Do You Feel The Need …

Shelby American Speed Shop supervisor Gil Nevarez runs a bright red GT500 Super Snake through the new state-of-the-art chassis dyno Thursday and charts the muscle car's horsepower at something above 800 on a diagnostic screen.

That's what the customer from Alberta, Calgary, is paying about $50,000 to get. This car will be unmatched on the streets of Alberta or anywhere else, Nevarez said.

Las Vegas-based Shelby American opened the 5,000-square-foot speed shop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway industrial park in June, adding to Shelby's Cobra series manufacturing plant and Caroll Shelby Showroom Museum.

The shop is designed to enhance the performance of American muscle cars by upgrading engine, suspension and body-styling components.

"We've become so versatile, so diversified," Nevarez said. "This dyno does a lot of things. It validates horsepower, it offers a diagnostic tool for driveability problems. Most important, it allows us to go in and do modifications such as the camshaft changes we're doing. We can custom tune just for those modifications."

The shop had been making modifications for owners of the Shelby Cobra, GT500, Super Snake, Shelby GT, Shelby CS6 Mustang and other Shelby lines. With the shrinking economy, Shelby American extended the shop's performance magic to the general public.

Nevarez pointed to a 1958 Corvette being restored as a 75th birthday present for a Las Vegas man's father. Nearby was a 2010 Camaro being fitted with a high-performance camshaft that will add 50 horsepower. A Chevy Cobalt was having a supercharger and custom exhaust system installed.

He had seven cars in the shop and 10 more lined up for work.

"While we specialize in all American high-performance cars, our experienced team can tune and work on just about everything," Shelby vice president Gary Davis said in a company statement. "We've even tuned sand buggies."

Car designer Carroll Shelby founded Shelby American in 1996, the first automobile manufacturer in Nevada, setting up a 130,000-square-foot plant at the speedway to produce replicas of the famous Shelby Cobra and Series I high-performance sports car.

Shelby American has gone through several managerial changes over the years, including Don Rager, Brent Fenimore, Nelson Gonzales and Amy Boylan. The current president is John Luft.

Nevarez said the chassis dyno made by DynoJet Research costs $35,000 to $50,000, depending on options. It'll measure up to 2,000 horsepower and it can simulate a load, which makes it different from other dynos, he said.

While the Canadian customer will pour more than $100,000 into his GT500 Super Snake, the Camaro owner will pay about $3,500 to take it from 328 horsepower to close to 400 horsepower. The Cobalt is being supercharged for $1,500, perfect for a teenage kid, Nevarez said.

Every vehicle will receive documentation that work was performed at the Shelby American Speed Shop. Modifications to Shelby cars will be noted in the official Shelby Registry.

Shelby American, a division of Carroll Shelby International, manufactures and markets performance vehicles, products and accessories under the Shelby trademark.

Contact reporter Hubble Smith at hsmith@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0491.