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Aside from those BMW wheels (huh?) and the fire department wanna be pinstripes this is a pretty interesting car.

Back around the time when Oldsmobile made the ridiculous decision to make a small, front-wheel drive car and call it a Cutlass while continuing to make the same old rear-wheel drive car and also call it a Cutlass, they remembered an old gimmick they had tried before with moderate success: trying to make an automatic transmission fun to use.

Starting in 1983, you could order your Cutlass Supreme with the Hurst/Olds package, which had some pretty decent options, like a better flowing exhaust, 3.73s, and supposedly the 307 had some slight improvements.

The main feature though, were the Hurst “Lightning Rod” shifters. I’ve been watching a couple videos of them in operation and I really can’t see any benefit from using them at all, other than showing them off and pretending you’ve got a Lenco or something. They make for an interesting conversation piece though.

The Hurst/Olds was only made in this body style for two years, 83 and 84, and it’s really easy to spot the difference between the two years. 83s were black with silver rocker panels, and 84s had a reversed paint scheme. 84s also came with the 8.5″ rear end from the Grand National while the 83s got the 7.5. After 84, they started calling the car the 442 again. As far as I can tell, the Lightning Rods were only available in the 83-84 Hurst/Olds car though.

I hope that one day this car gets reunited with its stock wheels (for that matter, any old set of 15’s would be a major improvement) and cleaned up a little bit, but I’m still just happy that someone is keeping it on the road in any capacity.