Car Spot: 79 Hurst Olds

A storied partnership starts winding down

For car guys, the name Hurst was synonymous with performance. It all began in the early 1960s when enthusiasts replaced the factory-standard floor or column-mounted gear shifter with custom Hurst floor shifters to obtain better control of gear selection, particularly for competitive driving. It meant so much that GM, Ford, Chrysler, and AMC teamed up with the brand to produce some truly wicked cars.

The following are just a few of the examples: 1969 AMC SC/Rambler, 1970 Chrysler Hurst 300, 1971 Hurst Jeepster, 1971-1972 Pontiac Grand Prix SSJ, 1972 Hurst Oldsmobile Pace Car (made by Hurst for the Indianapolis 500 and copied by Oldsmobile dealerships), and several Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds models. This week’s spot is an example of the last in the line, a 1979 Hurst Oldsmobile.

Finding it tough to compete against luminaries like the Hemi-powered Dodge Charger and the Chevrolet Chevelle SS, the first Hurst out of the gate was the 1968, based on Oldsmobile’s most popular high-performance option, the 442.

Hurst had originally approached Pontiac about a partnership but the boys at Chevy got their noses out of joint and moved on to Olds with the bones being the all-new 442-based Cutlass coupe. From there out went the 400 cubic inch V8 found in the 442, and in its place was a 455 cubic inch unit that busted GM’s displacement limit, but they did it anyway.

Two different packages were offered, the W-46 and the W-45. Both were rated at 390 horsepower and 500 lb.-ft. of torque; the W-45 featured better heads borrowed from the 442’s W-30 performance package, as well as a hotter camshaft. The car came with the same suspension setup as the sporty 442, but was technically its own model, and didn’t wear any 442 badging.

RELATED Spot: Check out this wild 1968 442.

Hold on, though, because Olds wasn’t done yet making this car special. Each car was loaded with comfort features, making them stand apart from more stripped-down muscle cars on the lot. The Hurst models also came with a unique Peruvian Silver paint job with black striping, a cold air intake, and Hurst’s Dual-Gate shifter for the available automatic gearbox (which allowed for manual control over upshifts). Cars without air conditioning (aka those that received the W-45 engine) also boasted a 3.91 rear axle ratio.

Gearheads went nuts for this car, and demand outstripped supply. Just over 500 Hurst/Olds models were built for 1968 by Demmer Engineering, which had picked up the assembly contract for the cars. Dealers easily had orders for four times as many. The partnership remained strong over the years even though horsepower dropped.

My example here, a 1979, was based on the Cutlass Calais coupe. It used the L34, Oldsmobile’s 350 cubic inch V8, and a Hurst Dual Gate shifter was standard. It was the first H/O to be built entirely by the Oldsmobile Division itself. It was also the first H/O that did not offer a 455 engine. That made it the first W-30 to come only with the Olds 350.

In 1979, the Hurst/Olds revived its T-tops as an appearance package. There were 2,499 that went out the door that year.

Its best sales year was its last year, 1984, when 3,500 were sold. Bickering over the price of licensing the Hurst grew to be too much, and Oldsmobile removed the badge in 1985 and simply adopted 442 branding in its place. It was the official end of a decade and a half of history between two giants of automotive performance. Oldsmobile would cease to be in 2004 as GM thinned its brands.

This 1979 is very affordable. According to Hagerty, one in Fair condition will set you back just over $10k, while one in Concours condition is valued at just over $32k. The most expensive model is the 1968, of course, since there were only 500 built. In Fair condition they go for $24,500 while in Concours condition one would set you back $86,700.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out this week’s spot. I love muscle cars and have lots of others on the site. Come back next week for another one of my finds, along with some of its history. Have a great week.