(What is a 1969 Hurst/Olds???)

Last Updated:


My 1969 Hurst/Olds, repainted with the new Firefrost formula....
Produced on 04/23/69 in Lansing, Michigan, shipped to Hurst Performance on 05/01/69
H/O #374, Completed and Shipped from Hurst Perfomance on 05/05/69
First sold new 07/30/69 at Mandy Williams Oldsmobile, West Covina California

So what is it called????
Seems to be a plague of uninfromed sellers, auctioneers, publishers, etc, showing thier ignorance when trying to present the car. It's a 1969 Hurst/Olds, done, nothing else. It is not a 1969 Oldsmobile Hurst, a 1969 Hurst 442, 1969 442 Hurst, 1969 Cutlass 442 with the 'Hurst Package', 1969 Hurst 455, etc. Is it a base 442?, yes it is, but the 1969 442 is a different car from the 1969 Hurst/Olds. In all original marketing and press releases it is presented as a 1969 Hurst/Olds and marketed as such, in the same vien as a 1970 Plymouth Superbird is not marketed as a Roadrunner. 
     The '69 Hurst/Olds followed on the footsteps of the 1968 Hurst/Olds.
Basically the 1969 Hurst/Olds is a specially modified Oldsmobile 442, 
modified by Hurst Performance Research and marketed thru Oldsmobile dealers 
during 1969. Production figures vary between 2 figures, According to official 
Oldsmobile records 906 were produced. Per the book 'The Hurst Heritage', 
Dick Chrysler, chairman of Cars & Concepts/Hurst at the time says that there 
were actually 912 hardtops and two convertibles produced.

     'The Hurst Heritage' mentions that Chrysler was working for Hurst in 
1969 and well remembers the long hours that went into the '69 H/O conversions. 
Every night he painted 25 hood scoops and spoilers for the following days 
production. He says the six extra hardtops were prototypes, promotional and 
publicity cars. The Oldsmobile figure of 906 comes from the block of V.I.N. 
numbers allocated for the H/O production. All cars were painted Cameo White 
with Fire Frost Gold striping. The 1969 H/O's began arriving at dealers in 
April of 1969.

      From what I understand, there were 906 made available for sale to the
general public. There were also 6 prototype or pre-production cars made and
these were used by Hurst executives for company cars and for the use in
promotional and magazine testing duties. These cars were eventually sold by
Hurst and I know of at least one that exists today and it's VIN# is not in
the official listing of Vin#'s from Demmer.
General Specifications:
  • 455 Cu. in. modified V-8. Special heads, camshaft and distributor.
    • The '69 442 was only available with a 400 Cu. in. engine.
  • Performance modified Turbo Hydramatic 400 transmission.
  • Hurst Dual Gate shifter and console.
  • Forced air induction via hood scoop and vacuum operated air cleaner.
    • The '69 442's induction was via scoops under the front bumper.
  • Goodyear G60-15 tires on special 7 inch rims.
    • The special rims were unique to the Hurst/Olds.
  • Custom hood scoop, racing mirrors and rear deck spoiler.
    • All unique to the Hurst/Olds.
  • Custom paint, striping and H/O emblems.
Other Details:
  • Original production of 700 vehicles were planned.
  • All 1969 H/O's except the convertibles, were based on model Olds model 4487 (4-4-2 Holiday Coupe)
  • Jack Watson contracted Demmer Engineering of Lansing, MI to modify the cars per Watson's specs. The cars were trailered from Oldsmobile to Demmer then to the dealer.
  • All were painted Cameo White with Firefrost Gold stripes and black interiors.
  • Front seat headrests had a gold stripe painted down the middle.
  • The FireFrost Gold paint was only available on the Hurst/Olds and only in 1969.
  • The 455 engine came installed from the Oldsmobile factory.
  • The Hurst/Olds package for 1969 was list priced at $683.94
  • The dealer net price for the package was $475.00, billed to the dealer by Hurst Performance.
  • The Oldsmobile code for the Hurst package was W-46.
  • The rear spoiler was said to have 15 lbs of downward thrust at 60 mph & 64 lbs at 120 mph.
  • The imported mirrors were also used by the AMC Hurst/Scrambler in 1969.
  • The air cleaner flapper door & vacuum motor were also used by the AMC Hurst/Scrambler in 1969.
  • Original owners were offered an engraved dash plaque for the dash, not all sent for them.
  • Some hood scoop interior inlets were painted black, some were left white.
  • Some hood scoop exterior's had the gold stripe continued on the verticle front, some did not.
  • The 1969 H/O emblems were pastic, coated with copper, then painted.
  • All 1969 H/O's came with the Hurst dual gate shifter.
  • Two Convertible's were built for promotional purposes, it is rumored that 1 was destroyed at a racetrack in 1970 and then a 3rd one was built to take it's place.
  • The convertibles had white tops and a gold stripe like the hardtop painted on the convertible top!
  • The hoodpins as shown on the cover of the June 1969 Motor Trend photo were not available on the car, this photo was from a late prototype of the car.
  • The 1969 H/O rear axle codes were different than the 442 codes for 1969, 'SH'=3.23, 'SJ'=3.42, 'SL'=3.91
  • The 1969 H/O was the only Hurst/Olds George Hurst kept over the years.