GT500-2007 Posted July 12, 2009 Report Share Posted July 12, 2009 Shelby GT-H 07H068 (VIN 1ZVHT85H375332371) turned up on a local street side used car lot here in Ft. Lauderdale. Price started at 34K and has since been dropped to 30K. Mileage is around 33K and supposedly a clean Carfax. Did not pull the Carfax myself just going by what the dealer "says". Went by to take a look at it and here are the findings: Although not noted there was some body work done on the car's rear right quarter. Hard to tell what was done as the dealer wouldn't let me pull the trunk apart but you can visually see that there is body filler under the paint. Not the best work as you could see the paint work from across the parking lot. From what I could access in the trunk, it looks like the original quarter panel is still installed so it could simply be some deep gouges that were filled, sanded (poorly) and painted over. The respray blends from the middle of the rear bumper all the way to the rear wheel well. The paint work was a bit sloppy as there was overspray on the rocker panel sticker that folds into the front of the rear wheel well. Engine is clean with all parts in place but on the road the car shifts a little rough. I haven't driven a Shelby GT auto so it could simply be a character of the auto tran but others may know this better. The front bumper has been repsrayed and new stripes added over the bumpers, hood and trunk. Obvious it is not a Florida car as the holes are in the bumper where the front plate used to sit. The new stripes were laid right over the holes. Looks like the hood might have been resprayed as there were no nicks in site and found that a bit unusual for a car with this mileage. The top looks in good shape (might be new) but with the top up it does make a hell of a noise at speed. The top may not be installed right or has torn loose from the frame as you can hear it slapping against the frame as you drive. Not an expert on convertible tops but my '94 and '96 vert never made noises like that... Interior is clean and in good shape. Tires are new so it's hard to tell if there are any suspension issues. The rear faux gas cap will need to be replaced. The chrome plating (or whatever the overlay material is made of) is pealing off. Not sure if the dealer has any of the Shelby/Hertz documents beyond the owners manual. When I pressed to see the documents they first talked around it saying simply they will provide the documents that are required by state law. Then they said that the documents are probably with the vehicle service records and as service was closed, we wouldn't be able to confirm anything until Monday, but if I buy the car now they will commit to turn over anything they have in the files. Not sure what documents/records were suppose to exactly come with the car when it was released from Hertz (perhaps someone else can comment on this) but I suspect that these have been lost as the car moved between owners. No disrespect to any sales people/car dealers on this forum but I don't trust these guys a bit. They admit the body work looks "suspicious" but all they kept saying was that the Carfax was clean on the car. All I can say is that after I finished with the place, all I wanted to do was go home and take a shower. I'm not sure if anyone on this forum has previous experience with this car (or was an owner) so they may be able to comment as well. Anyway, if anyone still has some interest in this car or some specific questions, post or PM me. GT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gth0007 Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 Shelby GT-H 07H068 (VIN 1ZVHT85H375332371) turned up on a local street side used car lot here in Ft. Lauderdale. Price started at 34K and has since been dropped to 30K. Mileage is around 33K and supposedly a clean Carfax. Did not pull the Carfax myself just going by what the dealer "says". Went by to take a look at it and here are the findings: Although not noted there was some body work done on the car's rear right quarter. Hard to tell what was done as the dealer wouldn't let me pull the trunk apart but you can visually see that there is body filler under the paint. Not the best work as you could see the paint work from across the parking lot. From what I could access in the trunk, it looks like the original quarter panel is still installed so it could simply be some deep gouges that were filled, sanded (poorly) and painted over. The respray blends from the middle of the rear bumper all the way to the rear wheel well. The paint work was a bit sloppy as there was overspray on the rocker panel sticker that folds into the front of the rear wheel well. Engine is clean with all parts in place but on the road the car shifts a little rough. I haven't driven a Shelby GT auto so it could simply be a character of the auto tran but others may know this better. The front bumper has been repsrayed and new stripes added over the bumpers, hood and trunk. Obvious it is not a Florida car as the holes are in the bumper where the front plate used to sit. The new stripes were laid right over the holes. Looks like the hood might have been resprayed as there were no nicks in site and found that a bit unusual for a car with this mileage. The top looks in good shape (might be new) but with the top up it does make a hell of a noise at speed. The top may not be installed right or has torn loose from the frame as you can hear it slapping against the frame as you drive. Not an expert on convertible tops but my '94 and '96 vert never made noises like that... Interior is clean and in good shape. Tires are new so it's hard to tell if there are any suspension issues. The rear faux gas cap will need to be replaced. The chrome plating (or whatever the overlay material is made of) is pealing off. Not sure if the dealer has any of the Shelby/Hertz documents beyond the owners manual. When I pressed to see the documents they first talked around it saying simply they will provide the documents that are required by state law. Then they said that the documents are probably with the vehicle service records and as service was closed, we wouldn't be able to confirm anything until Monday, but if I buy the car