Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds
One of the most successful collaborations between a major car company and a small aftermarket outfit was the deal between Hurst and Oldsmobile. Back in the late ’60s, Hurst transformed the Oldsmobile 442 into one of the fastest cars available on the North American market. These were equipped with the famous shifter and signature gold and white or black and silver paint jobs. The color combo was so recognizable that it became the signature detail of all Hurst/Olds models. At the time, Oldsmobile was under GM’s ban that forbade the company from putting engines larger than 400 CID in intermediate cars. This meant that the popular 442 model couldn’t receive the biggest available engines. Because of that, it was inferior to Mopar muscle cars, which had engines of up to 440 CID under the hood (via Hurst Olds).
However, since Hurst was an independent company, GM rules didn’t apply. So Oldsmobile shipped partially disassembled 442s to Hurst. There, they installed the biggest engine Oldsmobile had, the mighty 455 V8 with 390 hp. Of course, the Hurst Olds package also has numerous other performance upgrades, such as a Ram Air induction system and heavy-duty suspensions. It was expensive since the Hurst Olds was a limited-production factory hot rod. Hurst produced its versions of Oldsmobile performance cars from 1968 to 1979 and 1983 to 1984. However, only in the first few years did the unrestricted power output become the most exciting and well-known by collectors. After that, in the late ’70s and the early ’80s, Hurst Olds were just little warmer versions of standard Cutlass two-door models. These were produced in limited numbers and soon forgotten.