Carroll Shelby’s ‘66 GT350H Expected to Fetch $200,000 at Auction
White-on-blue 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350-H will cross Bonhams auction block on Jan. 18 in Scottsdale, Ariz.
The late Carroll Shelby was known for taking fast Fords and making them faster, more raucous, and even better. Shelby lent a hand at making fast Mustangs, bespoke Cobras, and Le Mans-winning racers with the Mark IV GT40. When the time came for Shelby to put a vehicle into his own garage, the legend went with something that bore his name, and now that vehicle is heading to auction.
Motor Authority managed to track down Shelby’s own 1966 Ford Shelby Mustang GT350-H that’s heading to Bonhams auction on January 18 in Scottsdale, Ariz. as Lot #16. The vehicle, as Mustang fans already know, was a Shelby-spec Mustang that consumers could rent through Hertz. And back then, the rental company didn’t mind if drivers took the pony car to the track for the day. The price for being able to pilot the high-performance machine was just $17 a day and 17 center per mile – that’s a steal.
Hertz received approximately 1,000 GT350-H models that, for the most part, featured the iconic black and gold paint scheme for consumers to rent. This specific example, though, left the factory with a Wimbledon White paint job with Guardsman Blue stripes. After being loved for a year by renters through Hertz, the car went to a private owner. Soon after, the car went to an owner that upgraded the vehicle with parts from a GT350R. Things like R-Model wheels, a rear spoiler, an oil pressure gauge, and upgraded tach gauges were part of the additions.
After Shelby saw the upgraded machine, he wanted it and purchased the vehicle for himself. While under Shelby’s ownership, the vehicle was on display at the Imperial Palace Automobile Collection in Las Vegas. In 2008, the vehicle was put on display at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas, where it resided until now.
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The Shelby GT350-H has been returned to its original specification, except for the wheels. Bonhams expects the pony car to sell for between $150,000 to $200,000. That may not sound like a lot of money, but it’s a little bit more than what an average Shelby GT350 will fetch, which probably boils down to its ownership. For Mustang and Shelby fanatics, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get into a car that was owned by the legend himself.
