Many times it’s better to get a well-used but loved original rather than a well-meant but inaccurate restoration. In this case, this 1979 Hurst Olds W-30 looks like one of those original but slightly flawed cars that leaves you wonder whether to preserve or restore (I’d preserve). It’s located in Detroit, Michigan and is listed for sale here on craigslist with a price of $5,900. Thanks to reader Clarke B. for sending in this neat find!
The 1979 Hurst Olds was the first one produced since 1975, and did offer some genuine performance advantages over other GM G-bodies produced that year. For example, it was the only 1979 G-body produced with a 350 cubic inch V8. There were other performance upgrades as well, such as the Hurst “Dual Gate” shifter for the automatic transmission. If you want to learn more about 1979 Hurst Olds cars, there’s a nice article here from Hemmings Motor News.
While this car does have some blemishes in the paint, the seller points out that it looks good from 10 feet away. I’ve painted cars that I couldn’t say that about when I was finished, so I say preserve what’s there! I don’t see any rust, but given the car’s location in Detroit, it wouldn’t surprise me if there was some. I’d want to take a good look underneath as well.
Inside, it looks like you are going to have to source some seat upholstery if you want it to look really nice. The rear seat looks like new, so assuming you can match the material (which is a large assumption, that has historically been an issue according to forum posts) you can get the interior looking nice in no time. I wasn’t able to find any matching material or upholstery kits, though. Of course, if originality isn’t a huge issue to you, that won’t matter.
Here is that 350. Essentially a duplicate engine from the larger Oldsmobile models, it provides adequate torque and power to make driving this Hurst Olds interesting. Which is exactly what I would recommend–buy it, clean it, improve it when you can and enjoy driving it whenever possible!
One of my favorite Cutlass’. I think, they used to call it “his and her” shifter, but by ’79, women didn’t care for that, implying, women can’t shift, so they changed it to “Dual-gate”. I had 2 cars like this, only as a 4 door and a wagon, don’t look so shocked, it was the same car, but remained one of the few cars my ex couldn’t kill. I think this was as nice as it got for Cutlass.
A friend had a two door hatchback. I got my first speeding ticket trying to keep up with him.
Car is actually located in Cleveland, OH from the map and area code.
It is in North Ridgeville, Oh….west of Cleveland. It is also on a Cleveland listing.
A very cool looking car with solid potential for collectibility. What’s puzzling is that the paint chipping is limited only to fenders. It would be interesting to see what’s underneath the paint. If it’s e-coat, then this would be due to factory defect, but if primer then the front was repainted.
I will take the 73 that I had over this any day .
The G body 79 Malibu was also available with a 350, it was only available with an auto trans. Best you could order was the 305 if you wanted the 4 speed manual.
I had a 79 Malibu 9C1 police car- 350, 350 turbohydro. Indestructible black naugahyde buckets, power windows including the rear vent windows, F41 suspension. One of my favorite cars ever. Sadly, rust took over the body and rear frame. Had to put it out of its misery. The late 70’s early 80’s g bodies could handle and drive well – especially considering the competition at the time.