In a move that mirrors what the rental car company did with Carroll Shelby in 1966 and again in 2006, Hertz commissioned five hundred special edition Corvettes for use in its Hertz Fun Collection rental program. These 2009 model year Corvettes were specially decked out both over and under the hood.

The LS3 6.2L V8 aluminum-block engine was hooked into the dual mode exhaust system, making 436 horsepower available to play with through the six-speed paddle shift transmission. Called the ZHZ model, the Corvette also included larger brakes with cross-drilled brake rotors, as well as the Magnetic Selective Ride Control suspension.

On the outside, Velocity Yellow paint with black hood and accent stripes mean that you won’t easily lose this convertible in the parking lot of the local shopping mall. As it turned out, the cars did not prove popular once their service life was over, for any possible number of reasons, we suppose.

In a move to augment the value of the cars, Hertz has enlisted Edelbrock to upgrade the cars. Adding an Edelbrock 1590 E-Force Supercharger Kit and outfitted with Goodyear Eagle tires, the Corvette now produces 555 HP and 515 ft-lb of torque.

If you’re interested, the very first of these Corvettes to be made available is sitting on eBay right now, through July 5th. The car is located in Pasadena, California, and is shown to have 41,638 miles on the odometer. A reserve bid is in place and at this writing and the current top bid of $30K has not reached the reserve.

This could certainly be an interesting acquisition, but do read the eBay listing thoroughly. There is one accident in this car’s history and with any rental car, there is no way to know how well it was treated during its service life. The car is available for inspection, so stopping by would be a good thing if you can. Failing that, setting up an independent inspection would be recommended, as it is for any vehicle transaction done over the Internet.