Back When Hertz Let You Rent a Racer: the Shelby Mustang GT350H

[GTPNewsWire]

This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:

Back When Hertz Let You Rent a Racer: the Shelby Mustang GT350H
If you’ve ever rented a car you know how dreary they can be. They’re typically a forgettable sedan-based snooze fest...

This article was published by Joe Donaldson (@Joey D) on February 21st, 2018 in the Car Culture category.

 

[Dennisch]

Best paint job a early Mustang can have.

 

[McLaren]

Best paint job a early Mustang can have.

I'm inclined to disagree, but also agree....

 

[RocZX]

Crafty customers quickly figured out a way around this. They would rent the car and drive it to the track where their standard Mustang was waiting. With the help of some buddies, they’d remove the engine from the GT350 and put it in their own car.

I heard they would swap of the GT350 engine with one V8 Mustang and then return it to Hertz, the employee at Hertz wouldn't be bother to look under the hood or notice the difference in the engines.

 

[Joey D]

I heard they would swap of the GT350 engine with one V8 Mustang and then return it to Hertz, the employee at Hertz wouldn't be bother to look under the hood or notice the difference in the engines.

I'd heard that too, but couldn't find any reliable information on the web about it. Mainly just old guys on various forums talking about how they did it and got away with it.

Pretty much everything I found from Hertz employees of the day was that there was a detailed checklist upon the return of the car they had to go through. I'm guessing some did slip through the cracks though or they just turned a blind eye to it assuming the renter slipped them some hush money.

 

[Sick Cylinder]

I'd heard that too, but couldn't find any reliable information on the web about it. Mainly just old guys on various forums talking about how they did it and got away with it.

Pretty much everything I found from Hertz employees of the day was that there was a detailed checklist upon the return of the car they had to go through. I'm guessing some did slip through the cracks though or they just turned a blind eye to it assuming the renter slipped them some hush money.

It would be very easy to spot the differences under the bonnet (hood) when shown what to look for so I personally think this is an urban legend which if it happened, perhaps happened just once or twice. The Shelby GT350's used a semi hi rise inlet manifold and different exhaust manifolds - even a cursory glance under the hood would reveal differences.

 

[lav01]

can we get this car on gts pls? dont care if it is fast, just want one.

edit: they eventually were putting wires around the motor and the frame. People were renting them and swapping motors.

 

[philipPF]

Well, Hertz may still be the only big rental company to keep renting some really nice cars, like this Corvette (it was in 2012) :

 

[VXR]

The purity of the first Mustang is beyond compare. In that colourway, it’s even more classy.

 

[SPhilli911]

An old friend of mine's dad has one of these, a 1966 car. Growing up I was fascinated by it, but the guy never took it out of the garage or even let me see it (was always under covers) in the 20+ years I knew the guy. I don't think he's keeping it for the value but it really is a shame it's never actually used.

 

[Factor41]

Well, Hertz may still be the only big rental company to keep renting some really nice cars, like this Corvette (it was in 2012) :

Pretty sure most of the big rental companies have performance options if you'e willing to pay. When we rented a car in LA there was a section with Mustangs, Camaros and Challengers lined up.

Hertz did bring back the -H in a limited fashion a few years ago - https://www.usatoday.com/story/mone...helbys-ford-mustang-gt-h-rent-racer/84507640/