Running Project: 1974 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds

The Hurst/Olds was a luxury/performance version of the Oldsmobile Cutlass, inspired by the 1960s muscle car, the 442. It was offered during nine model years spread between 1968 and 1984. The 1974 edition was selected to pace the field at the Indianapolis 500 (although the Delta 88 was chosen to haul around dignitaries because the Hurst/Olds wasn’t available as a convertible). This ’74 Olds does run and drive but has its share of cosmetic issues from sitting for a spell.

Oldsmobile partnered with Hurst Performance to build these cars, using a variety of Hurst’s famous transmission shifters. The 1974 version of the Hurst/Olds sported Colonnade styling, which meant they were no longer true hardtops but still had frame-less glass in the wide doors. Of the 1,800 special cars produced in 1974, nearly 80% used the same 350 cubic inch “Rocket” V8 that purports to be in the seller’s car (the other 20% came with a 455 that produced 50 more horses but ate more gasoline at whopping 50 cents a gallon by then!).

You could get the Hurst/Olds in any color you wanted in 1974 as long as it was black or white. Supposedly production was split roughly even. This 50-year-old Cutlass appears to be original, meaning that everything except consumables should be from the factory at 81,000 miles. We assume the vehicle has been sitting for a good while, allowing rust to creep into a variety of places. New floor pans will come with the deal to help correct some of those ills. All disconnected chrome bits are in a box in the trunk.

The interior will need renewing, including those cool swivel bucket seats. There is no carpeting, revealing the rusty floors. While the Olds runs (with an ugly engine compartment), the exhaust is toast, so it sounds quite loud. This is not an overly optioned car, so you’ll have to manually roll down the windows (today’s kids will know nothing about how that works). From Maple Heights, Ohio, this project Hurst is available here on eBay for $4,900 OBO.