Carroll Shelby’s king-sized Texas personality branded his cars with an in-your-face attitude, always backed up by real performance. Shelby’s skills at deal-making matched his understanding of winning at the track, and his partnership with American rental car giant Hertz led to the “Rent-a-Racer” program, putting 1000 Shelby Mustangs into the Hertz rental fleet. Any Regular Joe or Joette in the qualified “club” could sign a contract and experience the thrill of driving a race car on the street for a mere $17 per day and 17 cents per mile. Our feature car is offered as a 1966 Shelby Mustang GT350-H in the most common black and gold color scheme, barely described, complete and crusty, with an asking price of $8500. Check out more details and pictures on the Pickens, South Carolina classic here at Craigslist.
The hot 306 HP K-code 289 cid (4.7L) wouldn’t win any drag races with today’s monsters, but it was the closest thing to a street-legal road racer in ’66. Validating a genuine Shelby GT350-H is relatively easy according to HotCars. The Shelby data plate seen here on the left fender apron covers the Ford VIN stamping, and the two can be confirmed by the Shelby American Automobile Club. The obligatory K-code engine wears its stamping on the bottom of the engine block above the oil pan.
Readers could be forgiven for thinking the car’s location isn’t the only thing that’s a little shady here. Building a Shelby clone has been done since at least the 1980s, and such a fake could easily age like this. Showing no identifying stampings, data plate, or documentation demonstrates loneliness on the part of the seller, a need to entertain multiple electronic or voice conversations answering the same questions and providing the same information multiple times instead of once in the listing.
A damaged trunk area won’t diminish anyone drooling over this potential epic find. Maybe the seller enjoys deflating buyer after buyer with the news that, of course, it’s not an original Shelby, or maybe it’s the real deal. We’d love to hear any details our readers learn about this car as its story continues. As someone who lapped Road America in a rented Camry, I love the GT350-H history. Do you think this fastback is a real Shelby?
My only experience lapping a road course in a rental car. It was “Parade Laps,” which turned out to mean anything goes except passing. Great fun! And, yes, that is a I4 Toyota Camry with 5-speed automatic, but I kept up with the 390 Mustang in front of me… in the corners anyway.
Man, what a car! The Mustang, I mean. Although, as a reliable commuter vehicle, there’s nothing wrong with a Camry. I love passing straight-line-only poseurs in Corvettes, Mustangs, Chargers, etc. when they brake to go around a curve on a freeway! I don’t get it at all, unless they have an open aquarium in the back seat?
Great article, Todd! I remember seeing a ’66 Fastback at a car show as a kid and it’s by far my favorite Mustang of all time, maybe because of that memory. I can see you restoring that one (not the Camry)…
Right on point, Todd and you too, Scotty. A dream car of many to that era and to pass a “hot car” in one labeled as “just a commuter” is a hoot-as I think every one of the BF staff has done whether at an autocross event or more likely out on the open roads, especially with the caliber of poor driving on the roads today!
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and my thanks here are to the BF staff for their own contributions in keeping an excellent forum interesting.
One of the best things that Top Gear (BBC programme) did in recent years was a feature called “Star In A Reasonably Priced Car”.
They had a track laid out and had famous people driving second-hand Hyundais, Nissan Micras and the like.
It’s worth seeking out Rowan Atkinson’s effort; he’s rather good…
You know, Todd, those rental cars have sensors and cameras, and know full well what you did,, :)
Good point Howard. That was 2009 I think, so no Nav or cameras and hopefully no transponder. Anyway… no consequences so not complaining. Don’t try this at home, kids.
Too good to be true?!?! I’m no expert on this year Shelby, but many of the “correct”/Shelby-specific parts seem to be present and appear to be aged/degraded in accordance with the rest of the car. If this is the real deal… at $8500 – someone should have stolen it already. Can’t wait to see the updates on this one!
Even a rusted out hulk of a genuine Shelby will get at least 30-40K,this is the fishiest one i’ve seen yet.
Pictures of this car have been floating around social media car sites for the last decade and I haven’t seen a single opinion yet from a knowledgeable Shelby marque expert that thinks its a real ’66 GT350 Hertz car. If it was it would be a lot more than $8500 just for the vin tag!
I agree. It looks like a legit car, but it was probably sold ten years ago, and for alot more than $8500. Its like that real split window corvette for $2500 that has been popping up in phony ads on CL for ten years…
This is, I believe, the one that was drug out of a Ohio yard several years ago. A Shelby in this condition would bring 45-50K in todays market. Scam.
Agree with Terry…..looks like the one that was dug out in the back yard – snow tire and all….
I was gonna say that my memory tells me I’ve seen this car be4 & I wanna say it was right here on BF maybe just over a yr ago. Then realized I wasn’t wrong when I seen Tom P & Sfm5’s posts. And it’s sitting exactly where it was in earlier pics. Sorry Todd
Agreed on the odd price. If you knew you had a real one, you’d show all the numbers and set a real price. If you didn’t know anything about them, or whether this car you “found” was real or fake, you’d do a web search, see they’re $100k or more, and ask $50,000 or so. Asking $8500 is like saying you know it’s a fake and / or you just enjoy messing with people. Maybe there’s an Option 3? Seems strange no matter how you slice it.
