The first 200 GT-350H's were built in black with gold stripes with various colors being produced afterwards; Rangoon Red, Wimbledon White, or 60 Sapphire Blue. All had gold stripes. Overall, 75% of all GT-350H's have this same paint scheme.

Peyton Cramer, Shelby American General Manager, heard that GM wasn't going to supplying the Hertz car rental company with Corvettes anymore. Hertz had a branch of the company that offered high performance cars. Original plans in 1965 were to build 500 Cobras and an equal number of Shelby Mustangs at the Shelby American airport plant. Those goals weren't reached, in fact fewer than half that number of Cobras & GT 350's were actually sold. As a promotional idea, Cramer thought he would see if Hertz might be interested in buying 50 Shelby Mustangs. Hertz loved the idea. Cramer walked out of the meeting with an order for 1,000 Hertz Shelby Mustangs. If you were over 25 and had a driver’s license, you could actually rent a Hertz-Shelby Mustang, a GT 350H. The first Hertz Shelby's were all painted Raven Black with Gold stripes and a GT 350H rocker panel stripe. Other than cosmetics, the GT 350 H's were identical to the regular GT 350's.

Almost immediately, customers began complaining about the no frills rental Shelby Mustangs. The ride was too stiff. The rear end made too much noise. The car was too loud. And everyone complained about the stiff brakes. The warning sticker on the dash wasn't enough. So the engineers at Shelby American got a bigger master cylinder from Minnesota Automotive to lighten the brakes. The Mustangs started getting beefed up C-4 Ford automatic transmissions instead of the 4-speeds. A Motorola radio filled the radio slot in the dash.

The GT 350 H's were all leased to Hertz. Eventually Shelby American and Ford ended up with the cars. In those days you couldn't give away a Hertz Shelby Mustang. Most of them were well used. After all, the cars had been rentals and who knew where the cars had been and with whom. If we'd only known.... Ford told Shelby American to get rid of them. So they did and they them all pretty cheap. The things legends are made of... 

Part II The 1966 GT 350

The Shelby-Hertz Mustang Story and the 1966 GT 350's

By Biff Hitzeman

The 1966 Shelby was designed to meet two requirements: cost effectiveness and increased sales. The most noticeable change to the exterior were five new color options including the basic Wimbledon White with the blue side stripes - now located higher up on the body. Also new were black, red, green and blue - all with white side stripes and the LeMans which could be added at the dealerships.

Due to demand, the exhaust system was extended from behind the body. An automatic C-4 transmission was also offered and an optional rear seat that folded down. The 1966 looked racier with the replacement plexiglass quarter windows and the side air scoops that cooled the brakes. Later in the production year, the fiberglass hood was replaced with the steel hood with functional air scoop due to customer complaints of breakage and a lack of quality fiberglass parts. The grill stayed the same except that the tri-colored pony was smaller. A new GT 350 gas cap and center cap in the steering wheel were added. The interior remained a "black only" option with a roll bar. The dash tach pad in the '65 was replaced with a large dash mounted 9000 RPM tachometer. The steering wheel was an optional wood-grain Mustang wheel with the special chrome GT 350 center cap. The spare tire was again placed in the trunk to be returned, later in the production year, to the factory location under the hood. The competition seat belts remained.

The famous HiPo 289/306 horsepower engine returned. Probably the biggest change over the '65 was that the special suspension was no longer offered. Larger stabilizers were used, but the car was no longer lowered. A similar set of traction bars were used along with Ford's own heavy-duty shocks. Koni shocks remained high on the sought after options list. Early models used the 15" 5-spoke Crager wheels; whereas later the 14" Magnum 500 was offered along with the very popular 14" aluminum 10-spoke wheel. A special deal was struck between Ford and Hertz Rent-a Car for a total of 1000 special Shelby's. Most of those were Black with special Hertz gold side stripes and gold LeMans stripes. Hertz Shelby's were also offered in four other colors each with gold stripes.

With the exception of the early Hertz Shelby's, all had C-4 automatic transmissions. Lots of 4-speeds were being broken. Due to the special competition brakes used on the Shelby, a special instrument panel decal was used on all Hertz Shelby's for nervous renters. It read "this vehicle is equipped with competition brakes, heavier than normal pedal pressure is required." Due to the increase of Sunday racers using these "rented Shelby's" this program was all but cancelled in 1967. During the end of the 1966 production year, Carroll Shelby made six Shelby convertibles as gifts for special friends. One of the best options offered in the '66 production year was the Paxton supercharger. This bolt-on package advertised an increase of 46% in horsepower. This made the already "hot" 306 horsepower 289 a real screamer, as many a Corvette owner found out.