1988 Oldsmobile Hurst/Olds: Four Cars, and an Unknown Number of Kits

The Hurst/Olds Club of America records that four 1988 Hurst/Olds were built by Doc Watson on the last rear-wheel-drive Cutlass platform to mark the 20th anniversary of the Hurst/Olds partnership. The same club history says the fiberglass aero kits used on those cars were then sold to the public, that only kits installed on 1988 cars could be badged as 20th-anniversary Hurst/Olds, and that the number of kits is not known. This record counts the four cars under a separate special group, as dealer and aftermarket conversions and not factory production, and it does not count the kits.¹

The club page is the only source this record could cite for the count of four cars, and no second source confirms it. A forum thread reported in a search summary says Watson built the four cars to pitch a 20th-anniversary edition to General Motors, which declined because the rear-drive Cutlass was being phased out, and that he later produced 120 kits. The thread returned an access error and its poster is unknown, so this record keeps that account among its unpublished leads and does not adopt the 120-kit figure into its production rows. The club itself gives no kit count.¹

The one primary source this record could add for the car underneath is Oldsmobile's own 1988 Mid-Size brochure, printed 8/87, which covers the rear-drive Cutlass Supreme Classic and Classic Brougham. The brochure never mentions Hurst/Olds, the 20th anniversary or Doc Watson, and it does not say those catalog cars were the base for the four conversions. Every engine, option, color, seating and dimension row in this record is therefore scoped to the catalog Classic and Classic Brougham and is not a claim about what any Hurst/Olds carried. The brochure is marketing material and prints no prices and no production counts.

The brochure's powertrain table gives the Classic and Classic Brougham a 5.0-liter (307 cubic inch) V8 with a four-barrel carburetor, bore and stroke of 3.800 by 3.385 inches, 140 at 3,200 rpm and 255 lb-ft at 2,000 rpm, with a 4-speed automatic overdrive transmission and a 2.56 to 1 axle. The table labels the outputs 'Brake HP' and 'Net torque' without naming a rating standard, so they are kept as printed. It prints the compression ratio as '799 to 1', a misprint quoted as printed, and labels the driveline 'Transaxle' although the car is rear-drive. Cooling capacity is 14.9 quarts and trailer towing is 4,000 pounds.

The dimensions table lists a 108.1-inch wheelbase, P195/75R14 tires on 14 by 6 wheels, an 18.1-gallon fuel tank and six-passenger seating for both body styles. The Coupe is 200.0 inches long and weighs 3,203 pounds, while the Brougham Coupe is 200.4 inches long and weighs 3,233 pounds; both are 54.9 inches high. The Brougham headroom figure is printed '38.1/378', quoted as printed. Seating is a standard dual-control 55/45 divided bench in Summit knit velour on the Brougham, and a custom front bench with fold-down armrests on the Classic, which can instead be ordered with reclining front buckets in Bronte velour in four colors.

Nine exterior colors are marked for the Classic and Classic Brougham on the brochure's color page, numbered 11 White, 12 Silver Metallic, 15 Medium Gray Metallic, 19 Black, 25 Light Teal Blue Metallic, 31 Dark Teal Blue Metallic, 58 Light Chestnut Metallic, 71 Medium Red Metallic and 79 Burgundy Metallic. The option-package table lists 1SB to 1SD for the Classic and 1SB to 1SE for the Classic Brougham, built from cruise control, tilt steering, pulse wipers, mirrors, power windows, mats and locks, and the equipment charts add RPO-coded items such as the limited-slip differential, Super Stock wheels and the Astroroof. No option price is printed. Two internal discrepancies, over FE2 versus F41 suspension and the Rallye cluster, are held under this record's conflicts.