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Carroll Shelby has had a remarkably long career as a driver, owner, team manager, manufacturer, consultant, and visionary. Early in his career, Carroll's accomplishments as a race car driver included breaking land speed records at Bonneville in 1954 for Austin Healey and winning the 24-hour Le Mans in 1959 alongside teammate Roy Salvadori. As a team manager, Carroll was a part of the FIA World Grand Touring Championship as well as Ford GT victories at Le Mans.

When his health caused him to give up racing in 1960, Carroll got out of the driver's seat and turned his attention to design. He had a vision of creating a racecar made from a lightweight European chassis with American V8 power. The result of this vision was what is considered perhaps the greatest sports car and one of the fastest road cars ever constructed - the Shelby Cobra. The aluminum-bodied 289 and 427 Cobra models and the subsequent Shelby Mustangs he built for Ford, made Carroll Shelby a household name in the 1960s.

In 1992, Carroll Shelby was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame. In the more than a decade since, he has continued to impact the world of racing and automobile design. Carroll Shelby is probably the only person to have worked at a visible level with all three of the American Automobile manufacturers. His charisma, vision and ability to know the best person for the job have made him into a master organizer and team leader able to produce consistently impressive results.

The new contract between Ford Motor Company and Carroll Shelby signaled hope for Shelby products built under Ford. In 2004, a new Ford Shelby Cobra Concept was shown off in at US car shows. Built with a retro body mimicking the 1960s Cobras mixed with modern touches, it was based on the Ford GT chassis (reworked for front engine/rear wheel drive) powered with a 6.4 L V10 engine that produced 605 hp (451 kW). It received overwhelmingly positive press reviews and has won the Best In Show award at Detroit International Auto Show.

In 2005, the Shelby GT500 was revealed at the New York International Auto Show, and became available in the summer of 2006 as part of the model year 2007 lineup. It is powered by a 5.4 Liter Modular V8, with 4V per cylinder heads borrowed from the $150K Ford GT supercar, an eaton M122 roots supercharger and is rated by Ford at 500 hp (370 kW) and 480 ft (146 m). lbs of torque. It boasts a Tremec T-6060 manual transmission, reworked suspension geometry, 18-inch wheels, functional aerodynamic body kit, and still retains the solid rear axle. The GT500 starts at an MSRP of $40,930 for the coupe, and $45,755 for the convertible version. Although Carroll Shelby had no hands on involvement in the design of the car, he did provide Ford and SVT (Special Vehicle Team) input on what would make the car better. Most notably, he convinced Ford to enlist wider rear tires (from 255 mm wide to 285 mm wide). This car is the aftermarket's dream ... with less than $1000 in simple modifications (smaller pulley on the supercharger, cold air intake, and custom remapping of the ECU) the car's horsepower can jump to over 650 and torque over 600.

Shelby, in cooperation with the Hertz Corporation, produced a limited-edition Shelby GT-H in 2006. The GT-H is a special-edition Ford Mustang GT, available only for rental from Hertz. A Ford Racing Performance Group FR1 Power Pack boosts the GT's 4.6-liter, V-8 engine to 325 hp (242 kW). The car has a custom Shelby hood and black and gold body styling, incorporating a gold-plated "Hertz" nameplate on both sides of the car. The GT-H is limited to a run of 500 vehicles and is available for rental at major cities and airports across the United States. A consumer version of the Shelby GT-H is available from Ford, called the Shelby GT. It has a production run limited to 6,000 vehicles for 2007 and 2300 for 2008, and features the same powerplant as the GT-H, but includes more suspension upgrades and is available with both manual and automatic transmissions. White and black colors were available for 2007 models and grabber orange or blue are available for 2008. A convertible is available in 2008 also. Few models leaving the Shelby factory in Las Vegas with a supercharger are called Shelby GT/SC. All Shelby GT's are shipped with the Shelby serial number (CSM) on the dash board badge and in the engine compartment - such as 07SGT0001 or 08SGT0001.