Australia's first Shelby GT500 converted to RHD

This is a Ford Shelby GT500 with a difference, that difference being the steering wheel is on the right-hand side. It's the first Australian conversion by Mustang Motorsport who let us have a crawl over the 567kW/847Nm monster.

At first glance the 'standard' Shelby GT500 (i.e. lacking the Carbon Fibre Track Pack) looks like a standard Ford Mustang, but on closer inspection the level of modification quickly becomes obvious.

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It's 31mm wider than a standard Mustang GT, allowing the fitment of 305mm-wide front tyres and 315mm rears, necessary to harness the huge grunt of the 5.2-litre supercharged V8, which is linked to a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox.

Converting a GT500 to right-hand drive - as with any modern car - is no small exercise, the engine having been extracted, a new firewall installed, the brakes and steering relocated, new parts made inside and out in order to mirror the standard left-hook GT500 as closely as possible.

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The process also isn't cheap. Mustang Motorsport has set up a configurator on its website listing all the possible options and the associated costs. The base car is AUD$245,000-$255,000 depending on the exchange rate, which includes purchase, importing, compliance and conversion but not government taxes and on-road costs.

Options include a range of 10 colours, various stripe packages ($2100 for vinyl, $21,200 for painted), $6400 Technology Package while the big-ticket Carbon Fibre Track Pack, consisting of carbon fibre rims, Michelin Cup 2 tyres, rear seat delete, GT4 wing, adjustable strut top mounts, leather Recaro seats and front dive planes, adds $40,500.

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Fully-loaded, pricing pushes towards $350,000 on the road, which is mega money for a mega Mustang, but the performance - 0-100km/h in under four seconds, a mid-11sec quarter mile - is at least competitive with more exotic machinery like the Porsche 911 GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT R.

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