Ford never offered an 850-horsepower Mustang from the factory. That number only exists because Shelby American got involved. Here’s how the Super Snake’s Kenne Bell supercharger conversion turned an already-potent GT500 into one of the most powerful street-legal muscle cars ever built, and why finding one in all-black is a special kind of rare.
You like “Black-on-Black”?
Ford never built an 850-horsepower Mustang from the factory, so if you want that number under your hood, you go through Shelby American instead. Somewhere in the Super Snake program, Carroll Shelby’s namesake shop took an already-serious GT500 and turned the wick up to a level that sounds more like a supercar spec sheet than a pony car. Paint it all black, badge it Super Snake, and you’ve got one of the most quietly terrifying things Ford ever let out of a dealership lot. The way Shelby got there involved a supercharger most Mustang owners have never even heard of.
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The Supercharger Behind the Number
The 850-horsepower Super Snake starts life as a 5.8-liter GT500 V8, then gets handed to Kenne Bell for a 3.6-liter LC supercharger conversion — complete with a high-performance radiator, an air-to-water intercooler, and an intake big enough to actually feed the thing. Shelby offered the Mammoth kit in 750, 800, and 850-horsepower tiers, and the top-spec version made the Super Snake the most powerful 50-state-legal production muscle car of its era, capable of pushing past 200 mph.
Built to Stop as Hard as It Goes
Making 850 horsepower street-legal isn’t just about the engine — Shelby backed it with a Wilwood brake package running six-piston front calipers and four-piston rears on cross-drilled, vented rotors, plus front camber plates and remote-reservoir rear dampers to keep the chassis composed at speed. Only around 500 Super Snakes were built for the model year, all riding on 20-inch Shelby-designed wheels — which makes an all-black example like this one a genuinely rare thing to see parked anywhere outside a Shelby event.
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