1966 Hertz Magnum 500 wheel question

[dougc]

What type of spare wheel did the 1966 Hertz come with? Thanks.

[Snakepit]

Believe it was a standard steel wheel ..... would have saved Hertz allot of money. No real reason (since the wheels both use the same lug nuts - unlike the 10 spokes) to spend extra dollars on another Magnum.

[66gtk]

My car has a very original looking spare. The 4 main wheels are also original.

[Snakepit]

Originally Posted by 66gtk

My car has a very original looking spare. The 4 main wheels are also original.

Is it a Blue Streak?

[mustangmann]

As far as I know, the Hertz cars came with a 5th Magnum as a spare. All 5 tires were 6.95 - 14 Good Year Blue Streaks.

Hope this helps!

Ken

[Snakepit]

Originally Posted by mustangmann

As far as I know, the Hertz cars came with a 5th Magnum as a spare. All 5 tires were 6.95 - 14 Good Year Blue Streaks.

Hope this helps!

Ken

Ken..... Jeff here

Agree all tires were Blue Streaks ... but what makes you think (asking) that Hertz spent the extra dollars for the 5th Magnum since it was not standard?

[david9295]

i have a set of 5 painted magnum 500 that came on 66 gt 350, is this wheel rare?

[Snakepit]

Originally Posted by david9295

i have a set of 5 painted magnum 500 that came on 66 gt 350, is this wheel rare?

Yes... but what really means is that these wheels were unpopular with Shelby buyers

I suppose you've confirmed that your car originally came with these wheels and that they are the original style .... not one of the later painted versions (with the bead saver)

[mustangmann]

Jeff, and all. The only reason I thought that Hertz Cars came with 5 Magnums, is that I have had 2 Hertz cars in the last 2 years, and they both had their original safety-bead-less wheels. Both cars had 5 Chrome Magnums. In addition, I am looking at another 66 Hertz, and it is a documented 2-owner car. There are 4 original wheels on the car, with radials, and the spare is a 5th Magnum, with an original 6.95-14 Blue Streak mounted on it. To my knowledge, there is no notation on any Shelby invoices showing a 5th Magnum as an option. To confuse matters, I purchased an N.O.S. set of 66 Shelby painted Magnums, and they came in one box, (from Motor Wheel Corporation) and there were only 4. I suppose that when Shelby received his shipments of wheels from Motor Wheel Corp. they could have been individually packaged, if packaged at all (all this is speculation, of course). I am eager to hear any more ideas.

Ken Mann

[patty.dilabio]

Hi Ken and everyone else.As we discussed in a different thread,on 67 spares-Im thinking your findings are correct,cars with the wheel option had a matching spare.The tire was a match,regardless on the wheel type used.And if I could offer a suggestion,it would be to contact Randy Ream on the BOSS 302 site and ask him--he at one time owned a nice low mileage 66 Hertz car and it was really well preserved,and well documented-20,000 miles if memory serves correct.good luck in the search!

[Snakepit]

If we start collecting "data" from the Hertz cars I would suggest that we need to track VINs as how the car were ordered and delivered so much depending on when the cars were built/delivered. Believe this discussion differs from one centered on 67 Shelbys in General as this one is about a group of cars that were different in many ways from the regular Shelby so that they could have been delivered with other items such as a spare from other cars. One reason to use the optional wheels as spares to match all the others was to allow the reuse of the lug nuts. If the spare was a standard steel one they would need the standard lug nuts. Not an issue with the magnums.

Out current car (though not a Hertz but built in the middle of a Hertz run - auto chrome Magnums) has a steel spare. Have know the car since 73. There are a number of other examples though we all know how often owners have added stuff to the cars over the years... especially to fit what was expected at the time

I doubt that Crammer would remember ... might be worth a shot. Think he's still alive in the LA area

[mustangmann]

Jeff and all;

Good points. I agree that the Hertz cars differ from "regular" Shelby's and there could well have been different practices in place for the way these cars were equipped. If we could just climb in to that time machine, and go back to find out! Talking to original owners, or the people who wroked on, and built these cars is the only way we will know for sure.

Oh, one more thought........on 65 -66 Shelby's, did the spare tire/wheel come from the San Jose plant, or were they supplied by Shelby? I know that the cars had to have tires and wheels on them for the treck from San Jose to L.A., but did they just take those, and use them for spares? Were they 14" or 15". More to come.....

Ken

[Snakepit]

Originally Posted by mustangmann

.........Talking to original owners, or the people who wroked on, and built these cars is the only way we will know for sure.

Well if you've talked to many of these people ... would not bet on what one told me, single person. Can you remember who produced the left hose clamp on a car you put together 5 years ago ( or lets say 40 yrs ago

Originally Posted by mustangmann

Oh, one more thought........on 65 -66 Shelby's, did the spare tire/wheel come from the San Jose plant, or were they supplied by Shelby? I know that the cars had to have tires and wheels on them for the treck from San Jose to L.A., but did they just take those, and use them for spares? Were they 14" or 15".

By this time they were all 14's as for the 5th wheel and rim ... guess the best source will be the add/delete sheets but we likely can't find a set that would cover specifically a Hertz group.

[patty.dilabio]

hi y'all
a few thoughts from the last or latest post i agree we need to use documents instead of trusting peoples memory unless they can back it up with pictures.Hertz cars were built extremeley fast and always differ from production cars ( steel hoods , different wheels , different color and stripes and most importantly the different brake components.)

[Snakepit]

Hertz cars were built at the same pace at San Jose and Shelby as all the other street cars.

Where did you get the "steel hood" idea for the Hertz? Hertz simply got what ever hood Shelby was using at the time. Plenty of fiberglass and steel hoods on original Hertz cars

[patty.dilabio]

Hi again:Jeff (aka)Snakepit
please accept my apologies for the steel hood comment...it proves that you are really awake!Please also realize what was meant by the built fast statement,sales were over 4 times the amount they produced in 1965,and i really doubt the workforce got that much bigger..yet the cars had to get to the people who not only payed for them initially.they helped out as returned used cars also..talk about an ideal customer Hertz was it! The guys working for Shelby must have really done some overtime!!Next time we will talk about automatics.

[Snakepit]

No reason to apologize ... we all do this from time to time. Just trying to correct little times like since information hangs around for ever in the internet

Thing the numbers of workers grew allot from 65 to 66 and then again in 67,,, all due to the work load

[tommyleea]

One more input. Not a Hertz car. I have a 66GT350 that I purchased in 1972. It has a spare painted Magnum 500 with a bald blue streak on it. For what it is worth. Cheers..

Tommy