Originally Posted by
FlyinHawaiian
Hertz was a subsidiary of the Ford Motor Company for a period starting in the late 80s. I remember the car classes aligning pretty nicely with the Ford models; Compact = Escort, Midsize = Contour, 2-Door Fullsize = Thunderbird, Fullsize = Taurus, and Luxury = Town Car.
There are still "fleet models" in many carmakers lines.
I was a weekly Hertz renter in the 90s. I remember the Premium car was a loaded Mercury Sable for a while. Our corp code worked on anything up to Premium.
OK, we kind of mock most 90's cars at this point - they weren't designs that aged that well - but as rental cars go, the Hertz/Ford era was pretty good. Avis and National had a lot of stripped-down GMs unless you were renting Luxury and could get a well-trimmed Caddy.