Message from original owner of '66 GT350H SFM6S1954

[Rey]

I was the original owner after Hertz.  Short version of acquisition story:  Summer of '67 learned from a client (I am an attorney) that Ford had "bought back" all the GT350Hs from Hertz; and that they were then to be "sold" to dealers.  Ford had 40+ GT350s parked in the field of the St. Paul Assembly Plant.  My client was a senior mechanic at Ron Saxon Ford, and he could buy any of these cars through Ron Saxon by paying an extra $100 over Saxon's invoice. Client and I inspected the cars.  They were all black/gold and auto.  Mileage was about 10K.  I paid $2450. It was my daily driver until '74. 
Sold the car about 1974 to a young Navy veteran just off active duty.  He drove the car to Ohio.
Wondering what happened to #1954?  I have lots of stories of the car that I'd like to document/share with present owner.

[6s1640]

Hi Rey,

My understanding is that Ford bought around 500 of the rental cars back, part of the original contract.  Then Ford dealers were then to sell.  I heard the  Ford dealers had contest of who could sell the most.  The other 500 or so then I would assume Hertz had to sell.  Your story sounds very familiar with a lot full of GT350H's for sale.  If you were there early, you got to cherry pick the nicest car.  I have also heard that many of the cars were also in not the nice of shape.  They were beat on, thus why in the early days the Hertz cars were not in big demand.   Some even saw paint color changes to hide the fact they were an ex-rental car.  What did you sell you car for?  I am also hearing from long time current owners they only paid around $1000 for their GT350 or GT350H.

Lets hear those stories.

Thanks for sharing

Cory

[BGlover67]

Hey Rey, thanks for posting.  Do you have pictures from back in the day?  If you need help posting them, just ask. 

[JD]

Rey, the 2011 SAAC Registry lists about 7 owners after you, the most recent in Texas having bought it in May of 2010.

The '66 Shelby and "66 Hertz registrar's will hopefully see your post and reply privately or on this forum.

[gt350cs]

Rey,

Welcome to the Forums. Being the original first private of a 1966 Hertz, I for one would love to hear your stories as well as see any vintage pictures you could share with the group. I am sure there are others who feel the same. 6S1954 was shipped to Chicago 5/9/66.

[Hertz74]

I bought mine in 1974, overrides, auto, #818,,,for 1800.  sorry I don't know how to put pictures on

[Rey]

I can confirm that my GT350H came from Chicago, probably rented our of OHare.  I sold it in '74 for $3450, as I recall.  It had mileage in high 80s.  My previous car was a '66 Mustang 271hp (K model?) that I sold to my roommate.  Thereafter we had sort of a horsepower race, which I always seemed to win.  The original tri-Y headers rusted heavily in one Minnesota winter, so I replaced them with long tube headers.  On reflection I think this was a mistake as the tri-Y design is better for street driving with stronger mid-range.  Then I installed a big Crower cam.  Recall it had 310 degrees intake duration. This plus a 750 cfm carb made the car almost undrivable, way too rich.  It was so bad that I stopped in Denver during a trip and bought a 600 cfm Holley for $35 and installed it on the street in front of the parts store.
The original C4 transmission was a jewel.  Don't know just what was modified, suspect it had a special valve body.  Whatever, I once towed a 21 ft inboard boat from Denver to Minneapolis never exceeding 55 mph.  This fried the transmission.  Removed the transmission and sent it to B&M for a rebuild, which was a mistake.  The transmission from B&M was an off-the-shelf exhange unit that did not have the special characteristics of the original - that is the ability to get second gear rubber.
Shelby seemed to offer a Paxton supercharger option at about $500.  Tried to buy one and could not get anyone to order it.  Finally years later, about 1969 saw an add in Road & Track for new Paxtons at $150 offered by Holman & Moody in Santa Monica, CA.  Long story, but I hopped a military plane to CA and bought the kit.  Holman & Moody had a bunch of these kits sitting on their loading dock immersed in the salt air.  Supercharger lasted less than 1000 miles before bearing failure.  Sent it to Paxton for a rebuild.  I was never really happy with the supercharger's performance.  It needed carb tuning, I think.  Best boost was around 5 psi, and this was well before intercooling.
To some extent I tried to modifiy the suspension to '65 specs - doing Koni shocks. 
In the 80s I had the motor "rebuilt" with a valve job and new rings.  It really didn't need it.
Finally, had the car painted by John Kosmoski, now retired, owner of House of Kolor.  Painted it a pearlescent white with candy-blue stripes. 

[FL SAAC]

welcome to the forum,  great story

thanks for sharing

I can confirm that my GT350H came from Chicago, probably rented our of OHare.  I sold it in '74 for $3450, as I recall.  It had mileage in high 80s.  My previous car was a '66 Mustang 271hp (K model?) that I sold to my roommate.  Thereafter we had sort of a horsepower race, which I always seemed to win.  The original tri-Y headers rusted heavily in one Minnesota winter, so I replaced them with long tube headers.  On reflection I think this was a mistake as the tri-Y design is better for street driving with stronger mid-range.  Then I installed a big Crower cam.  Recall it had 310 degrees intake duration. This plus a 750 cfm carb made the car almost undrivable, way too rich.  It was so bad that I stopped in Denver during a trip and bought a 600 cfm Holley for $35 and installed it on the street in front of the parts store.
The original C4 transmission was a jewel.  Don't know just what was modified, suspect it had a special valve body.  Whatever, I once towed a 21 ft inboard boat from Denver to Minneapolis never exceeding 55 mph.  This fried the transmission.  Removed the transmission and sent it to B&M for a rebuild, which was a mistake.  The transmission from B&M was an off-the-shelf exhange unit that did not have the special characteristics of the original - that is the ability to get second gear rubber.
Shelby seemed to offer a Paxton supercharger option at about $500.  Tried to buy one and could not get anyone to order it.  Finally years later, about 1969 saw an add in Road & Track for new Paxtons at $150 offered by Holman & Moody in Santa Monica, CA.  Long story, but I hopped a military plane to CA and bought the kit.  Holman & Moody had a bunch of these kits sitting on their loading dock immersed in the salt air.  Supercharger lasted less than 1000 miles before bearing failure.  Sent it to Paxton for a rebuild.  I was never really happy with the supercharger's performance.  It needed carb tuning, I think.  Best boost was around 5 psi, and this was well before intercooling.
To some extent I tried to modifiy the suspension to '65 specs - doing Koni shocks. 
In the 80s I had the motor "rebuilt" with a valve job and new rings.  It really didn't need it.
Finally, had the car painted by John Kosmoski, now retired, owner of House of Kolor.  Painted it a pearlescent white with candy-blue stripes.

[roddster]

  The best thing to do would be to write up all your stories and turn that in to the registrar.  These will get into the registry for that car number, and future owners can see it all right there in print.

  My usual:  When you sell your car, do turn the new owners name into the registrar while the information is current.  Never know what or why some folks want to hide thier cars history.