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| The Hurst Hairy Olds was one of the best known exhibition cars back in the 60s. The car came to be for several reasons,
Oldsmobile had a very close relationship with Hurst for several years. Hurst had been campaigning the Hemi Under glass and
Oldsmobile wanted to promote their high performance model the 442. John Beltz was the lead engineer on the Olds
Toronado and had been involved in the chain development that drives the differential. There were a few people and
journalists that did not believe that the chain would hold up to the torque developed by the 425 engine. I'm not sure who
approached who on the concept of the car but I do know that John Beltz wanted the Toronado drive train in it to
prove that the chain would hold up. The chain wasn't a problem at all. The Hairy had quite a few teething problems and
some that never went away. First the torque steer was apparent, so to solve the tires from wanting to drive around the
spindles a toe out condition was induced so when the thing went into torque steer it was toed in correctly. With the front
wheel drive and the rear engine working at the same time the front drive lost traction and buzzed the front motor causing
the motor to expire early from over revving. Hairy was, as Joe Schubeck states, very hard to drive straight because of all
4 tires spinning. the tire smoke did not help the ability to see and because of the blower increasing the pressure in the
motor the oil was forced out of the breathers on the Sharp valve covers and on to the windshield. Eventually they used
four breathers on each cover.
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