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I'm the new proud owner of a '79 Hurst/Olds recently purchased out of northern New York. Beautiful white car with t-tops and showing a little over 30k. (pictures to follow). I'm the 5th owner. The car was sold new at Rider Oldsmobile in State College, Pa. The second owner was from Delaware and the third owner was from Ohio. I purchased the car from the fourth owner in Amsterdam, New York. I consider myself very lucky to find one of these cars in original unmolested condition. My only issue is the engine sound. At some point over the last 47 years, the muffler has been replaced. I know exactly what the car should sound like and I'm looking to duplicate that sound. Any ideas?
Have you been to a local exhaust shop yet? Do you not like the sound because it has aftermarket mufflers/glass packs on it? Make sure you post some pics.
Unless you find an NOS muffler for it, then...no. Not likely to find the single inlet/dual outlet sideways muffler.
There was SOMEONE here, I think it was @BlueCalais79 that was able to source one from somewhere. Rare to find.
Waldron Exhaust makes a repro kit, but I have no idea the quality of the sound. The quality of the parts will be excellent if it's like anything else they do.
x2 on 69HO43's comment on Waldron's exhaust. By all means they are worth a look. Pricey but the Mild Imposter muffler is IMHO an outstanding alternative to whatever might be out there (which is just about nothing). It's fairly quiet up until 60-70 mph and you then may hear slight rumble which all but disappears at even higher speeds. The layout is correct, it's about the only game in town. Also, if you are not too picky about Cat correctness, ditch the AC pancake converter for a Walker cat, or even go the test pipe route if your state allows it. They do here in SC but I had my 1-in-2-out set up completely redone prior to moving here and it included the cat. Besides, a test pipe may (or may not) give you some unwanted cabin drone.
CONGRATS on your purchase! Looking forward to seeing some photos. At Beech Bend Racetrack last year's Old Nationals
Last edited by BlueCalais79; Feb 9, 2026 at 04:58 PM.
You nailed it, this one has the Oyster White interior. One of my winter projects (which may even be done today since it's going to be a bit warmer) is to dye my interior parts from the B-Pillar on back and also install the just arrived headliner. You can tell by the photo the b-pillar piece is in bad shape.
Getting back to that muffler, if you do call Waldron's, who knows, they may just sell you a muffler only but not sure. I got mine under unusual circumstances. A good friend of mine was all set up to restore a white/gold 79 sunroof H/O and he ordered a muffler only, when they were selling them in that manner. He decided to scrap the project and told me he was cancelling the order for the muffler and if I wanted it to call them right away and see if they would sell it to me. I did and they did. This was a bunch of years ago though. In reading your description of your car's history, IMHO your H/O is certainly worthy of what Waldron currently has for sale. AP, Walker have not sold the 1-in-2 out muffler in a long time. Front buckets were re-done
Last edited by BlueCalais79; Feb 10, 2026 at 05:13 AM.
The '79 Hurst/Olds had a slight "rumble". My '79 sounds just like my '83 Delta 88. No rumble at all. I'm trying to get that original sound back.
The 79 in the clip below sounds good, is this factory like or has it been modified as well. He gets on it very briefly after another vehicle revs. Luckily its a short and autoloops. Best to listen in stereo.
That's the sound that I'm looking for. There's a Hurst/Olds on Hagerty that I tried to buy back in November. It was a great car but it quickly got out of my price range. The link below has the sound that's factory.
