At the height of the muscle car era, Oldsmobile made a deal with the Hurst Performance company that worked out really well for both companies. In order to create a “halo” car, the two companies collaborated to produce special, limited edition, high performance Cutlasses.

The program started in 1968 with a run of 515 cars, and continued off and on for a number of years, with the final run in 1984, but for many fans, the 1968, 1969 and 1972 versions were the best out of the nine years these cars were offered.

The inspiration for the production cars were the Hurst Hairy Olds of 1966-67, drag cars that made a huge impact – a twin engine, four wheel drive monster that was really fun to watch.

In both 1968 and 1969, Oldsmobile was able to get around the corporate ban on engines with displacement over 400 cubic inches going into their intermediate cars. Oldsmobile and Hurst pretended that the 455 Toronado block engine was installed by Hurst, when in fact, they came from Lansing so equipped.

In 1969, 912 Cutlass Holiday 2-Door Hardtops and 2 Cutlass Convertibles were built by Hurst. This was the first year for a paint scheme that ended up being used for all subsequent Hurst Olds cars, Firefrost gold on white paint.  The 1969 H/O had functional “mailbox” fiberglass hood scoops with H/O 455 logos on each side to tell the world what was under the hood. A fiberglas spoiler was mounted on the trunk, and all H/Os came with special 15×7 chrome SSII rims and Goodyear F60x15 Polyglas tires.

The interior included a Hurst (of course) dual/gate shifter, painted gold stripes on the headrests, and a Hurst/Olds emblem on the glove-box door. All non-drive train modifications were done at nearby Demmer Engineering.

The 455 cubic-inch V8 (designated W46) produced 380 horsepower (280 kW) for both A/C and non-A/C cars. The engine featured a number of unique pieces, including intake manifold, chrome steel valve covers, and a special vacuum operated air cleaner lid to allow cold air from the hood scoop into the carburetor.

All that power drove through a specially calibrated (code OH) Turbo 400 transmission and 3.42 rears for non-A/C cars or 3.08 gears for cars with A/C. 3.91 gears were available as an option, but only for non-A/C cars.

If you are interested in these very cool looking and great performing cars, there are a number of sites devoted to them, and a Hurst Oldsmobile Club. You can check out the many features of these cars that make them special and help to identify real versus clone cars here.

Reader Doug M. sent us a tip on this very interesting 1969 Hurst Olds for sale in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Craigslist. The seller definitely knows this is an unusual and valuable car. No asking price is provided, but you can assume it will come with a hefty asking price. Restored examples can be found somewhere in the $50-75,000 range, based on a bit of online research.

This car is definitely an interesting and unusual example, as it shows just over 13,000 miles on the odometer, and the overall condition of the car seems to support the low mileage claimed. It is said to have been stored for a number of years. Still, it appears to not have been well cared for during at least some of that time, and is showing signs of rust in some of the typical places for this year Cutlass body. The seller also uses the dreaded “p” word, which in this instance means “r” for rust; if it needs body work, it may then require a paint job and will no longer be so special as an all original car.

According to the seller, the numbers do match, and even has the original tires from 1969 on the original rims (which are not pictured but are in storage, but “still hold air” and presumably come with the car). The Olds is said to run and drive, but we have no idea how well it does so or what kind of maintenance work the car will need. It comes with documentation and a Massachusetts title. These cars were sold with a dash plaque that had the original owner’s name engraved, and apparently the name on this car’s plaque matches the paper work with the car. Pictures indicate that the seller is aware of the casting numbers that will verify the car’s originality, and from all I can tell, this car looks to be the real deal.

What is it worth? It’s tricky to figure out. The car’s low mileage is really special, but the overall condition is not as good as one would hope for such a car. Still, if you like Oldsmobile muscle cars, the Hurst Olds is something truly special, and these early versions are rare and incredibly fun to drive. Would you arrest and repair the rust and keep the rest of the car as original as possible, or should this car be used as the basis for a full-on restoration?