This 365-Mile SVT Mustang Cobra R Is Calling The New GT500 Out

Three eras of Mustang dominate the Ford pony car conversation. There’s the original 1964-73 classic Mustangs, the cheap and tuneable 1979-1993 Fox body cars, and the two generations of retro cars produced between 2005 and today.

But it’s easy to forget that Ford built some great Mustangs in the periods between those cars. Okay, not so much in the mid-1970s Mustang II years, although sales numbers from the time would have you believe otherwise. But Mustangs like this 2000 SVT Cobra R wouldn’t look out of place next to a Porsche 911 GT3 in any car collection, which must be where this one had spent its life to explain its criminally low 365 miles.

Just 300 Cobra Rs were built for 2000, everyone finished in the same Performance Red paint and featuring a huge power dome hood and even huger rear wing on the trunk lid. Inside, there’s no radio, air conditioning, or rear seats. And that wasn’t just posturing; the Cobra R was as serious about total performance as anything from Porsche’s motorsports department.

The front foglights were omitted, replaced by air ducts to cool the Brembo brakes, there was a side exit exhaust because conventional rear-exit pipes wouldn’t clear the racing-style fuel cell. Like all SVT Cobras, and unlike regular Mustangs, it featured independent rear suspension, in this case with Eibach springs and Bilstein shocks, and the quad-cam 5.4-liter V8 made 385 hp and a neatly matching 385 lb-ft of shove, all channeled through a six-speed manual transmission.

We’ve become so desensitized by big power outputs that the R’s sub-400 hp showing doesn’t sound that amazing. But a 175mph top end and 13.2-second quarter mile capability was badass back at the turn of the new millennium. Presumably, though, this car’s two owners never got to experience either, because with only 365 miles on the clock it’s not even run in.

Ford actually refused to sell the ’95 Cobra Rs to anyone without a race license after seeing the ’93 models get mothballed by collectors, but abandoned the requirement for the 2000 car. Sadly, that meant many of these cars never got used, and the low 300-unit run, plus the authenticity of the whole performance enhancement program for the R means this low mileage example currently being auctioned on Bring-a-Trailer is likely to go straight into another collection.

If you want it for your collection get bidding before the hammer drops on Wednesday, October 27. But be prepared to sell your house to take it home. A brand new Shelby GT500 has an MSRP of $72,900 but bidding had already reached $80,000 on this car with six days still to go.