Charming Snake; The new Shelby GT500 is the best Mustang yet.(NEWS)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

A critical point in the de-velopment of the new, all-conquering Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 came when the development team realized that its monstrous-huge air intake had to be positioned on the right side of the grille. This meant that the Cobra snake emblem, which had been riding on the left side, would need to slide over a bit. Such a radical change would require approval from the original snake charmer himself. This is how SVT's very German director, Hermann Salenbach, remembers it.

"Vee said, "Carroll, vee vant to moof zee snake.'

Shelby asked whether it would mean more power. They told him yes. So he said, "Well, OK.

More power means it now matches the 540-hp output of the Shelby GT500KR. Thanks to that and numerous other engineering upgradesmany, if not most, of which Shelby himself approvedzee snake now moofs down zee quarter-mile in the low 12s at about 112 mph. We saw it trip those numbers at Infineon on the second day of the intro program. Estimated 0-to60-mph times should be about 4.3 seconds, Ford said, half a second quicker than the 2009 Shelby GT500.

The 2010 Shelby GT500 incorporates many things learned from the KR model and adds some unique styling features of its own. Think of the 2010 version as a KR for half the money. It will start at $48,175, including destination and a $1,000 gas-guzzler tax when it enters showrooms right about now.

The new car will get many of the same powertrain upgrades found in the KR, including intake and exhaust improvements and engine programming that boosts horsepower in the four-valve, supercharged 5.4-liter V8 from a mere 500 hp in the previous Shelby GT500 to the same 540-hp in the KR.