[xb-60]

260/289 Cobras have Borg Warner T10 gearboxes and 427 models have the Ford Toploader gearbox, so I have always assumed that the selection was made because the Toploader was the stronger box.
However....I was reading in Greg Kolasa's book on Shelby Mustangs that close-ratio BW T10 gearboxes were fitted to Shelby Mustangs on the Ford production line, rather than the Ford Toploader box fitted to non-Shelby manual transmission Mustangs (this is 1965, so no BBF under the Mustang hood)
I had always thought that the Toploader was the stronger gearbox, so why did Shelby specify the T10 instead of the Toploader? I think the ratios available to both were the same or similar. Was the T10 chosen because it was lighter (I'm guessing here....) or what was the story?

Cheers,
Glen