Arizona is going to be filled with endless exotic and valuable cars next week as different auction houses all vie for our attention at the yearly Scottsdale auction event. Pictured is the 1966 Shelby GT 350H Fastback once privately owned by its designer Carroll Shelby, one of many gems to be offered in Bonhams’ Scottsdale auction event on 18 January.

The first Shelby Mustang GT350 was created in 1965 and is based on the race car Carroll Shelby himself drove on the track. The race driver/designer completed a deal with car rental company Hertz on the following year, delivering 1,000 units of “Shelby GT350 Hertz Rent-a-Racer” for normal punters to rent at a rate of US$ 17 a day. Most of these cars were painted in Hertz’s colours of black and gold, but this particular example was delivered in the same paint scheme as the initial Shelby GT350 in Wimbledon White with factory painted racing stripes in Guardsman Blue. The car came standard with a 306 hp small-block V-8 engine mated to a 4-speed Borg-Warner manual transmission.

This example was first purchased by Mike Shoen in 1967 and he added a 65′ GT350 pod with tach and oil pressure gauge, R-Model apron, valve covers, radiator, roll bar and so on to the car. It certainly impressed Carroll Shelby as he later purchased it from Shoen and kept it in his collection. Since 2008, it has been on display at Shelby Automobiles in Las Vegas.