Yahoo Autos 1987 Dodge Shelby Charger GLH-S Is Today's Bring a Trailer Pick
Shelby made his name racing Fords, but during the '80s and '90s, he was all about Mopar turbo power.
This Charger GLH-S is one of 1000 produced in 1987, and is a true low-volume Shelby collectible.
Lightweight and crammed with torque-steering fun, it's a different kind of Shelby experience.
What's faster than Going Like Hell? Going Like Hell Some more. Back in the 1980s, Carroll Shelby turned his hot-rodding expertise in a new direction, helping Dodge make its turbocharged front-wheel-drive cars into genuine scorchers. The first was the boxy little Omni GLH, a Mopar hot hatchback that certainly surprised a Mustang GT owner or two in its day. By the time the turbo'd Charger came along, the cat was out of the bag. If you saw a GLH-S badge on a Dodge, it was gonna be quick.
With only 1000 built for the model year, a 1987 Dodge Charger GLH-S is both rare and feisty. This example, chassis #698, is up for sale on Bring a Trailer (which, like Car and Driver, is part of Hearst Autos). It's got Shelby's name written all over it, a five speed manual, and 175 turbocharged horses ready to gallop. Giddy up.
The Shelby-Dodge partnership was born out of the genius of Lee Iacocca, who picked up the reins at Chrysler in the late 1970s, just as the company's financial stagecoach was about to go hurtling off a cliff. A pivot to small, fuel-efficient cars saved Chrysler, and innovations like the early Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager minivans marked a return to profitability.
Iacocca knew a little razzle-dazzle would help move the sheetmetal, so he called up his old friend Carroll. They knew each other from Ford's racing efforts, and while the cars Chrysler was currently working with were no V-8 Mustangs, Iacocca figured some of that Shelby magic might do wonders.
Starting in 1983 and running into the 1990s, Shelby-emblazoned Dodges held down the fort for Mopar pride. There were basically two kinds: those built by Chrysler under license, and those shipped to California to be massaged by Shelby in California. This Charger GLH-S is one of the latter.
Along with a shotgun blast of Shelby emblems throughout the interior, exterior, and even under the hood, the GLH-S came with a turbocharged 2.2-liter four-cylinder good for 175 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque. Very easy to modify by adding more boost, this engine powered many a turbo-Dodge down the dragstrip in 13 seconds or less.
But being a Shelby-built car, this Charger GLH-S is a collectible, and thus it's nice to see it hasn't been fiddled with. It has the original 15-inch wheels, a factory interior in good condition, some replaced decals, and just 10,000 miles on the odometer. It's a time machine from an age when the Shelby name meant torque-steering front-drivers rather than thundering Cobras and Mustangs.
This hot little Charger is a genuine low-volume Shelby product that's pure 1980s fun. It's your chance to drive everywhere like a bat out of—well, you know where.
The auction ends on November 14.
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