(By Tom Lohnes) – Are you tired of the standard old Chevy Malibu as a rental car? Do you also have ridiculous amounts of money to spend on a rental car for a few days? Well, Ford and Shelby American have teamed up to give you exactly that. Meet the 2023 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500H, and its little brother, the GT-H.
First off, this is not a good idea in the slightest. Offering a car with 900 wheel horsepower to anyone over 25 in the United States should probably be illegal. But, it isn’t illegal, so they’re doing it. As a promo with Hertz, the Shelby “H” car is once again revived, harking back to the still-crazy GT350 H of the 60’s. The GT500H is the most powerful car ever rented out by Hertz, with 900 wheel horsepower out of a tuned “predator” 5.2-liter supercharged V8. In a very safe fashion for a rental car, all of this 900 horsepower goes directly to the rear wheels through a tremec 7-speed dual clutch automatic transmission. Outside, the GT500H gets the famous black-and-gold paint scheme as the original “rent-a-racer” back in the day, and inside it also gets special gold touches. The rate on these should be around $500 per 24 hours, and Hertz won’t sue you if you take it on a race track. Nice! There are only 25 of these to be produced, so prepare to see almost all of them listed on Copart in the next year or so.
If 900 horses and $500 a night is a bit too much for you, Hertz also offers the 450 wheel horsepower GT-H. This of course improves upon the standard Mustang GT equipped with the ultra-quick 10-speed auto, and has a few upgrades here and there like special 20-inch wheels, a catback exhaust system for the already-deafening Coyote V8, and a slightly different front end. Of course, this does only have half the power of the GT500H, so it is also half the price. $250 a night is pretty good for a fun, quick, V8-powered, coupe or convertible Mustang. Only problem is that you have to give it back when you’re done.
Both of these will be able to rent in early 2023 in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Fort Myers, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. The GT-H is also available in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. Have fun!
Go for the rental insurance…