Rental cars do not lead easy lives. People do things in them they would never dream of doing in their own vehicles. Burning out, eating, accelerating hard, drag racin. Normally that happens in four-door econoboxes. They’re generally not fast enough to be fun without being mercilessly abused.
Enter the Hertz Penske Ford Mustang GT. It’s the last special-edition S197 model. A shopping cart with $4,500 worth of Ford Racing Performance Parts, including the Handling Pack, cold air intake, additional gauges and GT500 mufflers, was tipped into it.
Only 150 of these swan-song ‘Stangs will be made available to rent, all of them automatic. (Lucky ducks like Roger Penske and Hertz brass get theirs with six-speed sticks.) Alex Nunez and Shakedown’s Leo Parente do their best with the former and its “manual” mode rocker switch at the Monticello Motor Club. Lucky for them, Brembo brakes have made it on the equipment list since the original 1966 Shelby GT350H.
Watch the video to see the world’s coolest bit of airport lot fodder in action. That rich, snorting exhaust sound alone is reason enough to sign the rental agreement.
If you want to check out one of the Hertz Penske GTs, you’d better act fast. Justin Evans, a Hertz product manager, said, “We’re looking at about eight to 10 months” of service. Of course, you can always wait to buy one after its decommissioned with around 15,000 miles.
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
