2010 Shelby GT500

It was only a few weeks ago we brought you the reveal of the 2010 Ford Mustang, and today, we're the first to bring you the almost totally undisguised shots of the 2010 Shelby GT500 convertible, because we're the ones who took 'em.

In what is the clearest proof yet that paying attention to your rear view mirrors pays dividends, we noticed this virtually uncamouflaged Shelby GT500 sidle up next to us in the left turn lane at a stoplight in the snowy Detroit suburb of Royal Oak. When you live in Detroit and you write about cars, you have a camera in the car at all times, and since the guy was caught in traffic, the photographic onslaught was on.

We did our best to give chase but there was no way to do it safely, with the super-Shelbyfied 'stang taking off on a left turn faster than we could figure out where he took off too. We're imagining he called in the transport truck and disappeared Spy Hunter style. In any case, the new GT500 shares a lot of the styling elements of the current car with double vents on the hood, a huge aggressive upper and lower grille plus the not-so-subtle stripes on the hood.

What's new is the smoothly styled rear spoiler which compliments the new back-end. Check out those stylish new wheels. Pretty cool looking, huh? But what does it sound like? Sounds a lot like the current one, nice throaty exhaust with a tinge of cockle-stirring supercharger whine. We expect the new GT500 to drop at the Detroit Auto Show in January and yes, we'll be there to see it live.