GT350H Fetches Shocking Six-Figure Price at Auction
Legendary Shelby GT350H looks absolutely flawless and fetches a mindblowing six-figure number at the end of its Bring-A-Trailer auction.
The iconic Shelby GT350H is instantly identifiable long before seeing the badging on the side. Its staple black and gold paint scheme leaves Mustang enthusiasts capable of picking it out of a crowd in an instant. However, you don’t see a whole lot of them. So, when the opportunity to purchase one arises, expect a hefty price tag. In the case of this particular GT350H, its sale price danced on the edge of a quarter-million dollars.
A Texas dealership with this gorgeous GT350H on consignment listed the car on Bring A Trailer. From the get-go, we knew it was going to fetch an astonishing price. However, when we saw the final sale price of a whopping $236,000, our jaws just about hit the floor.
An Icon Born of An Unlikely Partnership
The H in the designation GT350H, for those unfamiliar, is representative of the Hertz car rental company. In 1965, Hertz co-developed their “Rent-A-Racer” program with Shelby American. This resulted in Shelby building 1,000 of these gorgeous cars. All of them, as one might expect for rental purposes, have an automatic transmission. However, come 1966, members of the Hertz Sports Car Club that were at least 25 years old could rent one of these amazing rides. For just $17 a day and 17 cents a mile, you could be behind the wheel of a 306 horsepower Shelby Mustang Fastback GT350H. While that works out to about $140 a day and $1.40 per mile in today’s money, we can’t say we wouldn’t be tempted to pay that for the chance to drive one of these today.
According to the listing, the seller purchased this particular example in 1986 and underwent a full “refurbishment” in 2015. So, the paint is not original. However, the original scheme is maintained, and we couldn’t be happier about that.
Under the hood lies the original numbers matching K-code 289 cubic-inch Windsor V8 engine. As we mentioned before, it sends power through a four-speed automatic transmission. Finally, a Ford nine-inch rear end sends the power to the ground through the rear wheels.
The odometer on this beauty reads just 6,000 miles. According to the listing, the seller only managed to put 500 miles on it. However, it is worth noting that the listing also states that the actual, original mileage is not known. Though, that didn’t seem to have much of an effect on the value.
On to the Next Owner
Unfortunately, with a car like this, the purchase is more of an investment than anything. So, though it is changing hands, we feel it’s not super likely we’ll ever see it on the street. Furthermore, despite this car not being 100% original, we only see that value going up with time. As usual with these types of vehicles, all we can hope is that once in a blue moon, the new owner takes it out for a drive on a nice sunny day. Ultimately, though, we can see why it might be hard to justify the risk. At any rate, we are glad we got to witness this impressive auction first hand!
Photos: Bring A Trailer