1969 Hurst/Olds - Picture this

[1969HO455]

In the Spring of 1969 Oldsmobile teamed up with Hurst to produce a very special and limited edition musclecar - the '69 Hurst/Olds. These cars were announced in magazines building up to the actual production which took place in April 1969 where they built approximately 906 of these for sale to the public. The cars were painted Cameo white with Firefrost gold striping, featured a stout 455 cubic inch engine with special heads, camshaft and distributor putting out 380 HP and an astounding 500 ft/lbs of tire melting torque. Other features included the unique hood scoop, and rear spoiler that screamed late 60's musclecar. All cars featured the trademark "his & hers" Hurst automatic shifter behind a beefed Turbo 400, which basically had two gates for shifting - a manual side and a regular automatic. To buy one was not easy as not every dealer got one. When they did land one at the dealer they wanted to keep it on the showroom floor as long as possible to draw potential customers in & to advertise and market Oldsmobile and sell the 442's, Cutlasses, etc. On more than one occasion a dealer may have sold the car and made payments for the buyer to keep the car for a couple months on display.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4667-69hogeorgehurstandraybrock.jpg
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Sometime in the 4th week of May 1969, #886 of the 906 was built, sent to Demmer Engineering for the Hurst/Olds modifications and invoiced for delivery on July 2, 1969. The car was shipped to Vern Johnson Motors in Paynesville, MN and put on the showroom floor. A young Gary Gatz, just out of high school had read all about this special car and when he heard the local dealer had one he was there soon after to check it out in person. This was the car he wanted but like alot of other potential buyers the dealer's price was inflated to discourage immediate purchase so they could keep it at the dealer longer. He waited patiently, checking the dealer again and again every couple weeks hoping it would still be there. As September rolled around dealers were realizing that the next model year cars were just around the corner and they were more motivated to sell the '69's off as the '70 's came in. On September 19, 1969 Gary brought his dad down to the dealer with him as he was too young to purchase without a co-signer. They made the deal and Gary drove off with his dream car - a real '69 Hurst/Olds.

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4671-69_hurst_olds_886_protecto_pla

Soon after, they registered the car with Hurst and received a dash plaque for the car, assigning it Hurst #509, with his name below. As most kids of his era, he studied the car magazines and knew alot about what was available to accessorize and hop up your musclecar. Pretty soon after he realized the car's power and how easily it burned the GoodYear Polyglas G-60's up in smoke. He was scheming about the next thing to add to the Olds. He had seen the ad in an issue of Hot Rod magazine showing the latest wheel by American Racing - the Deep - Deep barreled 200-S mags. They advertised this wheel to quickly transform your car into a threatening, low slung beast. This was it!

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4672-69_hot_rod_200_s_ad.jpg

The next Spring, he went down to his local speed shop and ordered a set - 15x7 fronts, and the deep barreled 15x8.5 for the rear. He knew the G-60's were no match for the 455, so he also ordered up a pair of the larger than life smokers, L-60 Goodyear Polyglas shoes with a full 9 inches of tread. A couple weeks later he took the car down to have the new wheels & tires put on. Now he was ready for action, and the competition knew his Olds was a force to be reckoned with............

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4673-july1970_69_hurst_olds_4.jpg

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Fast forward 44 years and this is the new "old" look I've added to my '69 Hurst/Olds. I was able to find this amazing set of nearly NOS American 200-S wheels (15x8.5 rears, 15x7 fronts with the original style center caps, and pressure style valve stem caps). The tires are also vintage L60-15, G60-15 Goodyear Polyglas. My car is a kinda of survivor, #886 of the 906 or so built. Original owner raced at Minnesota Dragway stock running 13.13. I dig the "day 2" look and this screams that. Enjoy!

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4679-dsc04746.jpg

http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/pics/usergals/2013/05/full-13757-4680-dsc04788.jpg

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[markinnaples]

<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/drool.gif That. Is. Awesome.

[Xplantdad]

Cool as heck! <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif

[whitetop]

Wow, great stance and look... L-60's just rock..the perfect tire size..

[68ys8030]

man that car looks good!

[owners2]

Awesome looking ride....

[scuncio]

Hard to beat with those wheels...looks like they were meant to be there from day 1

[Damien]

Looks great. I love it!

[elonblock]

Perfect wheel and tire combo. Looks great!!!

[DW31S]

GREAT!!!!
In 1968 my dad worked at &quot;Anderson Olds&quot; (yea, just like the race car here which I now own)and ordered my next door neighbor a Black/Black vinyl top with White/Parchment interior '68 442 Hardtop W/O the side stripe, and the first thing my neighbor did was add the SAME wheels you have. I could never (and still can't)get over how good that car looked with just a wheel swap. Well in 1969, my dad left Anderson Olds (he did return after 2 weeks)and went to work as the sales manager for another Olds dealer--Toby Hallet Olds, and while at Toby Hallet his demo was a '69 Hurst/Olds. My dad is gone now, so I don't know if that was part of the deal to hire him, or he just took it to drive. He almost always had neat 442s for demos, so this really wasn't all that strange for him, except that I can remember it like it was yesterday.
I REALLY like the look of your car, and I have some vintage 14&quot; Cragar SS mounted up with Goodyear RWL belted tires for my race car which does have street tags and insurance. Like yourself, I was fortunate to find some NOS (they were when I got 'em) L-60s for the rear, and I went with repro. F-70s for the front.
Again, your car looks awesome!!!

[SmallHurst]

That stance does rock! As for the L-60's, don't be afraid....more are being made! I have been trying to let enough know.... L60-15 Polyglas are reproduced!

[mockingbird812]

Wow, how did I miss this 69 HO?! Beautiful, great story, super vintage photos. Congrats and thanks! <<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/biggthumpup.gif

[napa68]

That just makes the car! Anyone have a nice or NOS set of center caps? I have a set of these and now think they would look great on a C3 Corvette!

Thanks,

Tim