The first 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is an homage to the 1968 Green Hornet

The first 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 rolled off the assembly line in October this year, and it’s a special one. Purchased for charity at a Barrett-Jackson auction by Craig Jackson (the Barrett-Jackson chairman and CEO), it’s painted in a bespoke green finish that’s meant to mimic the 1968 Shelby EXP Prototype’s paint color.

The 1968 Shelby EXP Prototype (recently re-restored) is better known as the Green Hornet, and Jackson currently owns the car. It was used as a test bed for performance innovations and technologies between Ford and Shelby. To get the green paint to match the original, Ford combined two green paints. It has a Lime Green base coat and a Candy Apple Green outer. Together, they make a stunning green that isn’t available anywhere in Ford’s paint catalog. The only green offered from the factory in 2020 for the Shelby GT500 is Grabber Lime.

Craig Jackson won the bid for $1.1 million at the 2019 Scottsdale Auction, and he appears thrilled with the way this car has turned out.

“In making this request, I truly had no idea what an extraordinary undertaking it was, but BASF and the paint specialists at Penske went above and beyond to make that happen,” Jackson says. “The entire team at Ford went out of their way to help my dream become a reality, and I couldn’t be more grateful.”

Other unique touches to this particular car include the EXP500 lettering in the white stripe along the bottom and body-color-painted mirrors — all other GT500s will have black-painted mirrors. The car looks superb, and we’d love to see this green or a similar green offered as a factory option.