now they will commit to turn over anything they have in the files. Not sure what documents/records were suppose to exactly come with the car when it was released from Hertz (perhaps someone else can comment on this) but I suspect that these have been lost as the car moved between owners. No disrespect to any sales people/car dealers on this forum but I don't trust these guys a bit. They admit the body work looks "suspicious" but all they kept saying was that the Carfax was clean on the car. All I can say is that after I finished with the place, all I wanted to do was go home and take a shower. I'm not sure if anyone on this forum has previous experience with this car (or was an owner) so they may be able to comment as well. Anyway, if anyone still has some interest in this car or some specific questions, post or PM me. GT Very valid concerns. I worked for Hertz for 27 years retiring in late 2006. The 2007 GTH convertibles were kept in the rental fleet much longer than most of the '06 hardtops and are often much rougher than were the '06 coupes. The decision was made by Hertz to refurbish the'07 cars and run the mileage much higher, well into the 30,000 plus mileage (the 2006 Coupes were usually sold with less than 15,000 miles with some exceptions). The bodyshops used by Hertz are usually OK but there is huge pressure on getting the cars back into the fleet, so often you will see repairs that aren't as good as you as a retail customer would appreciate. If you pull a CarFax report you can determine WHERE the car was first titled. In Florida, the address would be in Casselbury, Fl (suburb of Orlando) as ALL Florida Hertz cars are registered at that address. It's not uncommon for an "out of state" car to show up in Florida, and if the car is scheduled to be sold, it will be sold in Florida to avoid any unecessary shipping costs back to the "owning state". If you're thinking about buying a Hertz car, and you have previous damage concerns, then I would suggest you write a letter to the Hertz Corp, 225 Brae Boulevard, Park Ridge NJ, attention VP, Vehicle Maintenance. Ask for previous damage history. They may not readily give it to you, but if your a persistant then maybe. Also if the car was sold at auction, which is usually the case with Hertz, then you can call the Auction and ask if this car by V.I.N was a "green light or yellow light or red light" sale. If yellow or red, then there has been something problematic declared by the seller (theft recovery, damage beyond minor, etc). The buying dealer will KNOW this so when they sell it to you, they also should declare the problems. Hertz is very good about declaring these things but sometimes unauthorized repairs by a rental customer has occured and won't show on Hertz records. If you look in the door jamb on most Hertz cars you will see a 7 digit number on a small white bar-code. This is the inventory number of that car. If it has a prefix of 1398 then it is a Florida car. The best advise is always to get a CarFax and work from there. Hope this helps a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woolz Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 i know of a couple of dealers here in orlando that have some 07gth's for sale. i bought mine from don and vantage sportscars: vantagesportscars.com i met another gentleman this past saturday: tim @ tlk performance sportscars. tlkperformanceautos.com just thought that you might want to check these guys out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbymotorsports Posted July 13, 2009 Report Share Posted July 13, 2009 The best advise is always to get a CarFax and work from there. Hope this helps a little. gth0007, Would repairs performed by the Hertz in house bodyshops even show up on a CarFax report? I was always under the impression they wouldn't. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gth0007 Posted July 14, 2009 Report Share Posted July 14, 2009 gth0007, Would repairs performed by the Hertz in house bodyshops even show up on a CarFax report? I was always under the impression they wouldn't. Steve Hertz uses contractual body shops and are Self-Insured. In most states, companies that qualify to be Self-Insured do not follow the same reporting rules as Insurance Companies. A detailed record of every car IS maintained within Hertz via electronic storage, including digital photos of any accident damage/repair appraisals. The CarFax report should show the car's First title location. When I owned GTH0007 I obtained the CarFax report and it indicated "Rental company, Casselbury Fl.".CarFax obviously got their information from Florida DMV on my car. Hertz also uses Ford's "Oasis" warranty repair system as Hertz is considered a dealer. If you have the VIN number, and a Ford dealer is willing, they can log onto Oasis and get any mechanical work reported by Hertz. Hertz's incentive to report is that they get re-imbursed from Ford for their repairs done while the cars are under Warranty. Of importance is that most GTHs were sold at dealer auctions which deters them from not being truthful about the car's history. Once an auction declares a car a Green Light car, based on the seller's information, then any deception would come back to haunt the auction and the seller. The problems start once the cars hit the retail market. Unscrupulous buyers tend to forget the "red light" status of the GTH they bought at auction (usually heavily wrecked/repaired) and pawn the car off on Ebay leaving out pertinent information. You can safely estimate that 5- 10% or 25- 50 cars for each model year GTH has had some body repair from minor collision damage. In Florida alone there were 4 2006 GTHs sold as "Salvage". You may remember seeing at least 2 of these on Ebay. I would recommend getting the Hertz Maintenance file on any GTH purchased. The buyer may have to write letters as Hertz has specific policy about releasing these files, but as an owner I'm sure the buyer can get the file if persistant. The file will not be around forever, given record retention rules, so owners should get the file and preserve the history on their car. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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