Last week, car enthusiasts were up in arms after Ford announced it would be renaming two streets located within its global headquarters, currently named after Carroll Shelby.
In an announcement by Ford Land, the car giant’s real estate division, the business said the existing Carroll Shelby Way West and Carroll Shelby Way East were to become Raptor Way and Navigator Avenue, respectively.
This announcement also included the renaming of Village Road to Mustang Alley, and South Pond Road to Bronco Bend, though neither received the same level of feedback as the prospect of renaming the streets which pay tribute to the man behind the GT40’s success at Le Mans, not to mention the many generations of Mustang GT350 and GT500.
Speaking to Automotive News, Ford has now performed a U-turn on renaming the Carroll Shelby Ways, saying the information in the media release was “under consideration but not finalised”, and that its publication was a “miscommunication”.
“Carroll Shelby Way is not changing,” the carmaker said in a statement.
The current Carroll Shelby Way West and Carroll Shelby Way East were named in 2014, less than two years after Shelby’s death.
While Ford has stopped using the Shelby name on its performance Mustangs – such as the Dark Horse, the Dark Horse SC, and the GTD – Shelby American continues to tune up hot Mustangs, utilising its long-standing GT350, GT500 and Super Snake nameplates.
With the Carroll Shelby Ways remaining, he is still the non-Ford family member to have streets named after him within the Henry Ford II World Center.
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