Local company puts the muscle back into cars
By ERIC NEFF
The Orange County Register
In a time when big Detroit automakers are fighting off extinction, one local auto brand is experiencing a rebirth.
Hurst, a longtime maker of performance gearshifters, is reintroducing its line of supped-up muscle cars after a 35-year absence.
The Hurst brand of performance cars had their heyday in the muscle car boom of the 1960s. In that era, they produced now-collectible vehicles such as the 1968 Hurst Olds, a supped-up Oldsmobile 442. There were also several Hurst-modified Pontiac GTOs. They even had their own after-market Jeep in 1967.
Ron Flint, head of the now Placentia-based Hurst Performance vehicles, said Hurst was one of the first companies that partnered with Detroit's big automakers to produce specialty vehicles and the first company to have its specialty vehicle serve as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500.
The specialty-car industry is booming today, with producers such as Saleen and Brabus selling large volumes of supped-up cars. Brabus even has a dealership of its super-Mercedes cars near John Wayne Airport.
When the introduction of emissions standards brought about the decline of the muscle car in the 1970s, Hurst got out of the business and reverted to its core product – sport gearshifts.
The then-Pennyslvania-based brand bounced around from owner to owner until about three years ago, when it was bought up by Nate Shelton, who also purchased Placentia-based McLeod clutches and Chatsworth-based B & M Racing. He then created a separate company, Hurst Performance Vehicles, that is attempting to rekindle the Hurst vehicle brand.
The distinctive white body with gold trim and five-spoke, monoblock forged wheels are still on display in the company's first product, the Hurst Challenger, which was unveiled this month. The top-end version of the car has a supercharged 560-horsepower engine and will cost more than $65,000. The company also has a Chevy Camaro, Ford GT, Porsche, Mustang, Chrysler 300 and several Toyotas and Dodges – including pickup trucks – in the works.
The cars will be produced by Aria, a specialty manufacturer in Irvine that makes many of the prototypes seen on showroom floors.
Flint – a self-described "carholic" who has owned more than 50 cars at one time or another – asked jokingly of some of those manufactures, "Will they still exist?", when his company rolls some of these vehicles out.
As for his firm, he said the key will be living up to brand association Hurst has with the baby-boomer generation that can now afford their childhood dream cars – the ones that were "raced on Sunday and sold on Monday" in the heyday of muscle cars.
"There's a loyal contingent of performance enthusiasts," Flint said, "and we'll also rely on baby boomers with disposable income and memories of Hurst."
http://www.hurstperformancevehicles.com/hurst-challenger.asp
http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
By ERIC NEFF
The Orange County Register
In a time when big Detroit automakers are fighting off extinction, one local auto brand is experiencing a rebirth.
Hurst, a longtime maker of performance gearshifters, is reintroducing its line of supped-up muscle cars after a 35-year absence.
The Hurst brand of performance cars had their heyday in the muscle car boom of the 1960s. In that era, they produced now-collectible vehicles such as the 1968 Hurst Olds, a supped-up Oldsmobile 442. There were also several Hurst-modified Pontiac GTOs. They even had their own after-market Jeep in 1967.
Ron Flint, head of the now Placentia-based Hurst Performance vehicles, said Hurst was one of the first companies that partnered with Detroit's big automakers to produce specialty vehicles and the first company to have its specialty vehicle serve as the pace car for the Indianapolis 500.
The specialty-car industry is booming today, with producers such as Saleen and Brabus selling large volumes of supped-up cars. Brabus even has a dealership of its super-Mercedes cars near John Wayne Airport.
When the introduction of emissions standards brought about the decline of the muscle car in the 1970s, Hurst got out of the business and reverted to its core product – sport gearshifts.
The then-Pennyslvania-based brand bounced around from owner to owner until about three years ago, when it was bought up by Nate Shelton, who also purchased Placentia-based McLeod clutches and Chatsworth-based B & M Racing. He then created a separate company, Hurst Performance Vehicles, that is attempting to rekindle the Hurst vehicle brand.
The distinctive white body with gold trim and five-spoke, monoblock forged wheels are still on display in the company's first product, the Hurst Challenger, which was unveiled this month. The top-end version of the car has a supercharged 560-horsepower engine and will cost more than $65,000. The company also has a Chevy Camaro, Ford GT, Porsche, Mustang, Chrysler 300 and several Toyotas and Dodges – including pickup trucks – in the works.
The cars will be produced by Aria, a specialty manufacturer in Irvine that makes many of the prototypes seen on showroom floors.
Flint – a self-described "carholic" who has owned more than 50 cars at one time or another – asked jokingly of some of those manufactures, "Will they still exist?", when his company rolls some of these vehicles out.
As for his firm, he said the key will be living up to brand association Hurst has with the baby-boomer generation that can now afford their childhood dream cars – the ones that were "raced on Sunday and sold on Monday" in the heyday of muscle cars.
"There's a loyal contingent of performance enthusiasts," Flint said, "and we'll also rely on baby boomers with disposable income and memories of Hurst."
http://www.hurstperformancevehicles.com/hurst-challenger.asp
http://video.google.com/videosearch...sa=X&oi=video_result_group&resnum=4&ct=title#
Last edited: