Just got back from the business trip to San Francisco and renting the Shelby GT-H from Hertz. In summary it's kinda' like dating a sorority girl;
it looks good, makes lots of noise, is a lot of fun for the night, but not something that I wanted to take home.

It is a hell of a lot more fun than the typical metallic non-color Folsdmontiac rental car, but Hertz does their best to take all of the fun out of it. Here's what you need at the reservation counter that they don't tell you about on the website; you need your travel itinerary for them to make a copy of, 2 forms of ID, a primary credit card for the rental, a secondary credit card for any "damages", and 3 contact phone numbers. Fortunately I had all of that already. Only the manager is "allowed" to handle rentals of the Shelby, so expect to wait 20 minutes for him to show up while their are 5 other agents standing at the counter with nothing to do. The manager does a full inspection of the car including under the hood and checks all of the zippy tied seals on certain engine components. The manager then gives a canned driver's ed lecture and demonstrates the aftermarket add-on satelite radio (which doesn't work in overcast San Francisco) before handing over the keys.

Checking back in, don't go to the regular rental check-in, they aren't allowed to check the Shelby back in. Again only the manager can do this, so expect to wait for him while their are 5 other lot attendants doing nothing. I did get a thumbs up from a lot attendant for my squealing tire (at least all of the squealing tire that traction control would allow) reverse bootlegger u-turn maneuver in the rental car garage to exit the return line and go over to the manager's office at the Gold Club. Inspection again by the manager complete with a canned presentation on legend of the Hertz Shelby.

As far as the car itself, it is a lot of fun even if it is an automatic and the traction control can not be shut off (the button is still there on the dash, it has just been fixed in place so it can no longer be depressed). Fortunately it's just traction control and not full blown stability control so it's still possible to have a little fun with the car. If I owned it I probably could not afford to keep gas in it. The cold air induction and exhaust sound so good I was constantly putting my foot in it just to hear it. I had to do this inside the tunnel on US 101 going from San Francisco over to Sausalito, the resulting echo off the walls of the tunnel didn't disappoint. The ride is very stiff, a lot stiffer than my 4th gen Camaro was after I did the 550lb front and 150lb rear coil overs on it. It's to the point that if it was a daily driver it would get old after Wednesday. The hood pins squeak louder and more often than a matress at the Bunny Ranch and the seats are flatter than Kansas. As far as owning one; it would be fun for a weekend car, but not as a daily driver. I can honestly say that I'm a lot happier with my GTO.

Despite Hertz, it was still fun to rent. My dad had rented one in '66 in California and took it out to the dragstrip at Riverside. It's not often that I can follow in dad's footsteps, so I try and take advantage of any opportunity that I can.

Sounds funner than my rental Envoy that I had to drive 2.5hrs north on 101....that think did not like the corners+hills @ 85mph. I would have killed for something like your ride.

I am actually surprised you did were able to find room in the SF rental lot to do a booter-U. That place was a mess....

Nice writeup. I recently saw in a magazine that they are renting 350Zs as part of the "Fun" collection (together with the Shelby). I wonder if they are as protective of those.

I recently was on vacation out west and had a pretty fun experience renting a Jeep for only $150 a week. Perfect transportation for often unpaved national parks. Now I'm thinking 4x4 for my next daily driver...

I think it's only the Shelby that they are so protective of. Too many urban legends from the 60's of cars coming back with engines swapped out or holes in the floorboards from having roll cages bolted in. We watched as we were checking in a German couple was at the station next to us renting a Corvette convertible to drive to and drop off in Las Vegas. They did not go through any of the interrogations that we did. They were driving when we had just started with the manager.

a pic for reference:

And to post the story that goes with the photo...

As devout members of Our Lady of Blowers and Burnouts, most of us can sympathize with someone that rents the Shelby GT-H and then has to return the 'Stang to their local Hertz office. It must be a tough pill to swallow, but at the end of the day, what's the alternative?

For one weary soul in Arizona, the idea of leaving the keys with a pimple-faced teen at the rental counter and then catching a ride with his wife back to his moribund existence house was too much to bear. So he decided to keep the gold and black beauty – for six months.

[Source: StangNet.com via MustangBlog]

After half a year, the long arm of the law finally caught up with the rental rebel, and according to his neighbor, the cops threw him into the back of a squad car, charging him with auto theft.

This brief story of sorrow comes courtesy of a member of LS1.com, who posted the above pic on the StangNet forum. The shooter in question said that he had assumed that his neighbor had bought the car at auction or it was some kind of well-conceived clone. The perp even took the time to throw a few mods at the stolen GT-H, including an exhaust and an intake.

We know we should wag our fingers at such antics, but we can't. We don't condone, but we understand.