2020 Ford Mustang GT500 destroyed by fire fighters

If you’re squeamish, look away now… for the destruction of a brand new, seemingly perfectly good Ford Mustang GT500 will be tough to watch.

But this is the fate that recently befell a pre-production prototype Ford Mustang GT500 in Dearborn, Michigan, recently – and while it’s something that usually happens to lesser cars, the Mustang is no less a suitable tool for rescue training.

But bloody hell… really?

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“This week we trained on vehicle extrication,” reads a post from the Dearborn Fire Department – and the Ford faithful amongst you will note that Dearborn is the home to the Ford Motor Company in the US.

“It almost broke our hearts to cut up this 2020 Ford Shelby Cobra GT 500 test vehicle.”

Vehicle extraction is an ever-changing job, with stronger steels and different materials like carbon-fibre and updated aluminium alloys requiring rescue teams to ensure that their tools are up for the job.

In the case of the GT500, the airbags had been detonated before the fire crew started work on it, but was otherwise intact. Even the Australian-made carbon fibre rims are still on the car.

More on the mighty Ford Mustang GT500

• This is the first Mustang GT500
• 2020 Ford Mustang GT500 driven
• Can you get a Mustang Shelby Cobra GT500 in Australia?

The roof has been removed by sawing through the A- and B-pillars, while it also appears that the bonnet has been cut to extinguish an under-bonnet fire.

As hard as it is to see, the fate of this GT500 was sealed the moment it rolled off the production line as a regular Mustang. Used as a test mule for the GT500 development program, the car was never intended for sale.

It can’t even be sold as a race car, because that runs the risk of the GT500 being rebirthed and sold as a road car by less scrupulous types.

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The GT500 is a monster in every sense, with a 5.2-litre supercharged V8 producing 567kW and 847NM of torque. Ford claims this mighty motor makes the GT500 the most powerful Ford road car ever.

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With a specific output of 109kW per litre, the GT500 even outguns the Dodge Challenger Demon's 626kW engine of 101kW per litre.

Huge brakes, a bespoke Tremec gearbox, a customised interior and wild bodykit also set the GT500 apart from the pack.

As for our sad and sorry sacrifice, the parts will be returned to Ford to be scrapped, and this GT500 will be erased from the history books.