Durango Shelby SP360: Supercharged & Super Obscure
Before the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk and Dodge Durango SRT, there was the Durango Shelby SP360 with its supercharged 5.9-liter V8.
Every movie star, no matter how many films they’ve been in or how much their work has grossed at the box office, has at least one film that only six people saw in the theaters. It’s the same with carmakers. Carroll Shelby made a name for himself by making the Ford Mustang a faster horse, but he didn’t seem to get the word out about his work on the Dodge Durango. There aren’t many of them out there, especially supercharged ones.
Nathan Adlen from the YouTube channel TFLclassics managed to find someone who owns one, though. His name is Joe. Not only does he drive a Shelby-fied Durango, but he was aware that Shelby modified Durangos by tweaking the cosmetics and upgrading the suspension, brakes, wheels, and tires way back in the 1990s. Joe was a broke teenager then, but flash forward to the present day and he happened to find one for sale with only 32,500 miles on it – at a Tesla dealership. Go figure. Despite Joe’s 12-year-long desire for one, he didn’t immediately jump on the opportunity. Fortunately, once he was ready to sign the paperwork, it was still available. Joe traded in his previous car, then closed the deal with an additional $15,900.
That got Joe not only a rare vehicle, but a rare Shelby Durango. He tells Adlen, “There was supposed to be about 3,000 made between ’99 and 2000. There was only about 350 made and about a half of those were four-wheel-drive and third-row seat with the supercharger.” Joe has one of those roughly 175 vehicles, an SP360 model in Viper blue with white stripes and carbon fiber interior trim.
The Kenne Bell supercharger attached to its 5.9-liter V8 generates six pounds of boost and helps pump out 360 horsepower. The other traits that make Joe’s vehicle especially hard to find also make it useful to Joe, who lives with his wife and daughter in Nebraska. The SP360’s 400-miles-to-a-tank fuel economy doesn’t hurt, either.
But Adlen isn’t interested in hypermiling the SP360. He wants to find out how much grunt the supercharged rarity has, right foot first. With only 360 horsepower, the SP360 is not fast by today’s standards, but Adlen thinks it’s “plenty quick.” He tells Joe, “The whine of the supercharger isn’t as pronounced as some of the modern engines out there.” One thing that definitely makes its presence known is the SP360’s overly firm suspension. As Joe puts it, “I love the way it handles. It’s just rough.”
It’s a shame Shelby no longer offers hotted-up Durangos. There’s plenty of space to fill in between the Durango SRT and the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk – and plenty of Mustangs out there to humiliate with a family-hauling hot rod.
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