1974 Oldsmobile Olds Delta 88 Hurst/Olds Pace Car

This 1974 Oldsmobile wears Yellow Blaze Metallic paint tied directly to Hurst/Olds fourth appearance at the Indianapolis 500 that year. Fewer than 1,800 production Indy 500 Pace Car package cars were built, each offered with either a 350 or 455 cubic inch V8. Oldsmobile even supplied Delta 88 convertibles for parade duty around the same event.

We’re looking at a 1974 Oldsmobile Olds Delta 88 Royale Hurst/Olds Official Pace Car in Yellow Blaze Metallic Paint. How do you like it?

Yellow Blaze Metallic paint on a 1974 Oldsmobile is not a color choice, it is a direct reference to one of the biggest moments in Hurst/Olds history. That year, Oldsmobile brought its Hurst-tuned lineup back to Indianapolis for the fourth time, wearing the exact pace car livery that a heavily modified Cutlass carried around the track in front of hundreds of thousands of fans. The car pictured here shares that branding and color scheme, tying it directly to a package that GM built in genuinely limited numbers. Very few buyers who ordered one in 1974 could have guessed how tightly that yellow paint would end up connected to Indy 500 history.

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1974 Was Hurst/Olds Fourth Trip to Indianapolis

The Hurst/Olds Cutlass paced the 58th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 26, 1974, and the actual pace car used on track was extensively modified, running a 455 cubic inch big block reportedly producing close to 500 horsepower despite an official rating of just 275 horsepower, along with upgraded Rallye suspension, safety gear, and distinctive gold five-spoke wheels wrapped in high-speed Goodyear Polyglas tires.

What the Production Pace Car Package Actually Offered

The street-going Indy 500 Pace Car package that buyers could actually order was far closer to stock, with total production numbering just over 1,800 units for the model year. Customers chose between a Rocket 350 cubic inch V8 rated at 180 horsepower or the larger 455 cubic inch big block rated at 250 horsepower, both a significant step down from the purpose-built track car but still representing serious performance for the era.

Oldsmobile also supplied Delta 88 convertibles for parade duty and Custom Cruiser wagons as support vehicles around the event that year, which is a detail that connects the broader Delta 88 lineup, including cars like this one, to the same Indy 500 festivities even when the headline pace car itself was built on the smaller Cutlass platform.

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