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Fred Mandrick owns the only 1968 Oldsmobile 442 ever built with front-wheel drive — a Hurst/Olds engineering experiment that survived over fifty years and two owners before landing as the featured car at the 2013 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Lou Costabile hears the full story of how a photograph in a history book led to the discovery. Watch to hear it from the owner himself.
The fender badge reads 442, but this 1968 Oldsmobile hides a secret that upends everything the name stands for: it’s front-wheel drive. Born as an engineer’s experiment alongside the first Hurst/Olds program, it’s a genuine one-of-one that spent 42 years with a single owner. Its current caretaker found it as a photo in a history book and tracked down the real thing. Hear the whole improbable story and the engine that backs it up.
In late 1967, Hurst’s engineers pulled a Toronado’s entire front-wheel-drive powertrain and grafted it into a brand-new Oldsmobile 442, inside 45 days and without GM’s blessing. The result sent 500 lb-ft of torque through the front wheels alone, using a loophole nobody at GM had thought to close. Decades later, only one still exists. Here’s how a secret experiment became a one-of-one legend.