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This is the third of just twenty-five prototypes Oldsmobile built ahead of the officially revived 1972 Hurst/Olds, which would go on to pace the Indianapolis 500. The original Hurst/Olds partnership debuted in 1968 before going dormant for two full years, and 1971 also marked the last year Oldsmobile sold the 442 as its own standalone model. The Rocket 350 V8 under this car’s hood carried the same engineering that would define the production Hurst/Olds cars buyers could purchase in 1972.
By the mid-1970s, most of Detroit’s original muscle car nameplates were dead, killed off by emissions rules and a fuel crisis nobody saw coming. The Hurst/Olds partnership should have died with them, but instead kept reinventing itself — from a leaky experimental T-top roof in 1975 to a 15th anniversary tribute with a distinctive small-block rumble in 1983. Read on to find out how this nameplate survived a decade that killed nearly everything else it touched.
The Hurst/Olds returned in 1972 for an unlikely reason: a fatal Indy 500 pace car crash the year before left the race without a manufacturer sponsor, and a shifter company stepped in to fill the gap. This guide covers all three model years — 1972’s cameo white pace car, 1973’s Colonnade-body redesign, and 1974’s final, rarer run — along with the engine options, cowl tag codes, and details that separate genuine cars from tribute builds. Read on to find out what made this low-production special worth chasing.