Did this 2020 Shelby GT500 leave the factory with what sounds like rod knock?
A shocking video popped up on my radar earlier today showing a mechanic starting up a brand spankin’ new 2020 Shelby GT500 with what sounds an awful lot like rod knock shortly after the GT500’s engine fires up and overcomes the noise of the raucous exhaust. The original poster has since deleted the video from Facebook but several copies popped up shortly after.
Check out the jaw dropping video for yourself below. And just in case the video below disappears, here’s a copy on Youtube.
“Fresh out of the gate, brand new.” The heart wrenching knocking sound isn’t even rpm specific only near the middle of the RPM range but seems to happen right on startup. Allegedly, this Shelby GT500 is fresh off the delivery truck without a single mile driven by a technician during the usual inspection to confirm nothing’s amiss from the factory.
Total miles on the odometer? Supposedly, just 4.
The implication is that this Mustang somehow left Ford’s assembly factory in this condition, which is surprising given the amount of quality control checks new cars go through before even leaving the factory floor.
One skeptical commenter on Youtube with access to Ford’s warranty claim system ran a check on new 2020 Mustangs and didn’t find a claim in Ford’s system..
“I ran the warranty on all 2020 Mustangs and never saw a claim for this issue in Ford system. Head Scratcher. “
One feature that makes GT500s unique, justifying its $70,000+ price tag, is a dedicated team of engine builders at Ford’s Romeo facility that literally hand builds every engine, a process that takes a master engine builder 210 minutes from start to finish.
GT500 engines produce 760 HP and 625 lb-ft thanks to a 2.65 liter roots-type supercharger slapped onto a 5.2L V8 engine.
Sure, GT500s are a performance bargain for all the power and handling you get but no one expects to start a new car from the factory to hear marbles in a washing machine.
The real salt in the wound has to be that technician zooming in on the nameplate of the engine builder at the end. Why’d they have to do ’em like that?
