68 H/O convertable
July 24th, 2013, 07:58 PM
#5
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 190
First question is which one? There was more than one '68 H/O ragtop. Most of the photos I've seen are of a gold one. I have seen photos of a silver one too and by one source (the owner of the gold one) there may have been as many as 4 silver ones.
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
July 25th, 2013, 05:39 AM
#6
morgan
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: CT
Posts: 1,925
First question is which one? There was more than one '68 H/O ragtop. Most of the photos I've seen are of a gold one. I have seen photos of a silver one too and by one source (the owner of the gold one) there may have been as many as 4 silver ones.
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
is the the Joe P parade pic the atco dragway car ... strange how none of the converts have surfaced anywhere or even a clone that I know of
July 25th, 2013, 07:28 AM
#7
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Chi-town
Posts: 4,511
I saw an ok 69 clone go through the Mecum auction in St Charles Illinois about 5 years ago. It wasn't a great car but pretty darn nice. It sold for around 42k but I guess the buyer backed out once they realized it was a clone. The car went through again at the end of the night and didn't get any more than 25k - the owners were POed. Haven't seen it since either at a car show or in an auction listing.
I do remember the owners seemed to think they were sitting on something spectacular even though they admitted it was a replica.
I do remember the owners seemed to think they were sitting on something spectacular even though they admitted it was a replica.
July 25th, 2013, 08:01 AM
#8
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seneca Falls, NY
Posts: 5,258
Nothing to do with the H/O's but I read a cool article a few years ago about the 67 Chicago auto show's 68 442 convertible that's owned by an old dealer down south in Georgia, I think. It's sitting in storage, unrestored.
July 25th, 2013, 07:23 PM
#9
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 190
Have pictures from an indoor show in (I think it was) Chicago around Thanksgiving 2010 with a silver 68 H/O ragtop. I don't recall the details from the post from the guy that took the pictures (was it supposed to be real or a clone). That one had a similar paint scheme to the gold one except for silver replacing gold and the deck lid area was painted black (like the hardtop) rather than silver replacing the gold like the known one. The hood colors were reverse like the gold one had. Also had Hurst rims (with red lines).
Just did a little web surfing and found a nice color photo of Linda and the shifter platform on the back of a silver 68 H/O convert. This one had a silver hood, I think a black deck lid area, and stock SSII rather than the Hurst rims. Looks very much like a "stock" convertible version of the hardtop. Photo appears to be from 1968 NHRA Indy Nationals.
Just did a little web surfing and found a nice color photo of Linda and the shifter platform on the back of a silver 68 H/O convert. This one had a silver hood, I think a black deck lid area, and stock SSII rather than the Hurst rims. Looks very much like a "stock" convertible version of the hardtop. Photo appears to be from 1968 NHRA Indy Nationals.
Last edited by 69ho aurora; July 25th, 2013 at 08:48 PM.
December 31st, 2013, 08:56 AM
#14
Registered User
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 29
First question is which one? There was more than one '68 H/O ragtop. Most of the photos I've seen are of a gold one. I have seen photos of a silver one too and by one source (the owner of the gold one) there may have been as many as 4 silver ones.
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
I have a 1983 letter from the (then) owner that a friend had found. Here are some highlights:
Unless there was more than one gold one, it was sold to Atco Dragway by Hurst in 1969. The track used it until 1973 or 1974 and then sat until December of 1975 when a guy named Bill bought it for the grand sum of $175. It had 111k on it at that point and was in pretty rough shape (body and mechanicals). It was still wearing the gold paint and had the gold Hurst rims on it. He got it back running and raced it for 3 years or so. As of '83, it had been parked in his garage for almost 5 years and had about 114k miles on it.
Then, a few years ago, I was discussing the car in a thread on ROP (since lost in their last crash) when out of the blue, the son of "Bill" showed up and shared some pictures and memories of the car. I have copies of the pictures, but not the rest of the info. I don't remember if they still had the car or not...
A few interesting things about the car, if you looked down the side of the car you could see paint that was less faded on the door in the shape of an "H" (not a square) like most of the photos above. When we got the serial number off the engine, it did match the serial number of the vehicle. The interesting part was the only thing besides the serial number was "68EX". We could only assume it meant 68 experimental. The car had A/C, disc brakes, power top, power antenna, wood grain dash, and ram air.
I was so sad when he got rid of the car. He told me "Don't fall in love with them". I think he was just trying to make me feel better.
December 31st, 2013, 10:26 AM
#17
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: South River, New Jersey
Posts: 3,515
wow....
How cool is that.... somebody mentions a name, bada boom bada bing, another guy knows that guy... what a great story.....and I can not wait to hear what is next. You have to remember in the late 70's these cars were just old cars... there wasn't any internet etc I bought my 69 Gto 4 speed convertible around then for 600 dollars from the original owner, I bought a 67 gp convertible 4 speed for 150
rough as it was it ( by those day standards had little to no rust, needed a top and a tune up... Man if we only knew then what we know today.... 
rough as it was it ( by those day standards had little to no rust, needed a top and a tune up... Man if we only knew then what we know today....
December 31st, 2013, 10:49 AM
#19
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Join Date: Dec 2011
Posts: 7,286
botmbulb- thanks so much for sharing that story and photos. I hope you don't mind us saving copies of those photos- internet sites have a bad habit of crashing and losing the vast base of information that was collected. The photo of the lineup of '68's on the lawn with a '69 in the background, under service, was awesome.
StickW31 - if you have an "in" with the Jim Battle link, please look into it at once. Maybe this thing is still tucked away out there somewhere.
See also
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...=414945&page=2
where the elusive '68 H/O Convertible is referred to
Chris
517.449.0432
StickW31 - if you have an "in" with the Jim Battle link, please look into it at once. Maybe this thing is still tucked away out there somewhere.
See also
http://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbt...=414945&page=2
where the elusive '68 H/O Convertible is referred to
Chris
517.449.0432
Last edited by Octania; December 31st, 2013 at 11:08 AM.
December 31st, 2013, 12:13 PM
#21
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seneca Falls, NY
Posts: 5,258
December 31st, 2013, 02:21 PM
#22
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 190
His was the "other" one (the east-coast car), not the Hurst-Airheart one that Alan Bender owned in San Jose for many years that was just restored/displayed with Linda and the platform on it recently.
January 1st, 2014, 03:03 PM
#26
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Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Seneca Falls, NY
Posts: 5,258
Does anyone know where the 68 and 69 Hurst Convertibles modified? There have always been rumors of others besides this/(these) 68/(s) and the three 69's. I assume Hurst used these for promotional purposes all over the country
January 14th, 2014, 02:32 PM
#27
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Join Date: Jan 2014
Posts: 26
Regarding the 69 H/O convertible, it is owned by a guy named Kelly, just not Kelly Bakies.
Jim Battle used to own my 68 H/O, sometime in the mid to late 80s. At the same time he owned my 68 he also owned one of the 69 H/O convertibles. I believe the 69 pictured (with the plate that say "1 of 2") was his.
Regarding 68 H/O convertibles, there had to have been at least 2 - one silver one and one gold one.
Jim Battle used to own my 68 H/O, sometime in the mid to late 80s. At the same time he owned my 68 he also owned one of the 69 H/O convertibles. I believe the 69 pictured (with the plate that say "1 of 2") was his.
Regarding 68 H/O convertibles, there had to have been at least 2 - one silver one and one gold one.
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