1966 Shelby GT350 H
The Shelby GT350 H is one of the most legendary and audacious chapters in American automotive history, a story that brought together performance and accessibility in a way no one could have imagined. When Ford, Carroll Shelby, and Hertz collaborated in 1966 to offer a souped-up Mustang as a rental car, it was nothing short of a brilliant marketing coup. The “Rent-a-Racer” program allowed everyday drivers to experience the thrill of Shelby’s muscle car without having to commit to ownership, forever cementing the GT350 H as one of the most famous and sought-after Shelbys in existence.
The Shelby GT350 made its debut in 1965 as a performance variant of Ford’s wildly successful Mustang, built by the legendary Carroll Shelby. The original GT350 was a thoroughbred built for racing. Using Ford’s already potent 289 cubic-inch (4.7-liter) Windsor V8, Shelby boosted the GT350’s power output to 306 horsepower and 329 lb-ft of torque. Coupled with a lightened body, upgraded suspension, and larger brakes, the GT350 became an instant icon of speed and style.
Shelby’s Cobra legacy influenced the design of the GT350, with its high-rise intake manifolds, headers, and distinctive “Cobra” valve covers. The car’s performance was nothing short of exhilarating,zero to sixty in under six seconds and a top speed exceeding 130 mph. For its time, this made the GT350 one of the fastest and most powerful American cars on the road.
In a bold move that would become automotive legend, Carroll Shelby struck a deal with Hertz to supply 1,000 GT350s for the rental company’s Sports Car Club fleet. The result was the creation of the Shelby GT350 H,a limited run of rental cars that anyone could get their hands on, if only for a day. Hertz’s marketing pitch was simple and enticing: for just $17 per day and 17 cents per mile, you could rent a true high-performance Shelby Mustang.
Most of the 1,000 GT350 H models were painted in a now-iconic black with gold Le Mans stripes, a colour scheme borrowed from Hertz’s corporate livery. Although a few white-with-blue-stripe models were produced, it was the black-and-gold version that became synonymous with the “Rent-a-Racer” moniker.
Of the cars produced, approximately 915 were fitted with a C4 automatic transmission, making them easier to handle for the average renter. However, the first batch of 85 Hertz cars were equipped with a four-speed manual transmission, further cementing their place as bona fide race-bred machines.
What makes the GT350 H story so remarkable is the way these cars were used. In the mid-1960s, the Shelby GT350 H wasn’t just a rental car for casual drives or road trips,it was a way for enthusiasts to access a race-prepped Mustang for a weekend of amateur racing. Many of the GT350 H models were rented by customers with plans far beyond leisurely drives down the coast. Some were taken straight to SCCA races, equipped with roll bars and other competition modifications, and pushed to their limits on the track.
Rumour has it that some of these cars were returned to Hertz with significant modifications, including evidence of welded-in roll cages. When the rental period was over, the cars were returned to Ford, where they were reconditioned and sold to the public as GT350 H models. Often, the high-performance parts mysteriously went missing during the refurbishing process, presumably “lost” along the way.
The Shelby GT350 H has become one of the most coveted Shelbys of all time, thanks to its unique place in automotive history. The idea of renting a race car for the weekend seems almost inconceivable today, but in the mid-1960s, it was an innovative way to put potential buyers behind the wheel. And it worked,many who rented a GT350 H fell in love with the car’s raw power and handling and eventually bought a Shelby of their own.
Today, surviving GT350 H models are highly sought-after by collectors, often fetching a premium at auction. Their combination of Shelby pedigree, limited production numbers, and the fascinating backstory of Hertz’s rental program make them one of the most intriguing cars from the muscle car era.
The Shelby GT350 H is a testament to Carroll Shelby’s relentless pursuit of performance and his genius for marketing. The “Rent-a-Racer” program allowed regular people to experience the thrill of a high-performance muscle car in an era when such cars were typically reserved for the elite few. It democratised speed, and for a generation of enthusiasts, it turned what might have been a fleeting rental into a lifelong love affair with the Shelby name.
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