1966 Shelby GT350-H Hertz Rent-A-Racer
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This afternoon I finished another quick build, the Hertz Rent-A-Racer '66 Shelby GT350-H. I bought this kit a few years ago from Aldi, and it sat in the stash until recently when I opened it. I hadn't heard of the Hertz Rent-A-Racer scheme they had with Carol Shelby.
Here's a brief description from their website.
Over 50 years ago, in September of 1965, the General Manager of Shelby American, Peyton Cramer, and the Hertz Corporation came to a brilliant business agreement: They would offer the 1966 GT350-H as a rental car through the now-famous Hertz "Rent-a-Racer" Program. This deal created 1,000 Shelby Mustang GT350-Hs for use in the Hertz rental fleet, allowing customers to do more than just rent a standard rental vehicle for their needs.
A brochure from 1966 introduced the cars to eager renters, "These cars are available to business travelers who want a change of pace in motoring, by sports car owners away from home and by vacations who consider driving an enjoyable sport."
The "Rent-a-Racer" Program inspired more customers to rent with Hertz (who wouldn't jump at the opportunity to rent their dream car for the weekend?), while also creating more potential buyers for Shelby Mustang – talk about a genius business idea.
Members of the Hertz Sports Car Club in 1966 who were 25 years of age or older would simply pay $17 per day and 17 cents per mile (a pretty great deal for the time) and get to drive away from the Hertz lot in a performance 306 horsepower Mustang fastback. For most drivers, this was a chance to sit in the driver's seat of a luxurious and powerful vehicle for a great deal—when purchasing that model may have been out of their price range. The Hertz "Rent-a-Racer" Program was a huge success for its time, but eventually came to an end after the pattern of vehicle repair expenses became too high. (Tales of the time say that some renters would take the GT350-H to the race track for a weekend of amateur racing, leaving much to be fixed upon return of the rental.) However, to those who were fortunate enough to experience the magic of renting a racer, the memories live on.
So back to the build. The body was prepped and hit with SMS Grey Surfacer, then two coats of SMS Jet Black. I then applied the stripe decals which lay down surprisingly easily with decal softener. As soon as the decals had set, the body received three coats of SMS 2K Clear Coat, and then went into the dehydrator.
Interior and chassis is SMS Jet Black and the engine block is SMS Blue Angels Blue. The only non kit addition was ignition leads.
