Rusty Small's (Small Hurst) 1969 Hurst Olds!!

[Xplantdad]

I originally was not looking for this car, but instead I was looking for a ’70 442 W-30 (I was looking for a car that was as old as I was!). I picked up my July ’95 issue of Hemmings and saw the ad for a ’69 Hurst/ Olds in the same area code as I was living in.

I called to see if I could look at it. That weekend, I jumped in the truck and headed to Kansas City to take a look. Armed with decode books, I looked over the entire car and saw a complete, low mileage (24K), original paint ’69 H/O that needed some TLC. The car was from north Texas and the only rust was a small patch at the bottom of the driver’s fender. The passenger fender needed alignment (I later found out that the fender was from a different ’69 Hurst), the paint was cooked and faded, but the interior was in remarkably good shape.


We talked and I said that I would get back with him. I called my Uncle up and he said, “Cool!” I contacted the bank and they said that they would write a loan for the car. I called my Mom (Yes, I was 25 and still seeking my parents approval) and she said, “What the he!! do you need a car like that for?” That scared me away for a couple of months, but then I called the seller up again. He said that he had a cash deposit on the car from a gentleman in Carolina. I said that if the deal fell through, to keep me in mind. The beginning of October came around and I received a call from the seller. He stated that the gentlemen from Carolina flew in and saw that the car needed a paint job and let the car go. I quickly got in contact with the bank and they said that they would still write the loan. I then called my Uncle up and he met me in Kansas City with his car trailer. We left the trailer in another lot and went to look at the car. My Uncle gave me thumbs up on the car so the deal was made and the car was loaded up.

Twenty-two months later, my car was on its way from Abilene, KS to Lansing, MI for the 100th anniversary of Oldsmobile (its first show!) Since that time, the car has been on trips from Kansas City to Dallas, Denver, Detroit, and St. Louis (SCR7). In September of 2004, the car was driven to Stanton, MI for the ‘Pure Stock Musclecar Drag Race’. The car made the 1500 mile round trip and raced for 2 days with the only mechanical glitch being heat soak on the starter. The car currently has 45,000 miles and has run a best time of 13.28 @ 102.5. Not bad for 4200# and 3.23 gears!