In 1988 Shelby pulled off a surprise. He produced the CSX-T, where the T stood for Thrifty. As in Thrifty Car Rental. That's right, ol' Shelby struck a deal with Thrifty (much like he had done back in the late 60s with the Mustang GT-350-H and Hertz) and resurrected the 'rent-a-rod' program. The CSX-T was created solely for Thrifty to rent; no CSX-Ts were sold directly to the public. As happens with rental cars, they were eventually sold in auctions; this explains how they have ended up in the hands of the public.
Mechanically, the CSX-T was very similar to the 87 CSX in most respects. Because of this, I will not reprint the 87 CSX specs here. Instead I will focus only on the differences, which were few.
Underneath there were no differences; the suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, and so on were carried over. In the engine bay, however, was a big change: the CSX-T was NOT intercooled. It featured the standard 1988 Dodge 2.2 liter turbo engine with no modifications. This engine has confused many people, however, because in 88 Dodge introduced the new one-piece intake manifold (and related plumming) which makes many think that this is a 2.5 liter Turbo I engine. Do not be confused; it is a 2.2 liter.
Outside, there were two basic changes: the color and the wheels. Where the 87 CSX had been black, the CSX-T was white. All the badges, decals, and so on carried over; they were still blue, and the lower body was still gray as well. The door and trunk decals were revised to say CSX-T but that was their only change. The wheels were new; they were polished aluminum and a new 5-spoke design; the inlets were pained white to match the body. Also, these wheels were size 15x6.5 - a first for Shelby's Dodge cars.
The interior was essentially carried over from the '87 as well but for one change: the numbered dash plaque now bore the logo of Thrifty Rental Corporation rather than Carroll's signature.
While we're looking at detailed pictures of the CSX-T, here is a shot of the decal affixed to the door sill of the same vehicle whose dash plaque is shown above. (This vehicle was unfortunately totaled, by the way.) This tag is shown as a reminder that Shelby had altered all these vehicles to the point that the federal government said they needed to be smogged, retested, and run through all other federal automotive tests to ensure that they still complied.
Once again, the CSX-T was not sold directly to the public. It could be rented, however, for $34.95 a day. Here is the rental ad which Thrifty ran at the time:
Only 1000 were produced. To my knowledge they were all identical except for two: one was intercooled and then given to the president of Thrifty; another (which was not intercooled) was built on a car with a factory sunroof and then given to the president's daughter. I do not know which numbers were on the dash plaques of these two cars.
Modified 12/9/04.