Classic Recreations Will Unveil Its Carbon-Body Shelby GT500CR and Chris Bumstead's Boss 429 in Las Vegas on October 29

Classic Recreations, the Yukon, Oklahoma shop that builds Shelby-licensed Mustangs, said on October 19 that it will show two cars in Las Vegas in the same week. The first is the Shelby GT500CR Carbon, which the company calls the only production, fully licensed, ground-up GT500CR with a complete carbon fibre body. The second is a one-of-one 1969 Boss 429 restomod built for Chris Bumstead, the six-time Classic Physique Olympia winner.

Both cars are revealed at the Concours at Wynn Las Vegas, which runs from October 29 to November 1, and then move to the 2026 SEMA Show from November 3 to 6 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The GT500CR sits in the FuelTech booth, number 24431 in Central Hall, and the Boss 429 goes to Central Plaza NL19.

What is actually under the carbon

The GT500CR Carbon uses hand-laid carbon panels over a Detroit Speed chassis, with Nitron electronically controlled dampers, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes and Forgeline wheels. Power comes from a Wegner-built Gen 4X Coyote V8 with a Whipple supercharger, running a Suncoast 10-speed automatic and FuelTech standalone engine management with traction control. Each car gets a serial number recorded in the Shelby registry, which matters for resale in a market full of unlicensed tribute cars.

Prices are not small. Carscoops reported in June that the carbon GT500CR starts at $549,900, with the 900hp supercharged package from $724,900, and that the engine menu runs from a 500hp naturally aspirated Coyote through 700hp and 900hp blown versions. Classic Recreations' own October post quotes 1,000hp for the show car, so the top of the range appears to have moved up.

The Boss 429 is the louder of the two. It keeps a steel body with period lines over a reinforced chassis, but carries a Whipple-supercharged 7.3-litre Ford Performance Megazilla V8, the same Suncoast 10-speed, JRI shocks, Wilwood brakes, a carbon fibre driveshaft and BASF Glasurit paint. It was commissioned, so it is not a model you can order.

Worth remembering that Classic Recreations only exists in this form because Velocity Restorations bought it out of bankruptcy late in 2025 and secured the Shelby licence, as Carscoops reported. Velocity is the Pensacola shop behind the production Fox Body Mustang restomod, so the two brands now sit under one roof.

Why no Indian collector can register one

A car like this is effectively unregisterable in India as a road vehicle. Imported used cars must not be older than three years, must be right-hand drive and must clear homologation and BS6 compliance, per ClearTax's summary of the import rules. A restomod built on an original 1967 or 1969 Mustang shell fails the age test and the steering side test at the same time.

The duty makes the point even harder. ClearTax puts the duty band on used car imports at 125 per cent to 165 per cent, against about 70 per cent basic customs duty plus a 40 per cent AIDC on new CBU cars above $40,000. Even if an exemption were somehow arranged, a $549,900 car would land here at a multiple of its US price.

The realistic Indian route stays what it has always been. Buy and keep the car abroad, or have a local builder do a tribute car on a chassis that is already legally registered here, with the structure and engine capacity left alone. Alterations that change the make or engine specification of a registered vehicle are not something to treat casually, and no Indian shop can sell you a Shelby-licensed anything.

Sources