In 1982, Oldsmobile split the Cutlass into two different models, the G-Body, rear-wheel-drive Cutlass Supreme, and the A-body, front-wheel-drive Cutlass Ciera. With the Cutlass Supreme, Olds decided to resurrect one of its performance nameplates, the Hurst/Olds.
The Hurst/Olds debuted in 1968 as a performance variant of the Olds Cutlass, but with a unique Peruvian Silver and Black paint scheme. The original Hurst/Olds was powered by 390-horsepower Rocket 455 V8. At that time, equipping the intermediate-size Cutlass with a 455 cubic-inch engine flew directly in the face of General Motors corporate policy, but Oldsmobile skirted that limitation by stating Hurst installed the engine in the car, not Olds.
Different versions of the Hurst/Olds were built from 1968 to 1975, but always on the Cutlass platform. The Hurst/Olds took a hiatus until 1979 when it returned on the now-downsized Cutlass. The 1979 Hurst/Olds was available in either a black and gold or white and gold paint scheme. The Hurst/Olds would only stick around for a year, not to return until 1983.
The 1983 model year marked the 15th anniversary of the Hurst/Olds. The model returned with a new black and silver paint scheme accented by red and silver pinstripes. Fifteen-inch chrome wheels wore raised white-letter Goodyear Eagle GT tires. The hood featured a power bulge, and the rear deck lid had a spoiler affixed. The engine was dressed with a chrome air cleaner lid and true dual exhaust. The interior was available in either Dark Maple or Light Gray (the Light Gray is rare), and either vinyl or crushed velour.
Powering the ’83 Hurst/Olds was a 307 cubic-inch Olds V8 producing 180 horsepower and 245 pound-feet of torque, fed by a single four-barrel carburetor, and backed by a Turbo Hydramatic 200-4R four-speed automatic transmission with Hurst’s signature three-stick Lightning Rods shifter. In their road test of the 1983 Hurst/Olds, Car and Driver magazine achieved an 8.8-second zero-to-60 miles per hour time, with the quarter mile going by in 16.7 seconds, and a top speed of 109 mph. Not overly impressive, but decent enough for a Malaise Era offering.
Only 3,001 15th Anniversary Hurst/Olds were built. The original figure was to be 2,500, but consumer demand drove additional production.
Our feature 1983 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds has covered just under twelve thousand miles in its lifetime. It is in excellent original condition, with a showroom glossy exterior finish. The brightwork on the car’s exterior is limited to the stainless trim around the windows and T-Tops and the chrome factory wheels, all of which appears to be highly polished.
Inside the Hurst/Olds is finished in the rare Light Gray crushed velour cloth. Aside from some minor wrinkling in the back seat, the interior looks factory fresh. The chrome Hurst Lightning Rod shifters catch the eye and inspire thoughts of hooligan behavior.
The 1983 Hurst/Olds’ engine bay is highly detailed and looks to be largely original. Aside from a more modern battery, it would be difficult to differentiate from new.
Inside the Hurst/Olds’ trunk is the same new condition found throughout the rest of the car. There are no signs the trunk has ever been used to haul anything aside from the spare tire, T-top bags, and car cover that reside there.
This outstanding 1983 Hurst/Olds is being offered by Orlando Classic Cars for $39,900.
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Comments
Sweet! Who’d a thought we’d miss 80s cars?
When I was in high school my local dealer had one and I used to walk down at lunch and drool over it. It had the gray interior, didn’t realize it was rare! Cool car.
Me as well. Dreamed of having this car. Just a bit to young so bought a brand new 1985 Oldsmobile 442. Just missed the spoiler, hood scoop and the Hurst shifter but damn it was still really a cool car even though it was as slow as a lead sled. Still loved it and love the sound of the exhaust.
I believe the 180 hp info is wrong. Pretty sure they were 140 hp. I don’t recall GM offering a “High Output” 307.
The regular Olds 307 was 140hp, it was a H.O. version of 180hp.
I had a 1982 Cutlass Supreme not quite a Hurst Olds but a beautiful and smooth riding car. I always thought that Olds had the best quality of all the GM cars. Wish they were still around.
Back in the day I had a 84 Cutlass supreme 2dr brown with a half vinyl top.. had the 307 4 barrel with a posi with only 60k miles.. drove like a dream and was real comfortable.. had the plush pillow type seats with a column shifter. Miss that car..
Those lightning rod shifters looked cool, the far right lever and release button performed the 1-2 upshift, while the middle lever and button performed the 2-3 upshift. The left “normal” lever did 3-4, or you could just leave it in D and let it shift itself. Today we have manual shift mode, which does the same thing with one lever instead of 3…without Malaise Era performance.
If you liked the same basic body style with much better than malaise era performance, all you had to do was wait for the Buick Grand National. The shortcoming in the GN was the single stick shifter with the almost undetectable transmission detents. Hurst Lightning Rods would have fixed that deficiency. So the choice is clear: buy a Buick GN and install some hurst lightning rods or buy a Hurst Olds and install a GN engine…
A friend of mine bought one back in 1983 it was a very impressive looking car but performance was’nt. We were in high school then so we put it through the test seemed to me it was always in a bind something holding it back but it did turn heads.
We had a Cutlass Supreme ,Cutlass cruiser, 3/ 88’s, 2/ 98’s, custom Cruiser , 2 Toronado’s , and Aurora , all great .. GM decision was dumb (as usual ) should have kept the Oldsmobile division and killed Buick .
But if Buick was killed, then everyone would lament the good old days of Grand Nationals! Honestly, the government dictated reorganization bankruptcy could have been handled better by the corporation itself without interference. I attended many GM retirement luncheons where that sentiment was unanimously expressed. GM management was bad, but government management is far worse.
