Couple of years ago, friends did hire a car in the US by having people take their UK licence to a local branch and they faxed it over to the States.

On a side note, when pulled over by a state Trooper in Texas, he was annoyed when he found I had a UK driving licence and confused by the long number....so I gave him half of it! (It was quite fun seeing the starsky and hutch turn, but it was the first time being stopped by a cop with one hand on his gun......).