More than half a decade ago somebody at car rental company Hertz had a great idea. They approached well-known car tuner Carroll Shelby and came up with the idea of renting out Ford Mustang GT350s. The idea caught on, and the tuned Mustangs marked the start of the ‘rent-a-racer’ phenomenon.
It wasn’t just Mustangs either. You could hire Chevrolet Corvettes, AMC AMXs and even Jaguar E-Types. The thing that they all had in common, apart from being some of the quickest cars of their day, was the iconic gold-on-black paintwork.
Wind the clock forward to today and we now have the Dutch arm of Hertz attempting to recreate that 60s feel. They’ve produced the Fiesta ST-H and added it to Hertz Dream Collection, a range of exotic machines that includes the Jaguar F-Type, Porsche 911 (991) and Bentley Continental GT.
Looking like a Lotus F1-inspired limited edition, the Fiesta ST-H uses gold highlights to contrast with the black paintwork. Even the alloys have been powder-coated in the same shade of gold that makes up the bonnet, roof and side stripes.
There are no mechanical changes so we’re still looking at a 180bhp turbocharged 1.6-litre engine, a 0-62 time of 6.9 seconds and top speed of 139mph.
Whilst it’s great that you can rent something like a Fiesta ST for a day of fun, there’s one drawback – that distinctive colour scheme makes it too easy for an eagle-eyed marshall to spot your rental car and turn you away, should you be crazy enough to try and sneak one into a track day. I’m sure the thought never crossed your mind.
Hertz UK does have it’s own dream collection but there’s no suggestion they’ll be adding the Fiesta ST-H to the fleet.