Ford Extends Shelby GT350, GT350R Mustangs for 2018; National Maynard James Keenan Day Somehow Still Not a Thing
Monday marks 53 years since the birth of an American icon. I am talking, of course, about Tool and A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan, who was born in Akron, Ohio on this very day just a shade over a half-decade ago. Man, all those years, and the man is still going as hard as ever with the first date of Tool’s upcoming 2017 tour set to kick off at the Eagle Bank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia on May 24th. (Get your tickets now, by the way.)
Arguably aging just about as well as Keenan is another slightly less-well-known American icon, the Ford Mustang, which is the focal point of its own holiday even though it has never charted a single album No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 or won a Grammy (Maynard James Keenan has two No. 1 albums, a trio of Grammy Awards, and even owns a couple of wineries).
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Ford announced on National Mustang Day that it will extend availability of both its Shelby GT350 and Shelby GT350R Mustangs into the 2018 model year. It was announced that these Mustangs will ostensibly be the same as the 2017 model-year versions but for one small change—the 2018 models will be offered with three new exterior color options: Orange Fury, Kona Blue, and Lead Foot Gray. So: hooray!
But why fix what ain’t broken? The Shelby GT350 and GT350R are powered by an award-winning 5.2-liter flat-plane crankshaft V8 that generates 526 horsepower and 429 lb-ft of torque, and they are offered with MagneRide damping and vented 15.5-inch two-piece front brake rotors and six-piston Brembo brake calipers for the ultimate control.
Okay, sure, but did the Ford Mustang study jiu-jitsu under Rickson Gracie? Nope! You know who did? National treasure Maynard James Keenan. Think about that for a minute. Are you still thinking about it? Think about it harder.
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Kyle S. Johnson lives in Cincinnati, a city known by many as “the Cincinnati of Southwest Ohio.” He enjoys professional wrestling, Halloween, and also other things. He has been writing for a while, and he plans to continue to write well into the future. See more articles by Kyle.