I smell a scam as it looks to be parked in the same spot as a craigslist ad in Illinois from 8 years ago but is now listed in South Carolina
http://blog.virginiaclassicmustang.com/2015/10/1966-shelby-gt350h-hertz-project-car.html
Don’t know if it’s real deal or not. That still seems like a great price for even a regular fastback mustang. I’d get it if I had the money. I think I’d just getting running and have fun
Spider
Beat me to it this pics have been around for long as I can remember, also heard of people renting pulling engine putting a 289 out of other vehicles then return, always check numbers.
Obviously a scam. Pictures are hard to decipher because resolution is low. But in the one engine shot it appears to have the large harmonic, the dual point without the vacuum advance which correct for a 289 HiPo and the Tri-y headers. The carb detail is hard see so can’t tell if it has the proper Le Manns bowls. So the car looks right. But we all know a scam when we see one. Not when fully restored 66 GT350’ are pulling mid $200k.
These pics look familiar to ones I saw at least 15 years ago but they were all the same color tho.
James Garner drove one in the movie Grand Prix. I don’t think just any schmoe could rent one, as the “club”, I read, was very exclusive, and the urban legend was that hooligans would rent these on a Friday, swap motors on the weekend and return the car. That simply isn’t true, and the rental agents had strict rules upon return. Made for a good story, though. This may be a clone as there were many, and certainly abused.
My wife used to run the Avis office on Hilton Head Island. Had a real problem with people renting cars, swapping the wheels and tires from the rental to their personal car that needed tires, and then turning it in. Took several days for anyone at the rental company to notice. Never heard the story of GT 350-H engine swaps before!
I worked as lead garageman for 7 years over 50 years ago , at a international airport, at Hertz we were #1 avis was #2 they always try harder was their motto .The Hertz counter girls were always the top shelf for the best looking as the pay scale went down avis, national, the other 10 the looks did to . the tire and wheel change was going on regular cars also , at all the rental facilities ,for years . The terminal was giant a peyton place with all the counters including the airlines, divorce , affairs, party time . Ah the good ol days
Might be a real car in pictures but might be even more of a real scam. I see something that really cannot be faked out and it seems to be there!
I seem to remember that years ago there used to be a race held on a frozen lake up north. The only requirement to enter was that all the cars had to be rental cars…with the entrants taking all the available rental car insurance! After 2 or 3 years the rental companies got wise and refused to rent ANY cars anywhere close to the race.
And by the way, I think the price of this 350 H…if it’s not a clone…is a steal
What a shame an expensive rust bucket to restore.
Please enlighten the BarnFind readers.
This ad is a scam. The car does not exist. I think the supposed seller wants you to send a deposit to hold it. He will give you a fake address and you are out the deposit. Same crook in SC does this regularly.
As I recall these only had slushboxes. So funny now to think back to being a kid, seeing these and thinking how weird that you could rent a Shelby in that distincitve gold and black from Hertz.
You’d think the Russian bot farmswould have better things to do than post reused pix of rusted Shelbys……..like trying to interfere in USA elections, for example :)
Not all had Slush Boxes. There were about 50 with 3 pedals.
The underside of the hood does not have the correct support bracing. It is just an aftermarket hood.
But there looks to be the correct bracing on the cowel
I’ve talked to this guy on the phone and been passed around with three different numbers. Totally getting the run around from him. Supposedly he’s out of town, won’t give me a solid answer on anything, had a grandson who wrote the Craigslist article for him and a son who’s trying to coordinate additional pics / vids but isn’t available today or this weekend. Broken English and bad grammar on the texts, supposedly 3rd owner etc etc. I can show up cash in hand with a trailer but apparently that’s not appealing to him. Hopeful it’s real and I get it, but calling this a scam
not real, doesn’t want you to show up, just send money
Scam confirmed. Same car from a different previous post:
http://blog.virginiaclassicmustang.com/2015/10/1966-shelby-gt350h-hertz-project-car.html
It’s a real Shelby that he can’t sell cause no one will go look at it because everyone thinks it got to be a scam. The seller keeps lowering the price thinking thats why no one will come look at it. Now it’s $8500 and it used to be $70,000 in 2015 still no one goes to look. Please, someone go look at it and report back. HaHa
The Hertz Shelby 350.Heard the story about some of these being rented by people who would swap their 2bbl 289 for the Shelby motor over a weekend..
It’s a scam!!!
Don’t send any money!!!!
Looks a real H car in the pictures for sure. Now is that car really for sale? The one that sat in Ohio backyard was pretty bad, as ready to break in half. Don’t know if that car even exists any more as it was really bad. But this does smell as usual if it’s too good to be true……