1966 Shelby GT350H Fastback

The "Rent-a-Racer" program provided by Shelby and Hertz was a promotional idea to get the Shelby Mustang in the hands of car enthusiasts and really show off the car’s potential; it worked, almost too well. The stories still run rampant about cars being rented on a Friday, their engines used in personal race cars and the Shelby's themselves having full roll cages installed for weekend racing, as well as people replacing the HiPo engine with a Ford 289 CI 4-barrel and returning it to Hertz.

The story of this particular 1966 Shelby GT350H begins when it arrived at S&C Motors in San Francisco, California, in February 1966 for dealer prep before heading off to a Hertz agency also in San Francisco. It was delivered with all the options one would expect, such as a radio and the chrome Magnum wheels. By March 1967, the car returned to Shelby American in Los Angeles before it was sold through Holiday Ford in Sunnyvale, California, to its first owner. In 1984, the car was acquired by an individual who would ultimately hold onto the car for almost three decades, only just recently relinquishing ownership.

This GT350H was recently treated to a comprehensive nut-and-bolt restoration in its factory-correct livery of white paint with gold stripes and a black interior. The matching-numbers HiPo 289/306 HP motor has been beautifully detailed, a wonderful complement to the Hertz Magnum wheels and Goodyear Blue Streak tires. The undercarriage was properly finished in red-oxide primer with white body-color overspray and the factory-replicated chalk markings and paint daubs. The car also comes with a binder of documentation showing the details of the restoration, an SAAC serial number verification letter, a breakdown of owner history and more.