A ‘Never Rented’ Hertz Shelby GT-H Mustang is Up for Sale

BOLD RIDE

Copyright © 2016 Bold Ride LLC.

 

Posted by Zach Doell 

 

                               

                                        

In 2006, Ford Motor Company revived a legend when it announced the return of the Ford Shelby GT-H Mustang—a “Rent a Racer” pony car that could be checked out at select Hertz locations, and just in time to celebrate the iconic program’s 40th anniversary. 

 

A total of 500 Shelby GT-H cars were built in honor of the ’66 GT350H, including four that were never rented and featured five-speed manual transmissions (the rest had automatics).

This GT-H isn’t one of those rarified manual cars, however it is claimed to be part of a small 20 car allotment that was never rented and instead purchased by company executives. Further digging might be needed to verify that, though its rather low 7,880 reported miles do make it quite the eye-catcher nonetheless. Like it? The svelte Shelby GT-H is up for sale online.

So what exactly did Hertz renters get from a Shelby GT-H Mustang, circa 2006? For starters, go-fast looks.

The ’06 GT-H came dressed to the nines in the same black-and-gold twin stripe color scheme as its famous predecessor and featured unique body modifications applied at Shelby American’s Las Vegas operations. On went a new Shelby hood, held in place with hood pins, plus an aluminum grille, GT-CS front fascia, and a set of exclusive five-spoke alloy wheels. Each originally started life as a stock Mustang GT coupe.

There was some magic underneath the skin as well. Each Shelby GT-H came equipped with Ford Racing’s FR1 Power Pack and FR3 Handling Pack, which bore the fruits of a cold air intake, X-pipe exhaust, racy dampers, shorter coil springs (1.5-inch drop), thicker sway bars, and a strut tower brace.

 The end result was 4.6-liter V8 with 25 extra horsepower, 10 additional foot-pounds of torque, and the means to apply more of it to the road.

Let’s just say, if you were a mid-2000s business traveler and wanted to make a big impact while on the road, turning up in a Shelby GT-H certainly made the statement.

Regarding this car’s “never rented” status, the owner cites a 2015 Barrett-Jackson article that supports the story that 20 did get scooped up by company higher-ups before reaching the rental fleets. Certainly not a bad perk of the job.

At current, this Shelby GT-H asks $37,500.