'66 GT350H (auto) rear end

Hertz models didn't come that way. they had a 3.50:1 open rear. A dealer might have changed the gearing for a customer after Hertz had sold the car.
The '65's had the locker w/ the 3.89:1 gearing. The non Hertz '66's had a 3.89:1 open rear.

Z. Ray
'66 GT-350

 

why was Ford so lame when it came to installing open rearends in cars that should have had positracs or lockers... was it the bean counters?

 

The decision to make Detroit Lockers an option for '66 was a combination of feedback from people who bought '65 GT350's and economics. Shelby American did not make money selling GT350's, They made Gt350's to meet production requirements to qualify it as a production car and race it as such. The differences are well documented between the competition version and the street version. The term "R" model didn't catch on till the early 70's. By the time the '66 car was being evaluated, a number of details changed. Consumers didn't want a full blown race car drive trains, Things became an option for 66, Detroit Lockers was one of them. Remember 66's could now be ordered with automatic transmissions, air conditioning (dealer installed). Back seats when back in. (it was cheaper to leave them in during the production, than to form a special line to take them out) and different body colors. The exception being the 252 or so "carry over" cars (which carry '65 5R09Kxxxx Ford VIN numbers) These were left over 1965 cars destined for Shelby American to become '66 GT350's. These cars carry the majority of 65 mechanical details (overrides, 4 speeds, lockers, fiberglass rear shelves making it a 2 seater, etc.). It wasn't solely the Accountants or bean counters as it was put, it was partly the buyers that made Shelby American tone it down. They couldn't handle the harshness of a Locker and amoungst other things. It probably cracked the eggs in the grocery bag after doing a store run too many times...and complained, As for the rental cars (GT350 "H") Carroll Shelby & S.A. marketing dept sold the Hertz people on the novel idea of renting a shelby (it was still a formidable car, circa 1966). That's snake oil marketing for you.
Cheers Earl

 

Don't know about the "should" part of the discussion. These were just automatic rental cars and the less "stuff" the less cost to Hertz, likely not a Ford choice. In the day these cars were beaters and nothing special considering all the other Muscle cars that were available for sale.

 

I meant generally speaking about all "high performance Fords" of the era seem to have a small percentage of positracs. I can see reasons why Hertz cars would not have them once you think about it... save money, discourage drag racing, better control in wet & snow ...but seems like every GT500 should have had one. ...and every normal GT350