Last of the Breed: 1984 Hurst Olds
Located in Kingsport, Tennessee, and offered for sale here on Craigslist is this 1984 Oldsmobile Hurst Olds. This car comes with a clean title and the seller is asking $9,500 for this beauty. Barn Finder Jack M referred this Olds to us, and I must thank him for that.
I’ll put my hand up and admit that I’ve always liked the look of these cars. A lot of people think that they’re too square or boxy, but I started driving on the roads at the start of the 1980s when this was the prevailing style for cars. This Olds looks quite clean. The seller doesn’t make outrageous claims about the mileage, stating that it does have 113,000 miles on the clock. The body looks quite solid and the only real issue that I can see is the standard color variation that occurs between painted metal and painted plastic over time.
Okay, so this is what all of the song and dance was about with the Hurst Olds. I love these lightning rods. It’s amazing the price that a set of these commands on the second-hand market. The interior itself presents as well as you would expect from a well cared for example of this mileage. There is some wear on the seats and the discoloration of the seats and some plastic surfaces that goes with age and use. It also appears that there is an after-market stereo residing in there, but otherwise everything looks to be in good order. I don’t look at this as a pristine example, but consider it to be a daily-driver.
We have no engine photos, but the seller does provide some additional information. The car currently rolls on new tires, and the seller has a number of additional new and used items that will be included in the sale. The t-top appears to be in good order, and there is an additional set of t-tops that will come with the car.
The Hurst Olds was produced for nine model years with 1984 being the final year. That year also saw the highest build number of all with 3,500 rolling down the line. Looking at what’s available on the market at present shows that this particular example is the cheapest usable car out there by quite a long way. To me this Olds provides the best of both worlds. It is a relatively rare and collectable car, and it is also a car that you could use as a daily driver. That’s no bad thing.
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Comments
My car buddy in middle TN bought one of these new and it was identical to this one in color and options best I can tell. He took that “442” back to the dealer numerous times over the years because there was an issue with the factory 307 engine and carburetor. Rather than just replace the carburetor, the Service Manager told him each time that “This time it was fixed”. Well, it never was fixed and so he finally decided he’d had enough and traded it in on a new 4th Gen Camaro. He absolutely loved that car.
All 84 H/Os were silver over black. The 83s were black over silver. As for your buddy’s carb issue, that was common with the old computer controlled q jets. My mom had an 83 Olds 88 that was giving us fits. Mostly is would “diesel” when you would shut it off. After we had several shops look into it with not much improvement. I was working at a Western Auto “corporate” store that only sold auto parts at the time, so I found a distributor and carb for an earlier non computer controlled (1979?) olds 307 (fuel inlet straight out of the front) and swappped them out. The overall performance improvement was like night and day!
I’d offer $8200 and take it home. Had the chance to get one of these in mid 90’s for $3500. It was clean, ran well but even at that time the price seemed to be too good to be true. After looking it over for about 30 minutes I discovered the infamous frame rot behind the driver side rear tire. The frame was nearly rotted right through and would have ended up snapping leading to the well known bumper sag. I could have grabbed it anyway and welded some iron in to repair it before it seperated but declined. I really wanted that car!! I’ve always loved nearly every year of the Olds Cutlass. Here’s the current love interest that’ll due for now!
Nice adult owned car, or very little time with a younger driver, cause that radio would have changed out in favour of something modern. I’m sure I’m one of the few that has the briefcase of essential cassettes behind the seat of my C10 because I refused to cut the dash. Nice car to join the hobby with. If the rails are good that is
Nice car worth asking price. It looks just like the car that drove in NASCAR in the day. This is dream car for people that are just becoming wealthy enough, to start collecting cars.
I love classic Olds. as classic car fan and collector 2 years ago I bought ALL original 79 Hurs/Olds white&Gold color combo with tan cloth interior has 7K original miles with all documentaion and manuals. Just beautiful machine aporox 3K only made paid 23K for it. Not for sale just sharing love for hobby ! This 84 Hurst/Olds shares same G body frame but In my opinion the last of 442 Olds breed is the 79 Hurst/Olds !
These were some of the most comfortable cars to ride or drive in from that era. Great cruisers, decent on gas, great looking in all stock livery. I agree with the other comments. Haggle to address any issues that might be found and enjoy it as is.
There is clearly an aftermarket deck installed in this car. You can see the filler plate for the single DIN 2-post cassette deck that’s in there. Normal stereo deck would have been am gm cassette 1.5 DIN and filled the whole properly. That’s what she said. It’s a fairly period mod but not original. Looks to be from the early to mid 90s possibly pioneer. Kmart special.
At least it’s not a Sparkomatic!
I have a cousin in south Texas who is always trading old cars. (Usually seems like he is on the losing end to me LOL- I traded him my 79 Kawasaki KX80 for a 55 chevy big window pickup with no engine or trans, which I still have 35 years later). The last time I was there (several years ago), he had a nice 83 H/O. I would like to have it but I haven’t bothered asking, as he has probably traded it for a handful of magic beans by now. LOL.
What is the three shifters,I’ve never seen this in a Cutlass? This sure looks awesome in this car.
Lightening rod shifters.
Lightning Rods…It was really more gimmick than anything (and I am a “G-body” guy… Don’t get me wrong, I would love to own one!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZmGZnmvSCM
http://phscollectorcarworld.blogspot.com/2015/03/hot-options-hurst-lightning-rods-1983.html