Oldsmobile had a long and distinguished history—and suffered a slow, painful death.

The process of mortification began in the early 1980s, when General Motors gutted the formerly independent engineering departments of each of its seven car divisions. They eliminated the Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile-built engines that had made each of these divisions’ cars unique, not just “badge-engineered” clones of one basic model fitted with a different grille and set of wheel covers.

By the end of the decade, all GM divisions would share identical “corporate” engines built by a new entity, GM Powertrain.

Pontiac was the first to go; after 1981, it was no longer allowed to build its own V-8s and had to install Chevy-sourced engines in its cars, including the Firebird—which was thus rendered nothing more than a slightly stylized Camaro. Pontiac ceased to be anything more than a hollowed-out marketing division for generic “GM” vehicles, functionally identical to other GM cars. Automotive Atrocities:... Peters, Eric Best Price: $1.78 Buy New $14.95 (as of 07:15 UTC - Details)

Oldsmobile’s trip to the glue factory began with the 1983 and 1984 Hurst Olds (and the similar 442 that ran from 1985 to 1988). Reaching back to the company’s salad days in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Olds product planners tried as best they could for one last hurrah before the ax fell—returning two well-respected muscle car designations to the lineup as an option group on the still-rear-drive (but not for long) Cutlass coupe.

The 1983 and 1984 Hurst Olds had an attractive black with silver and red accents paint scheme and was specially-equipped with an aftermarket-style Hurst “Lightning Rod” three-handled shifter: one stick for each forward gear. This was a bit much for a car with just 170 horsepower, though. But it was a good try, in very trying times. The little 307 V-8 wasn’t much compared to the 455 Rocket and W31 high-performance engines of Oldsmobile’s better days gone by, but it was at least an Oldsmobile-built engine and as it turned out, the last of its kind. Tied to 3.73 rear gears, it was still possible to do a decent burnout in a Hurst Olds or 442—if you power-braked the car or found a puddle to wet the tires a little.

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