Thrifty Rental Racer: 1988 Shelby CSX-T
Many of us know by now that the Shelby Corporation pioneered one of the most clever marketing campaigns ever conceived by allowing consumers to rent its high-performance products at the car rental counter. The Ford Mustang GT350H – the H standing for Hertz – was the granddaddy of them all, a legitimately high-performance model that Joe Q. Sixpack could rent, race, and return come Monday morning. However, Shelby wasn’t done with this concept when he began working closely with Chrysler Corp. in the 1980s, and thus was born the 1988 Shelby CSX-T with the “T” standing for Thrifty Car Rental. Today, any turbo Mopar from the 80s is a hard car to find, and the rent-a-racer Shadow has to be one of the most elusive Shelbys out there.
The Shadow CSX-T was certainly a hot performer if there ever was one, even if it doesn’t live up the to notoriety given to the Mustang used by Hertz. Overall, Dodge was pumping out numerous high-performance models in partnership with Shelby, including the Dodge Omni GLH-S. But turbocharging was being pushed across the board, with even the Caravan receiving an optional 5-speed manual transmission and a turbocharged engine if the carpool lane simply wasn’t exciting enough for you. Dodge earned a reputation for building high-performance machines that were easy to modify with parts shared across the company’s product line. One thing I’d look to upgrade if this Shadow were mine? Finding and installing a set of the optional Recaro bucket seats.
The CSX-T was equipped with a turbocharger but no intercooler. Fitting an intercooler, however, is a simple affair and should help this turbo Dodge run even faster once installed. In stock form, this rent-a-racer produced 146 horsepower and 168 lb-ft of torque, channeled through the front wheels with the help of a 5-speed manual gearbox. The seller notes that this was a California market car when new, and that after a brief stay in Alabama, it has since returned to Los Angeles. In that time, the seller has taken on some big projects, including a fresh respray in factory colors with new decals sourced from an enthusiast who has begun making reproduction graphics.
That being said, this photo shows what looks like a hood in fairly rough shape, so hopefully this is either a “before” photo or maybe some airborne debris that makes it look worse than it is. This CSX-T has a Buy-It-Now here on eBay of just $5,000 which seems very reasonable for such a rare vehicle. We have not seen the turbo Dodge products of the 1980s rapidly rise in value, but my sense is they are definitely appreciated by a small but passionate group of enthusiasts. With easy and cheap horsepower available for a car like this, this former rental car rocket looks like a fun way to get into a collector car that you won’t be afraid to drive anywhere.
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Comments
Even at $500, I’d be embarrassed to be seen in it. lol
That’s OK, Carroll would be embarrassed to have driving one of his cars.
.J. Calderon////Carroll Shelby ALSO WOULD BE EMBARRASSED TO SEE YOU “TRY” to learn to drive it after driving foreign slop–it would be like letting you fall into a caldron ho ho ha
I’m not sure old Carroll had any shame.
I am sure you don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. The intercooled turbo Shelbys could go out on a road course and take anything that was in production that didn’t cost four times as much. He loved these cars and said they were the closest thing to his philosophy with the first GT350 of anything he made up to that point. He kept a couple for personal use.
I’ve also read articles where Carroll states that he loved these Dodges and were among his most favorite achievements.
Here is an interesting article about them, it’s a few years ol dnow: https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2019/09/05/when-shelby-tuned-hot-hatches-for-chrysler-the-1985-86-dodge-omni-glh-glh-turbo-and-glhs#comment-10663375
Amen bro’ — I still have my ’89 Chrysler (not Dodge–made in Canada)) SHELBY 2.2 Turbo—STILL MOST OF THE ORIGINAL PARTS STILL WORKING GREAT !!
I rented one of these for a couple of days back then. Insane torque steer and what felt like an endless power band made for a very exciting ride. I never wanted to take my foot off the gas.
Could be fire damage from falling ambers. Kinda weird that if a fresh paint job why does it looks like that. Cool little ride though for sure.
I had a non-Shelby 2.2 Turbo Shadow back in the day, and it was a fast car. With a few mods, I was able to beat 5.0 Mustangs (probably not if the other driver knew what they were doing, but even so). This is a really cool car if it’s all there and is serviceable. Don’t underestimate the fun of these Chrysler turbo cars!
