In December, Shelby gave us the Bold Edition Super Snake, an appearance package wrapped in lurid colors popular in the 1970s. This week we were gifted with the Shelby Signature Series, which likewise starts with the Super Snake, but adds performance and cosmetic upgrades and an even higher price than the $123,295 Bold Edition. Shelby American said that for the Signature Series, its “team spent two years engineering and refining the car to create a vehicle worthy of Carroll Shelby’s name,” and calls this “the most polished performance car in Shelby American’s history.”

The heart holds steady with the Super Snake’s 825-horsepower, provided by a Whipple Supercharger bolted to an evolution of Ford’s 5.0-liter V8. Instead of a Ford Performance exhaust, the engine blows through high-flow Borla pipes. The hand-fashioned, ram-air hood features an in-house-designed system for channeling hot air away from the supercharger to avoid heat soak. The front fascia adds appendages in front of the intakes, and a ducting system behind shunts cooling air to the engine and the brakes. On either side, Shelby created wider aluminum fenders with extractors for even more cooling. One-piece, 20×11-inch forged aluminum Monoblock wheels sit at the four corners, wearing Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 rubber.

Inside, the company worked with Katzkin to create a special snake-like pattern and stitching for the leather and suede seats. This is one place the model proves its name, Caroll Shelby’s signature appearing on the uprights, matching the script on the fender strakes. 

There will be 50 examples built for the U.S. market in coupe or convertible flavors, with either the six-speed manual or 10-speed automatic, all of them covered by the standard three-year, 36,000-mile warranty. The only options are painted stripes, a rear seat delete with harness bar, a widebody package, and car cover. Everything else is included, the price of entry beginning at $127,795.

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