Win a 1966 Shelby GT350H "Hertz Rent-A-Racer" from The Cobra Experience

What you're looking at

This is the real thing: a 1966 Shelby GT350H, VIN SFM6S1213, one of the roughly 1,000 GT350s that Shelby American built to fill Hertz's now-legendary 1966 'Rent-A-Racer' program. Renters could walk up to a Hertz counter, put down a deposit, and drive off in a Shelby — and the stories of what came back (and what didn't) are half the reason these cars are worth what they are today. Under the hood is the GT350's 289 'K-code' High-Performance V8, good for 306 horsepower in period trim.

What sets this particular car apart is the paint. The vast majority of the Hertz fleet wore Raven Black with gold stripes; The Cobra Experience says this is one of only 71 GT350Hs finished in Wimbledon White with gold, which is genuinely uncommon and exactly the kind of detail that separates a good example from a great one. It comes out of the museum's own collection rather than a random consignment, which is the provenance you want on a car this collectible.

Why it matters

GT350Hs are blue-chip first-generation Shelbys, and the market backs that up. Recent auction results run from about $115,500 for a tired fastback up past $156,000 for cleaner cars, with the overall market average sitting near $192,000 and the best four-speed examples having cracked $300,000. A documented, color-rare, museum-kept survivor is not a bottom-of-the-range car. The one spec worth chasing down before you get too excited is the transmission: the earliest Hertz cars were four-speeds (and are the ones collectors fight over), while most got the C4 automatic — the giveaway page doesn't say which this is, and it matters.

The fine print worth knowing

This is a nonprofit fundraiser, not a dealer promo. The Cobra Experience is a 501(c)(3) museum in Martinez, California (Tax ID 46-4161030), and it has a track record of actually handing over cars — check its 'Past Winners' page. Entries are collected as donations on the TapKat platform; the exact ticket tiers weren't published in a form we could verify, so confirm pricing on the official entry page. Crucially, there is a free route: the page explicitly says 'No purchase or payment necessary,' and TapKat provides a mail-in Alternate Method of Entry that awards the same entries as a paid donation — you print a mailer, hand-address it, and send it in during the entry window. Per the official pages, entries close July 9, 2026 (11:59 PM Pacific) with the winner drawn July 19, 2026. As with any prize car of this value, budget for the tax bill — the winner is responsible for taxes, and there was no cash alternative stated for this particular car (an earlier, different GT350H sweepstakes from this museum offered a $75,000 cash option, but do not assume it applies here). Read the official rules before you enter.