2026 Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC First Look: A Shelby GT500 in All but Name
Behind a new name lies a familiar supercharged V8 that reveals everything you need to know about Ford’s newest muscle car.
It was no secret that Ford would eventually plug the quarter-million-dollar hole between the Mustang Dark Horse and the $330,000 Mustang GTD. Now we know exactly how and when it will bridge that gap. Meet the 2026 Ford Mustang Dark Horse SC. If you were expecting a Shelby GT500, well, so were we. But before you go jumping to conclusions, know that the Dark Horse SC is a Shelby GT500 in all but name.
The “SC” in Dark Horse SC stands for “supercharged,” which might lead you to believe that the engineers just ordered the $10,500, 810-hp Whipple supercharger kit out of the Ford Racing parts catalog and bolted it onto the Dark Horse’s Coyote 5.0-liter V8. Nope. Pop the hood of the Dark Horse SC, and you’ll find an Eaton TVS R2650 supercharger mounted to a 5.2-liter V8. Shelby aficionados will recognize that string of letters and numbers as the same hardware that powered the 2020–2022 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. In fact, from nose to tail, the Dark Horse SC pretty much reads like a four-year-old GT500 that’s been updated with new looks, new aero, and next-generation tires …
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2026-ford-mustang-dark-horse-sc-first-look-review
(photo credit: Ford)
