This 1983 Oldsmobile Cutlass is a limited production Hurst/Olds special, with just 478 ever made. The seller notes it is a strong runner, still able to burn rubber, and comes with the novel “Lightning Rods” Hurst-style shifter. Mileage is indicated as being under 60,000 with a clean title, and the Hurst/Olds is located in Shelbyville, which I presume to mean is Indiana. Find it here on eBay with bidding just over $3K and no reserve.
The original graphics and badging are just barely holding on, and the paint in general looks fairly tired. Still, this seems to only affect the top-layer panels, as the side of the body still looks fairly lustrous. These “high output” special editions were far from the most powerful Oldsmobile ever built, but still offered up plenty of high-performance goodies that give it the chops of a legitimate performance car.
In addition to the Hurst transmission, the Hurst/Olds also benefited from a quicker ratio steering box; limited slip; heavy duty suspension; four-barrel V8; bucket seats with console; and plenty of special badges. Despite appearing cosmetically tired, this Hurst/Olds still looks tidy inside with some deterioration noted. Really, it just looks like a tired used car rather than an abused hot rod stripped of its desirable parts.
The seller doesn’t mention if there’s any rust present, and feels confident the body panels are original. The power features are all claimed to still work, as does the air conditioning. The Hurst/Olds comes with the smoked-glass T-top roof, along with a fresh radiator and battery, courtesy of the seller. I could see these cars appreciating ever-so-slightly, as they did incorporate some legit performance enhancements.
The seller’s production numbers seem awfully low. I found a more believable number of 3001.
This is not a 442. It is the Hurst package. And those are ACTUAL Hurst Lightning rod shift levers
I was wondering who would be the first to pick up on that! Some of these write ups are getting pretty loose. Cheers!
They were looking for writers that knew about cars, but it seems that they never found any……
I tried, but somehow I couldn’t top this?
Oh well…..
I don’t think even the Chinese would knock those off so I believe it!
Agree it’s not a 442. It is a Hurst which I think was a decal pack and the triple stick shifter..nice car but not very special
This car is basically a 442 with a slightly warmed up 307 engine, spoiler, Hurst Olds specific trim, and the Lightning Rods shifter. Not much of a performance car compared to the original back in 1968. I would much prefer the 83/84 G-body version over the 74-79 versions, but that’s me.
They’re about the same car, except that the 442 came out after these, these didn’t have a 442 counterpart, there was no 442 between 1981-1985.
incorrect
Hey, I got an idea.
In the one photo, in the background there are 3 garage doors and one says DETAIL.
How about backing up this totally abused, rode hard and put away wet…..actually looks like it was left out side……into that DETAIL bay and clean it up!
The paint on this car is done, baked, …..it’s NOT going to buff out. Trust me.
This poor car was NOT taken care of by the last long time owner. Maybe is started life with care but that CLEARLY ended long ago.
It should be on a no reserve auction so that someone can pay a few grand for it, clean it up and drive it. To restore it will take about $80K for a car that is worth about 1/3 of that once restored. UGH. I’m done.
Hurst transmission??
Hurst Lightning Rods shifter on a GM transmission. And Tom is 100% correct… clean up your stuff to show it’s potential, not it’s crappiness!
The trans is standard GM issue 200R4 with a Hurst shifter. 3000 is approx build.
The car shows a Kansas license plate and there is a Shelbyville in Kansas so maybe not in Indiana as mentioned. As an aside check out this Hurst-Olds https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/416261832348126/
The car (the one with nasty paint) is listed on Flea-Bay for Canadian money ?
Calling this a 442 means the writer got that info from someone else. Because as we all know it’s a Hurst Olds, zero relation to a 442 that came before and after these years. Oh well, someone tried hard but got bad info from somewhere.
I agree 2 grand car.
Already over bid
This car is worth way more than $2k in parts. Ive seen the lightning Rods go for $1500 alone. I would have bought it yesterday for $2k. G body’s are going up in value. Not a car I would normally go after, but I have had a couple of Grand Nationals and a Monte Carlo SS, again, $2k would be highway robbery.
I’m sure the rules get bent from time to time, but I don’t think I’d make a point of mentioning an “open unsigned” and/or “original title” (confusing) in an ebay ad. The DMV and state take a dim view of this shell game around here.
Apologies for the mix-up. The post has been corrected.
-Jeff
If you want lightning rod shifters, check out Kilduff Shifters. Got three shifter from them, some pretty cool stuff.
I bought one of these brand new. I had a 68 Hurst at the same time. The only similarity was the name. The 83 was for its time, a 180hp performer from the Olds 307. They all came with a 3:73 rear but the weak link was the 200R4 which grenaded twice in mine. The engine never missed a beat but I had temp gage problems that required me to talk to the GM zone rep to finally get it fixed. Sweet looking car but a performance disappointment.