IDK, I guess I’ll be considered a dork. I’ve owned all kinds of 60’s, and 70’s muscle cars, but there’s something about these Shelby 2.2 cars they I really like. I’ve never had one of these, but I had the Charter, and Daytona. I’ve owned several Daytona’s. I just think they’re fun to drive, for not a ton of money. I also owned a TSI Conquest. I lived the looks, but the electrical system was terrible. Loved seeing this
Not a dork–but just a bit confused–you never had a turbo 1 or turbo 2 or 3 Daytona–??? THEY ARE A WILD BEAST TO somewhat describe them—for the GM /FERD guys they were a nightmare–THEY DIDN’T EVEN KNOW CHRYSLER’S 2.2 or 2.5’s had no LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIALS OR THEY WOULD GET BEAT EVEN WORSE!!!
I seem to recall the Recaro seat option being exclusive to the 1989 CSX-VNT. Good luck finding a set.
Would drive this any day, these were fast little cars. Embarrassing is the new cars made, I would not buy one .
Great liitle cars when they were running. They only had bad heads, head gaskets, timing belts, turbos, cams, cranks, charging, wiring harnesses and as soon as oil touched the motor mount rubber, they disintegrated. This ones cherry… ;)
You clearly never owned one of these and don’t know the first thing about them. Those 2.2 turbos were bulletproof.
go back to new school –as old school never taught you anything about these cars–you were either guessing or use foreign crap cars which do not support your own country–then ppl wonder why our taxes, gas prices, groceries, etc are so high
Amazing how much mileage Chrysler got out of the lowly K-car platform. These were acceptably good performers in their era but crude as an axe with interior materials that would make an early Hyundai blush. And they blew up with remarkable frequency. But for 5 grand it would be fun for Radwood or a Cars and Coffee.
Soundz like you never had or drove one of these—was better for the price than most foreign cr-p
Godawful little things from the jump. My sister had one, and became fast friends with the mechanics down at the local Dodge dealer.
Must not have been taken care of. Those cars were pretty bulletproof.
It was almost brand new.
’89 Turbo 2’s -174 hp //would clean BOTH the camaro z & the rustang 302 (of ’89) up to at least 80 or 90 mph with std.5 spd. tranny—don’t care after that speed–we have KING HEMI to beat anything any manufacturer can or could come up with ANYWHERE on land or sea except a turbine –even new electric trash will likely burn up once they get up to 1500 HP. Then there is the solution to ANY of that also–with 11000 HORSE HEMI NITRO DRAGSTERS—yes 11,000 !!!
My ex-GF’s brother had a pin head friend with one of those Shelby Chargers. He always marveled at the style of my taillights on my ’86 Mustang GT.
must have been a 351 c rustang or YOU were dreaming of Dodge/Plymouth tailights
’89 CHRYSLER Turbo 2’s -174 hp //would clean BOTH the camaro z & the rustang 302 (of ’89) up to at least 80 or 90 mph with std.5 spd. tranny—don’t care after that speed–we have KING HEMI to beat anything any manufacturer can or could come up with ANYWHERE on land or sea except a turbine –even new electric trash will likely burn up or electrocute you, once they get up to 1500 HP. Then there is the solution to ANY of that also–with 11000 HORSE HEMI NITRO DRAGSTERS—yes 11,000 !!!
Lol obviously you never drove or rode in an 89 5.0 Dan.
Best plenty of them in my GLHS. In the turns it got embarrassing for them.
Beat, not best. Stupid phone.
Even my “lowly” GLH-T could give the IROCs and GTs of the day a run for their money.
I would have–but it would rust out after 5 years anyway//////////If you think Motor Trend was lying about the TURBO 2 performance–THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM!!–since you may think the Turbo 1 was slow
Whomever buys this will have a lot of fun for a low buy-in.
The uninformed just don’t, and will never, understand.
Same engine as my ’86 GLH-T that I owned back then.
I want a GLHT or even a GLH in blue or red. Where do I find one!?
Good memories of them as a young teen at the Friday night races.
I love them. That one looks pretty ruff
Shelby Charger hatchbacks looked SO MUCH NICER/SPORTIER MY OPINION OF COURSE
Seller has one feedback – and it’s bad and was for another Shelby car.
Ferd shelby rustang gt 350, correct was the bad one
I owned a ’89 Dodge Shadow ES Turbo ordered it new. Wish I still had it today and would have turned into a dedicated roadracer track car. I ran it couple times on open track days and it was a blast.