Al's 1969 Olds page

I've had 2 1969 Oldsmobiles.

The first was, and still is, a 1969 Hurst/Oldsmobile.  It is one of the later ones made (transmission serial number 1850, sequentially #861 according to the receiving paperwork from Hurst that Kurt Karch unearthed) of 913 produced that year (911 hardtops and 2 convertibles). The original owner never sent in the paper work for a serial number dash plaque, so it doesn't have one of those numbers.  I've owned mine since 1979 and it has been "completed" since 1985 (is anything ever done???).  It has just over 60K miles and hasn't seen much use since we moved to Nebraska in 1994.  It is loaded with every option you could get except for A/C (which was not available on my car since it already had 3.91s).  The oddest option I have on the car is Forced Air Ventilation (2 extra blower motors for the upper vents inside, a 1 year Cutlass option).  I've only seen 2 other Cutlasses with this option.  After getting it back together, I tracked down the original owner and dropped in one afternoon.  It kinda freaked him out.  It was purchased new at Arrow Olds on the South side of Milwaukee.  My kids call it "the noisy car" and I kinda like that<g>.

My 2nd '69 was a Cutlass convertible that was flat bedded up from New Mexico (it was owned by one of Al Unser's mechanics) and while very sun weathered, was a very solid car.  I never got around to working on that one (other than literally hosing out the interior to get the dirt and mud out) due to lack of time (I got married shortly after buying the car) and money, so it got sold when we moved.  We sold it to a friend of my wife's, so I may still get to see it on the road in the not too distant future...

I finally realized that I didn't have any decent photos of my H/O since the 1980s so I decided to take a few!

Click on the photos for the larger versions.

	This is a scan of an 8x10 that was made from factory medium format negatives in 1982.  My buddy Owen Miller managed to (somehow) borrow a stack of original negatives from someone on the inside while we were at the Nats in Lansing and had prints made of a couple of them.  That '82 meet was really something.  This photo is from the press introduction of the '69 H/O at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.  The ragtop is the obvious highlight here.  I almost had a chance to buy one of the two once, but that's another story...
	This is the other factory scan I have.  This was taken in front of the Hurst facility in Warminster, PA (I'm pretty sure).  I believe this is the same building seen in the background of the prototype shots on the '68 page.
	You've probably seen this shot a few times, but it still sure looks good.
	Here's my '69 H/O at the '87 National Meet in Lansing.  That's Doc Watson with it.
	Another shot of my car in Lansing.
	Yet another one.  Notice the VE-1 strip on the rear bumper.  The car has since gotten Goodyear Polyglas GT (repros) to replace the Wingfoots that were on it here.  There is an original tire in the trunk.
	Here are the window stickers for my car.  It was originally purchased from Arrow Olds like the sticker says, but I did have to add a few of the options myself to get it to this level<g>...  The "normal" sticker does not include the Hurst supplied parts of the H/O package.  They are listed on an auxiliary tag, with an additional price!
	A much more recent shot.  Taken at the softball fields in July 2009.  Still looking ok for 25 year old paint!
	A much more recent shot.  Taken at the softball fields in July 2009.  Still looking ok for 25 year old paint!
	Here are a couple shots of 1of the 2 ragtops made.  This was at the '87 Lansing Nationals.  This car was (I heard it was since sold) owned by a guy in Arizona (it had been in the Northeast before he bought it).  (That's Owen Miller bummin' a ride in the back seat in the baseball cap).
	Here are 2 shots of the other ragtop.  This was taken at the '86 Nats in California.  I went to see this at the owners home before Owen talked him into bringing it to the show and he had some serious documentation for it (including the Protect-O-Plate with Hurst Performance as the owner).  This car was rough and unrestored and had a few non-stock "features" (gold painted rims, gold carpet, faded pearl over the white paint, a Hurst Auto-shifter in place of the Dual Gate, and a '70 sport steering wheel), but it still had wear marks in the paint from the suction cups on the deck lid for the big Hurst shifter platform seen above.  This car was also fully loaded including: A/C, power windows and door locks, cruise, tilt, AM/FM, and 8-track.  He even had an original Hurst (not Olds) jacket!
	This is a rare one.  A '69 W-32 convert.  It's the only one I've ever seen.  This was in Lansing in 1982.

This page last updated on July 26, 2009.