Hertz Shelby GT-H review and rental experience

well, I finally did it - rented the GT-H. I thought I was getting the convertible, since that is what is pictured on the site, but if you actually look at the text I was renting the coupe. Here are a few notes if you're thinking about it:

1. You have to fly in to an airport. For me, that was Oakland to Ontario, California for $36 each way on Southwest. I flew in first thing and flew out on the latest flight. Total of about $90 roundtrip.

2. Most of the rental locations say 100 miles/day, but Ontario (between Pasadena and Bakersfield) was unlimited - hence, why I chose it. That and the cheap Southwest flight above. I have Tues-Weds. off, so took it out on Weds.

3. Most of the writeups on renting one tell you how to turn the Traction Control (TCS) off. Mine came to me with the TCS button operational, so I could turn it off and on at will. I wonder if they changed this policy, lost the retainer on the button, or what. Mine came with 13k miles so maybe somebody lost the TCS button? Anyway, I didn't say anything and returned it with the TCS button operational, of course, but with TCS on.

4. Total cost for my trip (not counting gas) - $135 with all taxes, etc., for the rental, $90 for the plane flight - $225 total. That was with AAA discount and I got 1/8 of a free flight from Southwest. I have their credit card so that helps too to get free flights.


Riding impressions:

-Acceleration was OK off the line - hard to get the rear to break loose - and decent midrange but really picked up at higher RPM, say above 4k. Manually shifting the automatic was a bit clunky. If you are in Drive it gets very confused when you floor it, going down through the gears one by one. Exhaust note doesn't sound as good as my Magnaflowed '70 302, but it is nice when you really get on it at a high RPM. Could be louder.

-Freeway merges were insanely easy. You get to 80mph in no time. Freeway passing was similarly effortless if you downshift. But that's not why I rented it.

-Mt. Baldy drive - this is a mountain route that takes you from Ontario to Glendora and you can get to the top of Baldy if you want to, but that's just a gravelly goat trail. The really nice part of the drive is from the Baldy summit route to Glendora. Although I did go to the top of Baldy and thought about doing donuts at the summit, but my GF would have none of it. Started to, though, and it was insanely easy.

-Handling: top notch for a Mustang. Which is to say: best handling car I've driven. I mean, this thing really takes corners well. Shelby did a great job on these, and I have heard of them winning slaloms rented straight from Hertz. I was very impressed at how it transitioned from left to right. Suspension is a bit harsh on bumpy roads, but that's what you want. It took these mountain switchbacks like a pro, especially on the double-yellow-less road described above. It is easy to control, only gets into a bit of oversteer if you really get on the accelerator mid-turn. I was impressed time and again by the grip I had mid-turn. This is a hard car to upset.

-Braking: similarly excellent, predictable. I started to warm up and glaze the pads toward the end of my mountain run, so I dragged the brakes a bit once they cooled down to scrape of the squeak-squeak-squeak of any glaze or warping that had built up. I always had a little more brake than I needed. My Baer 13" should be just as powerful as these, but power brakes make a BIG difference in initial effort. I'm upgrading to a power booster.

I was a little bummed to not get a convertible, but I should have read the fine print and I had no choice once I was down there - they didn't have a 'vert. The GF and I had a great time, going to Pasadena, LA, seeing some of the Craftsman houses around Pasadena, and generally driving like fools. I give this a Give it a try if you're looking for a great day trip, and use Ontario, California, for unlimited miles. Or if you're feeling brave, :Track: but if you ruin the brakes you gots ta pay, as at least one renter has.

"Or if you're feeling brave, :Track: but if you ruin the brakes you gots ta pay, as at least one renter has." Quote from 70vert

You don't say. lol

cojones mas grandes

heh, get out your favorite image editor and get rid of that license plate.

gotta hand it to you, your cojones are mas grande que yo.

What's wrong with having your license plate on the intarweb. Unless your paranoid, I see no problem with them...

Are these 2007 or 2008 models? Wonder what they will sell for when Hertz gives them back to Ford?

The Hertz GT-H coupes (all 500 of them) are 2006's. All black with gold stripes, and all with automatics. When Hertz is done with them they go to auction - not back to Ford or Shelby. Most have 5K-15K miles on them when they are sold off.

