The last few years of Chrysler’s partnership with Carroll Shelby produced some amazing performance car bargains, especially in second- or third-hand form. This 1987 Shelby Charger GLH-S is just $8,700, yet its performance is still more than respectable today and it has just 52,000 miles on the clock. While some of these Shelby-modified Chargers are still wrapped in the dealer plastic with under 3,000 original miles on the clock (and thus, expensive), cars like this are far more affordable but still present quite well. The seller notes the GLH-S also benefits from lots of recent maintenance, and the interior is darn near spotless. Find it here on craigslist in Laguna Niguel, California.
Thanks to Barn Finds reader Pat L. for the find. The GLH-S wasn’t just a case of one or two tweaks, as the Shelby team upgraded everything from the suspension to the alignment to the seats you sat in. The heavily bolstered bucket seats featured the “CS” logo and a two-tone color scheme, and they’re incredibly comfortable if you’ve ever had a chance to sit in them. This car, despite having over 50,000 miles on the clock, looks like it should have about half of that as the interior is spotless. The carpets are perfect and the pedals look like they have no wear on them. The same goes for the steering wheel, and all of this speaks to a very careful owner who used the car but didn’t ever neglect it.
The Omni and Charger GLH-S both benefitted from some one year only upgrades, courtesy of Shelby buying the last remaining inventory of the cars and modifying them at his facility in Whittier. The GLH-S cars were quite powerful, thanks to the addition of an intercooler and numerous other upgrades, ranging from a bigger turbo to a larger throttle body, along with a unique engine computer and different injectors. The later GLH-S cars also got this sweet valve cover, along with removal of any Dodge branding on the outside. Both the Omni and the Charger also benefitted from Koni shocks and unique wheels and tires. The seller of this Charger reports that it also comes with the signed and numbered dash plaque.
The Centurian II wheels still look good to this day, and the seller notes the tires have been replaced. Other improvements include new fuel lines, compressor, and filters, and he reports that the air conditioning still blows cold. The paint shines nicely and the various “Shelby” and “GLHS” decals remain in place. The Omni GLH-S may be the one that gets more than its fair share of the attention from the collector car hobby, but the Charger is just as potent with an arguably more practical package. Under $10,000 seems like a very fair price for one in this kind of condition – do you agree?
Does it have an interference engine?
No
I had one, #953, wonder where she is now?
Wow! This is a beauty. For that price, I sure wish it wasn’t clear across the country from me.
Bought my first new car in 1987 and my local Dodge dealer had one of these. I was 24. and was a clean cut kid, I had 3k in cash as a down payment, and I wanted to drive one. The salesman let me take it out by myself, which really surprised me. I beat the hell out of this car for about 20 minutes, not endangering anyone, but I pushed it pretty hard. Was pleasantly surprised at the performance and returned it and thanked the guy. Bought a Mustang GT 5 spd with t-tops with every option the very next day. My brother worked for Ford, so it was Z plan. The Mustang beat it in every category, but I was still impressed with that little car, it would really scoot.I know it’s comparing apples to oranges, but it was a fun little car.
I had a fully loaded Daytona Shelby Z with T-tops that I really loved. Plenty of power and almost 40 miles to the gallon.
Surprisingly quick little car.
At that price, car is a steal!
I had a 84 Shelby Charger, BIGGEST POS Ever Put On The Road. It sure didn’t do the Shelby name proud….. Guy above says he bought a Mustang instead……I should’ve too.
Hope the seller has replaced the head gasket with the Mopar racing metal one. I knew a guy who blew two of them with scorched pistons on a turbo Daytona back in the 80s on a fairly new car, Fun car for the day, but the turbo lack with sudden kick in the pants power, while originally fun, got old I was told. Modern turbos have little if any lag and better power to boot.
Virtually every modern car has no lag and better power than their 34 year old counterparts.
This is a fantastic deal for a car that would beat most, if not all, non-exotic cars built in 1987.
I really wanted one of these back in the day but could only afford the GLH-T, which was no slouch at all.
Oh, I am SO tempted! I had an ’84 and it was so much fun and decently practical. Liked to break clutch cables, but otherwise wasn’t really a problem car. I’ve been looking for a sub 20K mile car for a while, but at $8700, there’s value here.
I also have an ‘87 glhs and it is a very fun car that will still to this day run with a lot of newer stuff on the road. It also hurts a lot of feelings. 😂
LOL!
My ’86 GLH-T did the same thing back in the day.
Always a day late. Soooo looking for one