I’d be shocked if they get 40k for this. We sold our 83 HO in 2010 for 24k to a collector somewhere out east and our has only 2k miles on it. The G bodies don’t command that kind of price no matter the market. The interior on this is rough for that price range.
I have to disagree with your comment. This was worth the 40k. Gbody’s as we speak are going up 5 to 10% a year. In years these cars will be worth a pretty penny, especially the low mileage, unmolested.
I can understand if someone is lusting after a nice example of a car that they once owned or wanted to buy. If the same guy has made a lot of money in his lifetime, wouldn’t miss 40K of “spare change”, and doesn’t care about resale, he might pick it up. But that anecdote doesn’t really drive the market.
Had a 72″ 442 Oldsmobile that was black on black and it was a screamer… Never lost a race at the drag track in it’s class… bought new and sold with 235,000 rounded miles… Still used no oil, sounded great with Factory duel pipes… I had transmission rebuilt at 200,000 so that was good and had a 50,000 transfer warranty on it… I’d never wrecked, opted polished and inside clean… A friend purchased it and had it about 5 years more before selling it… Still ran good with no smoke and passed smog…
OLDSMOBILE WAS A GRAND CAR BUILDER AND SO RELIABLE, I HAVE ALWAYS WONDER WHY THEY WENT UP…..
Just earlier this evening I was talking to a friend of mine and inquired about a mutual friend that the both of us had in high school in the early 80’s that had a Javelin, two AMX’s and one of these, an 83 Hurst Old’s, I was shocked to find out that he’d passed away several years back and I immediately ask what had happened to his cars, I was told a relative of his has them.
Funny how just hours ago we were talking about one of these cars and now I stumble across this article.
The articles right, those aren’t overly impressive numbers until you consider that they’re from the Malaise Era, then they are pretty impressive.
And while the power and acceleration numbers from that era aren’t too impressive what goes over a lot of people’s heads is that the numbers from everything else improved in that era over the Golden Age of muscle cars, given an equal car from 13 to 15 years before, meaning 2 door 5 seat passenger car, the braking, steering and suspension are all improvements over them, the government may have crippled the power with their emission standards but the engineers weren’t hog tied when it came to improving the rest of the performance with cars like this, it’ll handle better, ride better and stop in less distance than the vaunted muscle cars from the late 60’s and early 70’s, on the winding mountain roads where I live that makes up for some of the lost power in the Malaise Era, peak power numbers are one thing but in the winding mountain roads these cars can still boogie right along with a 68 Camaro or Mustang, the truth is when it comes to brakes and handling those cars from the Golden Age of power leave a lot to be desired, anyone whose driven them in an environment like where I’m from will tell you they were real handfuls and downright squirrelly on a winding road, back in the day they were all through the junkyards around here from people jumping in one and not knowing what they were getting into, but then again that meant that there were plenty of hot engines from those cars laying around the countryside around here in totalled cars in the junkyards.
Yes, suspensions improved a bit over the 60s. But the brakes on the G body series Olds, Buick, Chevy, Pontiac were still almost Fred Flintstone… Rear drum brakes, ugh.
Had the 1986 442 version. One of the worst examples of GM performance. Fit and finish issues and mechanical problems. The Buick Grand National and Monte Carlos SS were better choices.
Yes, in my mind there was no reason to saddle the 442 with a tiny Olds 307. Should have used a 350 SBC as found in the Monte Carlo. And if you wanted more power, the Buick GN turbo intercooled V6 was the hot setup. The malaise era could have been better without 307s.
The Monte Carlo SS used an L69 305 HO so was right in line with what Olds was doing from 1983-1988. Note that in 1983 The Monte SS was actually rated at less power and torque than the Olds 307 HO and used a 3 speed THM 350 with 3.42 gears instead of the 200R-4 and 3.73 setup that the Olds used so in the real world the Olds may be a little quicker. Starting in 1984 the L69 as used in the Monte went up to 180 HP just like the 307 HO but still made less torque at 235 vs 245 for the Olds.
Also note that the 307 with its head change to the 7A setup starting in the 1986 model year dropped power down to 170 horses but a slight increase in torque to 250. The 86/87 442 was slower as a result with a lower RPM redline.
Ok. I didn’t address the Chevy 305 – also a miserable engine that had no reason for existence. However, in those days SBC 350s were in plenty of other cars and should have been installed by the factory in this H/O AND Monte Carlos – in performance trim (i.e. not a 2 barrel).
Keep in mind that 8.8 second 0-60 time and the 16.7 1/4 time is on the slow side from what I have experienced with these cars personally. Often these first tests are pre production examples with little to no miles on the green engines. There is a youtube video that shows a 0-60 time on a 1983 Hurst that is bone stock, in great running condition and with only 35K that properly represents these cars with a 7.5 second time despite some wheel spin and a 1/4 mile more in the low to mid 15’s. Those are still not very fast times but in 1983 this was quite strong. I have played around with a few 1985 442’s with this same drivetrain and got that time down to 7 seconds flat so these can be nice peppy touring cars that look great. Just don’t expect to stomp on current Camaro’s or Mustangs and come to the realization that these can be beat by your average family hauler.
Another underpowered, overpriced lump
Is this car still available?
No it’s sold sometime ago
Awesome Car! I had one in 1985, put a 400hp 400ci engine in it. It was Fun then!
I loved mine. Mine had burgundy interior and not grey like this one. Was the nicest car in town. Well there was a grand national running around but I knew mine was more show and no go compared to his.
I bought mine new in January of 1983 and still have it. Has about 160,000 miles on it now. Engine has never been apart and doesn’t smoke or use oil. Transmission was never how it should have been and was pretty much shot at 90,000 miles. Took it to a guy who owned his own shop and he asked me how I wanted it to shift. It clicks off the shifts just like snapping your fingers and still does.