve recreated that here, except these are LED and they have sequential turn signals. The reverse lamps are also LED. One other little detail on the KR versus the GT500 in ‘68 was that the KR featured a unique fuel cap that says Cobra Jet on it, presumably to remind you why you’re continuously having to put fuel in it because you had a Cobra Jet.

So the interior of the ‘68 Shelby was the deluxe interior that was available back in 1968. And we’ve designed our interior based on that deluxe interior, but significantly upgraded in terms of the interior materials. You won’t find any plastic or aftermarket parts in a Revology interior. This is OEM automotive grade leather and vinyl carpet. Every interior surface is wrapped, and it’s all done in house. Listen how that door slams.

All right, so, although the appearance is very true to the original, everything else is different. So, starting with the engine, I mentioned that the original car produced around 350 to 375. Supercharged five-liter engine produces 710 hp. That’s about double what the original car did.

Now, car and driver recently tested one of our 1967 Shelby GT500s with this same engine, and they achieved a zero to 60 time of 3.7 seconds and a quarter mile time of 11.7 seconds at 124 miles an hour. Those are impressive numbers, even for a modern car.

Now, the Revology KR is available with a six speed manual or a ten speed automatic. And the rear end features the Ford 8.8 inch gear set with a traction lock, limited slip diff. Front suspension is double wishbone, and the rear is a three link with a torque arm and a Panhard rod.

So, everything that I’ve said up until now, though, doesn’t really tell you what is truly different about Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs. These aren’t one off cars. These are low volume series production cars. The KR, like all Revology Mustangs and Shelby GTs, is built on our M58 platform. So, what is a vehicle platform? It’s a configuration of common components, systems, and functions that are shared across different vehicle models. And that includes powertrain, cooling, fuel, drive line, suspension, steering, brakes, electrical, all of that.

So, building all of our cars on a common platform allows us to make investments that wouldn’t be feasible with one off builds. So, one example is our cooling system. Now, the Coyote engine, the modern engine requires a much upgraded cooling system from what the original car was equipped with. However, it’s a much larger system, and it won’t physically fit in the original car’s architecture. But we don’t just put the biggest radiator we can find and call it good. We actually redesigned the core support of our body of the car so that we could incorporate the current Coyote cooling system. All of it, radiator, fans, hoses, everything.

And the reason we did that, the reason we took that extra step, made that extra effort, is because the OEM is spending millions of dollars doing development work to test their products in the most extreme environments. And we know that they work. We’ve shipped cars to the hottest places on earth, not only Arizona, but also Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and we’ve never once had a cooling problem.

So our approach, using OEM original equipment manufacturer parts, means our customers get best in class performance, reliability, comfort, and safety. So, some other examples. Front and rear glass. We use polyurethane adhesive to bond the glass to the body. The way that glass is bonded in a modern car. And that improves safety because the glass is not going to pop out in an accident, but also improves the structural integrity, the rigidity of the body. It acts as a structural member.

Another thing that we do is change all of the hinges and latch mechanisms in the doors and in the deck lid to modern parts. These components. I slammed the door earlier, but I can’t slam the door enough because I love it. I love the way it opens. I love the way you don’t hear the squeak and the creak like a haunted house. And I love the way it shuts. Those kind of details take a lot of effort. And you can only do it if you focus on one thing and you spend the time and the money to do it and to do it to that level.

So a lot of people can build a car that looks good in your garage or in your driveway, but nobody builds a classic Mustang or Shelby GT that is as reliable and fun to drive as Revology. And after all, driving is what cars are all about.

Thank you very much for tuning in!