Early hurst history - trivia

Great stuff. I just did a story on the Hurst Gremlin Highway 1 rescue system. There is still one of these little cars that survive in Ga.

 

Its been sometime since I posted in this forum. Last summer I got to do a seminar on Hurst at the combined GTO and Pontiac National event. It was held in Dayton Ohio at the Wright Bros college....(one of the few times I can claim I been to college). Interesting enough as a VIP I had my display in the one building and next tome they had a surprised guest.....

The surprised guest lives a quiet life in Ohio Pat Flannery, the original Miss Hurst from around 1963 and maybe early 1965 time frame. Very nice lady who has pulled thru from some major health issues that have affected her speech.

She still has some memetos of Hurst although she has been out of the lime light form many years. I was able to call Bill Campbell and they had a nice conversation since neither had even spoken to each other in many years,.

I am sure you can research her on the internet. Although her reign was short its nice to recognize the "original".

Fortunately I had brought one of my Hurst wheel cans to the event and I had her sign it. I probably have the only Hurt wheel can signed by Bill Campbell-Linda Vaughn-Pat Flannery.

I also been writing monthly on Hurst for the National GTO publication.

In my dealings it appears the one of the biggest car groups that is interested in Hurst is the Pontiac crowd specifically the GTO. Probably because every 4 speed got the Hurst shifter from the factory.

Been kept busy but will try and drop a few lines of interest from time to time.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

Since someone brought this thread back up how about this NOS HYDRO-GATE dual range hydra-matic shifter

 

Hey everyone. I apologize if I am mistakenly hijacking a thread or am in the wrong place, but this kept coming up when I searched google.

My dad is an old rodder, and recently revamped his garage. In retirement, he's started putting value on different things, but some of the most interesting parts/swag of his car past (or 30+ year old wall art) he's slowly getting rid of to make room on the walls/doors/ceilings for the signed and framed things. Equally as cool, but less dust. 30 years less dust.

One item we're trying to get to maybe convince him to sell instead of toss is a hurst banner. Its an old 60s or 70s golden cloth Hurst Performance Parts flag/banner. In all honesty, he thinks it may be one of those things his brother and him "obtained" from a track when walking back after races. Heh. Its beat up, but cool. And, for the life of me, I haven't been able to find one ANYWHERE or any history. No google image searches pull anything up. Nada.

The purpose of this post is NOT to try and sell this or advertise. I'm just looking for more possible information to convince him not to get rid of it or frame it. I'd take it for my school classroom (I teach HS automotive mechanics) but it may be too late (he's stubborn. it may be "put online" or "in a box in case i clean it up someday). If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, I would love it if you could share or at least possibly provide info. Thanks to everyone in advance for taking the time to read this and any help!

 

Wow!!!

 

What you have is a very early Hurst banner I have a mint unused one framed in my office. Their is another version that is earlier than that that is cloth and the H is straight up and down. I would venture my educated guess this one you have is around mid 1960s.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

PS: Even in that condition it is worth holding on to.

 

They come up occasionally on fleabay.....Id be happy with a repro one!!

 

Awesome, thanks for the info guys! Found out today, unfortunately, my older brother helped him list it on fleabay. Agh. Guess I'll either have to bid on it at this point or hope he gets decent coin so he can buy more cool stuff. Heh, or more parts for his 31' build. Either way, I appreciate the input!

 

Special thanz to Mr AMC Guy for posting my two photos as I lack the skills. Here are the two oldest original brand new Hurst banners I have in my collection. The first one is on cloth and is very primitive looking. Notice how the logo is straight up and down. The second one is identical to the one posted earlier. This one however is brand new unfortunately from being folded for many many years the creases so up on it. I would estimate the vintage of the first one early 1960s due to the logo font and the second one from around 1964-66 time frame. Again just guesses. These are the only two banners I have in my private collection.

Being originals value would be quite high due to condition and age.

denniskirban@yahoo.com

 

Hurst banner I have had for a few years Heck I might have even posted it before but I didn't think so?

 

Remember around the side they had the hanging sign that said "shifter hospital"?...
You could bring em' your shifter and they would rebuild it.'I lived a few miles down the road at Travel Haven Motel on the corner of York and Street rd. I spent many hours cruising through Hatboro to the McDonalds and back down York rd. If we found someone to race we would head a little farther out York rd. were it was a little less populated. This was 1969-1973.

 

Boy, Wish I had been on this site when you posted. I'm an employee from 1968 & 1969.

 

Here's examples of some stuff I had until a few years ago when I sold a lot of it.

 

You still can, never too late to tell us your story.
You may have had a hand in mfg the Comp Plus "C" shifter I bought about 1970 for my 57 Chevy.

 

Bill I also would love to hear your story. I own a couple '69 H/Os as well as a exact replica of the '69 H/O convertible. I am hoping to learn more about how the convertibles came to be.

 

I have a few Hurst items that I would consider hard to find. The license plate is all metal.

 

Hurst performance has ben a very well recognized name in the automotive world. After reading many, many
articles, I thought I would pass on some of my info to the car collector arena. Pls find attached.

 

Mr Glover great article Thank you for posting. I enjoyed it.

 

IN REFERENCE TO BILL CAMPBELL, I HAVE JUST LEARNED THIS MORNING FROM BILL'S
DAUGHTER, THAT BILL PASSED AWAY ON SAT FEB 8, 2020. HE WAS 97. I HAD THE HONOR
OF HAVING HIM AS A GUEST AT OUR DVOC, HURST / OLDS DAY LAST MAY. HE WAS A GREAT
CONTRIBUTION TO HURST / CAMPBELL, AND TO THE AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY.

 

LIKE TO ADD PHOTO FROM DEL VALLEY OLDS CLUB SPRING SHOW,
MAY

 

A bump just for the “H” of it. A lot of great info in this one.

 

So... plastic tee’s are rare...ok : I have abused a couple!