Rent-A-Racers remain one of the greatest marketing ploys ever conceived, a practice I wish would come back. Race on Sunday, return on Monday could be a matra for these special rental cars, as many of them saw track duty one day and then return to ferrying businessmen around town the next. This is a 1969 model that has had one repaint and is otherwise claimed to be original. Find it here on eBay with bids approaching $40K and the reserve unmet.
The seller says that despite the repaint, this Shelby should be considered a survivor. The repaint did occur many moons ago in 1977, so perhaps he’s right. Heavy documentation is included with the car, which is helpful considering I can’t remember ever seeing a Grabber Yellow Shelby that was part of the Hertz Corporation’s fleet. Wood trim looks quite nice, both on the steering wheel and inside the dash.
There’s a simple reason for this: later Hertz cars were almost identical to their non-rented counterparts. Earlier Hertz editions were quite distinctive with black with gold stripes, and you knew what it was just by looking at it. The later cars removed some of that notoriety, but it still had to have been thrilling to see this car waiting for you after a long flight. Taillights were from a Thunderbird and the center exhaust was unique to the Shelbys.
The seller notes the Shelby has been a reliable car for him and the air conditioning even still works. There are no major deviations from stock, just some maintenance-related updates: “I installed an aluminum radiator in and a new carburetor. The original parts are included with the car.” While not the most powerful Shelby, the Hertz connection will always make these GT350s among the more interesting muscle cars ever built.
Rent a Racer
Just remember to swap engines before returning it :)
LOL
Why bother swapping engines in this year. Same engine that came in the regular Mustangs in the GT-350. Basically it was just an appearance package with the GT-350.
A nice appearance package though.
Mostly right. It did have a special intake and 4 barrel but otherwise stock 351W.
I hope they at least had the 351. Nice looking Car anyway.
They had two 351’s in these cars. The 351 Windsor small block from the 289 platform and the 351 Cleveland which is more of a big block than a small block.
This one looks of the lowly Windsor family.
What we used to refer to as the ‘window motor’.
We keep having to go through this. The 351 Cleveland did not come out until the 1970 model year. No 1969 Shelby GT-350 had a 351C, they all had a 351W.
A car like this would be the only door into the world of Shelby for many a man. I.E. you don’t have $100,000 to spend but still want to say your car was an original Shelby. As of now it’s showing reserve not met, will be interesting to see where it ends up.
Imagine the value if it had been painted in the correct colors? (“Livery” for the snobs amongst us)
Grabber Yellow, which is not a Ford name for this Yellow. I know of a ’69 Shelby GT350 Hertz car that was factory yellow. http://www.thecoralsnake.com/1969paint
Love the grabber yellow color, but would prefer a 4 speed which were a small percentage of the Hertz cars.
Great looking cars, really not what Carroll Shelby had in mind under the hood as the original idea was to use the newly developed boss 302. With the 290 horse 351 Windsor this wasn’t gonna scare off any hard core street racers. The other one was meant for that.
Just a decent performer that had style by the boat loads.
I’ve been a Mustang fanatic for over thirty years, including seven years in the local Mustang club and four years on its executive committee. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of any plan to use the Boss 302 in a Shelby. I know ford’s plans at one point in ‘69 included a model dubbed the “quarter horse” or “composite Mustang”, intended to replace both the Boss 429 and Shelby series, featuring a Boss ‘9 and Shelby nose. I highly doubt Ol’ Shel would have allowed his car to use a Boss engine, and conversely, that Ford would allow Shelby to use their Boss 302 racing engine in his car. I highly doubt your source of this information.
Well, Jett, they in fact built one, and only one, with the boss 302, and it has been restored as well. I discovered this a little while back to MY surprise as well, seems like the right powerplant for such a high profile performance car and that was the original plan. But you are right, had they used that engine it would have taken away from Knudsen’s premiere hot rod mustang… The BOSS 302.
Wow. I stand corrected after a quick googling…
There’s one thing about cars and trucks. Your in school everyday, And nobody will ever learn all of it.
If you can’t afford an original, you can always steal the design! Goalie livery!
Did these have some kind of swingaway steering wheel? The wheel/column looks cockeyed.
Yes, the swing away steering column was an option on Mustangs from I believe 1967 through 1970. It was a vacuum operated unit that would swing the wheel away when you opened the door when it worked properly.
1969 was the last year for the tilt-away steering column option. It would not work on the 1970 column due to Ford moving the ignition switch to the column. If you look at the above photo of this Shelby showing the steering column with the left door open you can see the extra door jamb switch that activated the tilt-away column to move toward the center of the car.
From picture it looks as if the driver’s door is off color.
If it’s not a Shelby GT 500 what’s the use? Might as well drive a VW beetle or Falcon or even a Pinto.
I believe you might be on the wrong page.
A Shelby is my #1 dream car, but I can’t get past the colour on this one…it just doesn’t ‘feel’ right.
Gimme a 351 WIndsor motor and I will show you serious power.
The 4brl 351 Cleveland with its huge valves and cam combination on the street was great for top end streetlight to streetlight or 1/4 mailers but as a Friday Saturday cruiser was a gas guzzling, plug fouling pain in back sides.
Do not get me wrong as a 351 Cleveland was great for its designed purpose, that auto trans was a waste of its power, but grab those 2brl heads, match ports and change nothing else and you have best flow of both worlds.
Big is not always great for flow, and the 4 brl valves were too big, way too large.
All the hype of a Boss 302, was wiped away as the 351 WIndsor while basicly same motor, fit in any stock 289-302 bay, came alive, with same valve train free reving, more torque and go H P over wider range than the Boss 302 motors.
Many a Boss 302 when tore down speced out to 304 but under 305 limit for track.
My brain cloud, but did not Shelbys have the front brace from shock tower to shock tower, that came in front of Air breather, or was that just Boss and real Shelby add on?
And were not some chrome?
Maybe they came as add ons later from Trans Am racing circuit.
Hide Behind – my “slightly special” Cleveland aka BOSS 351 was not a plug fouler. It did however guzzle gas, as my foot was almost always “in it” ! And the “pain in the backsides” came from launches and speed shifts… LOL
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Ford had to coherence Shelby into even doing “The secretary” car…once he did and it proved a decent handler/competitor, as the muscle car wars heated up, Shelby was not a fan of the FE getting dropped into the front of the Mustang- great for sales, S for road courses. Which Shelby was a former road-race type, not a drag guy.
But he understood how to make money, so money won. Also, wasn’t the whole “Shelby” production all Ford by ’68-’69? I know it was taken in house around that time and Shelby had nothing much to do with it from then on.
Like I stated earlier, not a Mustang fanatic/cultist (Nor Corvette lifestylist or Mopar nut). Know a bit about everything, but no expert
Just saw this 2016 Hertz Shelby last week at the Shelby facility in Las Vegas. The first one I have seen.