455 cutty

Hi first post just bought a 78-79 cutlass with 455 and th-400. I have some major questions. obviously the 455 is not original. buy the pictures i have looked at on google images it show my car as a 78 because the grill comes up over the front. but im very curious, because when i bought it there was a reallly crappy primer job and you could see the paint under the primer. the top is a gold the bottom is a cream white. all the pictures i looked at says this is a hurst color sceme. also the hood ornament is a H over the rocket on one side and half an H on the overside (half of if seems to have fallen off.) but what also gets me curious is that they didnt make a hurst olds in 78 they made one in 79. but i did more research to find that they did make a prototype. can someone unjumble this mess?'
vin: 3m47f92425249
body tag:
11a 057 0092
3ah47 069938
61L 6ju 62g
would appriciate it.

455 cutty

ok i finally found a site that decodes vins.
its tells me 3 means olds m means supreme brougham 47 means 2dr coupe f means 4.3 liter 2 barrel 9 means 79, but questions still remain, did hurst do like shelby did and buy stock cutlass's and transform them or did they just take 442's? or what and why would some one go to the trouble and paint it just like a hurst and put the emblem on? please shed some light. its driving me nuts

Oldsguy

I can't answer your technical questions but people like to do clones, in fact there is someone on this site that was doing a project like that and even had the word "clone" in his username. I wouldn't be surprised to find it might have been a clone.

455 cutty

I really dont think its a clone. the paint under the primer is most definanty original. is there anything on the body tag that would tell me that this is or is not a hurst, maybe the paint code for instance. the other thing is that its a 78 grill, can the front end be swapped easily or do you have to change the front fenders and hood for this to be done? or could this infact be a 78 but someone swapped the vin out for some odd reason? also did they possibly make a 78 1/2 with a 78 grill and vin it as a 79? im still learning the olds side of the house. i just want to be differant and not own a chevy like everyone else but want to stay gm.

joe_padavano

The 79 H/O was built by Olds, not Hurst. Federal emissions regulations require that the factory-installed engine in that 79 be the one on the VIN. It was not legal for Olds to simply stuff a 350 into a car with a 260 VIN. All 79 H/Os had an R in the VIN for the engine code, designating the 350. The car in question is not a Hurst/Olds.

455 cutty

They only thing is, that im thinking that its maybe not the original vin. the paint on the hurst there is exactally what i got under the primer. i do not have the hurst wheels and the interior is is completely pulled out minus the drivers seat. i do have buckets but i have no counsil and most of the dash is missing. the only reason i picked this car up is it had the 455 and th-400 and gutted so i can make a drag car. i just wana make sure i dont tear up something special. is there any other pieces say for instance the rear end that would be different on a v8 car then a v6 car that would tell me it was definantly born a v6 car. also is the vin anywhere else on the car minus the motor, because thats not original. o the other thing was is that i was told that only the h/o's where hard tops, every thing else was a vinal top. is this true, because i have no signs of a vinal top ever being on this car.

joe_padavano

If that's true, you have a much bigger problem.