Earlier this year they were fetching $80K on eBay. Those patient enough to wait can pick them up for about 1/2 of that now. I work at a large volume Ford dealership in the NW and we sold one several months ago for $59,950 to a friend of mine (eBay pricing and neighboring dealers were still getting $60K to $65K at that time). It had 12K miles on it and my friend drives it daily (he has a 2007 Shelby GT500 in the garage for weekends). We only made a couple thousand in profit on that one, lest anyone think we made a killing (Hertz may have, but we didn't).

We have another 2006 Hertz GT-H for sale now. Much more affordable now; 8K miles and priced at $44,950, so you can see how pricing has changed in a short time. (I'm not looking to sell through this website so no details on where I work). I suspect pricing may continue to fall until all 500 have been sold off by Hertz. In a couple years we will likely see prices start to appreciate, but it could be decades before they really climb, if they do.

The 2007 Shelby GT's are the same basic car (silver stripes instead, and no Hertz emblems), but you can get a manual trans or automatic. These retail units are good values (MSRP was $37K to $42K depending on equipment). We sold 4 of them (the last three at MSRP).

The 500 Hertz GT-H Convertibles that should be available to rent this summer should be 2007 models and will be black with gold stripes again. The retail version (Shelby GT) will be blue with silver stripes and available as coupe or convertible. The retail versions in blue will all be 2008's and not hitting dealers until this fall or winter.

So the current Hertz rental cars are the 2006 models. For some reason I thought all of those had already gone back to Ford.

i think he's more looking at the fact that he has pictures of him racing the rental (explicitly against the contract), so putting his personal car in the pic with the racing pics could potentially let it be traced back to him. although lets see them prove that.

yeah, that's what I was referring to, connecting the license plate with racing. But yeah, let's see them prove that. Although the metadata in the image has the date on it, and with date and plate they probably could. Prolly not gonna happen, but it could.

I should add that I did see a convertible GT-H on the road in Berkeley a few days ago - got pics if any are interested. So I take it the supply of GT-H coupes are dwindling as they get sold off, but the supply of convertibles is doing just fine?

I have yet to see a convertible with unlimited miles as an option, but if anyone has seen that, please let us know. I might be interested at some point . . . especially if it's in CA or Vegas.

More pics...

What mufflers do the GT-H's use? I like the way the tips look if nothing else!!! (I need to upgrade the factory wimpy slant cuts)

They're Ford Racing GTA axle-backs.

Cool thanks, sorry to interupt the thread!

4 pics, two of "my" GT-H, two of the convertible I saw

Here you go, a few of mine - two cheesy poses in the mountains, and two of the GT-H convertible I luckily saw the day before I rented mine!

OK. Are the Hertz convertibles 2007 models or 2008? How about the coupes? Again, I thought all of the 2006 had already been returned to Ford. Is there an ongoing deal between Ford and Hertz. I somehow thought it was a one-time thing to commemorate the partnership from the 1960s.

Nice write-up / review.

I know where 5-0 works, if he won't tell you. $44k is pretty good deal in these parts, especially if you find out the car came from a good rental site.

Stan - The first 500 Hertz were '06 coupes and *most* have been auctioned so far. They didn't go back to Ford, as the cars were actually purchased by the Hertz company (not leased), although mostly Ford dealers were the ones who bought at auction. On another board, someone pointed out that about 10 were totaled, maybe 20 went to Hertz execs, and another 25 or so were auctioned to smaller independent Hertz dealers for continued rental. The rest will eventually be sold to private parties. Prices are getting lower as miles are getting higher.

They just finished production of the 500 convertibles ('07 - besides no roof, these have the black Bullitts instead of the polished ones) and they are being rented now. Supposedly going to be in service for a year and then auctioned off in early '08. Expect the prices to start high again and remain a bit higher than the coupes because of the convertible factor.

Mike (in Portland)

why not convertibles in summer?

Thanks for the info. What I don't understand in all this - why do the convertibles through the fall/winter and then auction them off early next year? LA, Phoenix, and Florida, I can see, but I don't think Chicago will have much interest in the convertible in January.

One of these has shown up in Calgary, must have been a recent Ebay one. They're a neat little bit of Mustang history and will be more collectible than a GT-500 or a Shelby GT even though they are essentially the exact same car as the Shelby GT (or vice versa as it were).