Hurst Engineered FWD '68 Olds 442 Uncovered

[agtw31]

this is the only front wheel drive 442 ever made.it wasnt made by GM,but Hurst.
the person that started this whole ball of wax said some pretty outlandish statements concerning the original purchase of this car ie: this car was purchased from a dealer,and is 1 of 6 made..
i called every statement he typed BS,because the car he described just didnt exist.
now,if he had just said that his father in law had the Hurst FWD 442,it would have had a little more credibility,since that car was actually real.
i find it hilarious that people want to bash a skeptical opinion when it's based on logical thinking,not rumors,or urban legend.

[442w30]

I read the thread on ROP and didn't find anything unusual, Andy - just another day. Maybe on the Corvette site it's a bit more heated?

[Pulnaway]

Andy, The guy is the owners son in law. He is just passing on the info as he was told. Who knows what the original owner was told when he purchased the car. How do you know that the car was not purchased through a Olds dealer? Why does that seem so far fetched? As far as the 1 of 6, I'm sure his FIL told him that. He did not know it was 1 0f 1. The bottom line is the car is real and if people had bothered to ask the right questions instead of the old YFOS replys these threads would not get so blown out of shape.

[bobbarry]

It would be interesting to compare this recent find to the vehicle documented in the magazine article and see if there are any variations, which might make it a "1 of ???" engineering exercise from Hurst.

I admit I was very skeptical based on the originally-reported details (1 of 6 factory FWD prototype for Grand National racing in '68), which didn't add up on a number of levels. Hurst-engineered project incorporating the contemporary enthusiasm for FWD, however, fits the bill for everything else we know about that era.

I would still love to see the documentation for this particular car; it would prove fascinating to run all the numbers on this project.

[1970Bluel78]

This story reminded me of the James Garner Off Road 442's. I think they were 68 also. Who made them ??

[Pulnaway]

http://www.race-dezert.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63499 According to this Ron Johnson owns the car. Looks like he has done his homework as far as history/ documentation.

[1970Bluel78]

Thanks for that. My old memory is getting jogged as we speak. Maybe it was the Smothers Brothers that had the 68 off road 442 ?? And who had the 69 Rambler/Scramber off road car ??

[Pulnaway]

I know the Smothers brothers had a whole bunch of Olds drag cars over the yrs. Not sure on the possible dirt car.