Hurst Equipped

With an unquenchable desire to succeed, George Hurst started an automotive aftermarket parts business in his garage in Warminster, Pennsylvania. Through innovative products and marketing, he grew the business into an automotive icon. Hurst Performance became the leader in high-performance shifters on the street and strip, and Hurst companies were key players in the muscle car wars, racing scene, and automotive aftermarket. The story of George Hurst, his companies, the talented people, including Jack "Doc" Watson, Linda Vaughn, and others in his organization, high-performance conversion cars, competition cars, and the performance products have gone largely untold until now. Hurst's unrelenting enthusiasm and dedication combined with co-founder Bill Campbell's mechanical acumen and ingenuity propelled the Hurst-Campbell Company to prominence in automotive industry. Hurst shifters set the standard for others to follow and a Hurst catalog offered a variety of high-performance products. When the Competition Plus shifter was installed in the Pontiac Catalina in 1961, Hurst established itself as the leader in shifters and high-performance products. From this pivotal event, Hurst went on to build high-performance cars for AMC, Chrysler, and of course Oldsmobile. In fact, Hurst slotted AMC's biggest engine into the Rogue Rambler chassis and created the SC/Rambler, which produced jaw-dropping performance. But the crowning achievement was the Hurst-Olds, a special high-performance version of the Olds 4-4-2. High-performance street cars were just one part of the Hurst story. Hurst also created two of the most memorable exhibition cars in drag history, the Hemi Under Glass wheelstander and the dual-engine Hairy Olds. In addition, he developed the "Jaws of Life" to quickly cut open a car's roof to rescue the passengers. Scores of interviews, in-depth research, and exceptional insight from veteran magazine editor Rich Truesdell and co-author Mark Fletcher has created a comprehensive book that captures the essence of the era, the people at Hurst who made it happen, production cars, race cars, and performance parts.