Hurst Performance, Inc. was an American manufacturer and marketer of automobile performance parts, most notably for
muscle cars.
History
Hurst Performance was originally named Hurst-Campbell. The company was established in 1958 as an auto repair shop when George Hurst and Bill Campbell were both young men. The original shop was located on Glenside Ave. in
Glenside, Pennsylvania. They later moved to a large building on the corner of Street Road and Jacksonville Road in Warminster, PA. An older man named Lawrence Greenwald (who is credited, among other things, as one of the inventors of stretch
nylonhosiery), took certain cars from his collection to Hurst's shop for repair. Greenwald saw promise in Hurst and Campbell and decided to finance them in a venture to manufacture large
aftermarket bumpers for
VWbuses, which were becoming increasingly popular.
When Volkswagen began manufacturing its own large bumpers for the buses, Hurst-Campbell branched out into the piston-driven gearshift business. They also manufactured, at various times, engine mounts, wheels, and shift knobs in addition to its line of gearshifts.
The company's research department developed and invented the
Jaws of Life. The product was spun off and sold separately when it was owned by
Dick Chrysler.
By the early 1960s, Hurst transmission shifters and other products had become legendary in
auto racing, particularly in
drag racing, and among
custom car makers. Many automobile enthusiasts replaced basic factory floor and column-mounted
gear shifts with custom Hurst floor shifters to obtain better control of gear selection, particularly for competitive driving.[1] As automotive historian Mike Mueller noted, the aura of a Hurst brand shifter became so great that "If you didn't have a Hurst shifter in your supercar, you were a mild-mannered loser."[1] General Motors' official policy up to that time had prohibited the use of the names of outside vendors on GM products. Although various Pontiac models had already been factory equipped with Hurst shifters, Division manager Elliot "Pete" Estes convinced GM that having the Hurst name on its cars' shifters would be an effective sales tool.[1] Beginning in 1965 it did.
George Hurst expanded into other specialty performance products during the 1960s by acquiring Schiefer Manufacturing, a manufacturer of
clutches[2] and Airheart, which manufactured
brake systems.[3]
In 1968, Greenwald and Hursttook took the
company public in an
IPO.[3] The company was acquired in 1970 by
Sunbeam Products, a manufacturer of
small appliances.[3] Hurst was promised an executive position and seat on the
board of directors as part of the buyout, but Sunbeam did not follow through.[3] (According to one variation of this account, Sunbeam specifically informed Mr. Greenwald and Mr. Hurst that they would no longer be affiliated with the company.[citation needed]) Greenwald fully retired at age 67.
George Hurst died in 1986.[4] Lawrence Greenwald died of natural causes in 1986.
In 1987, the Hurst operations were sold by Sunbeam and became part of the
Mr. Gasket Company.
A subsidiary, called Hurst Performance Vehicles, was established in 2008 to create new renditions of Hurst vehicles that included the Hurst Challenger, Hurst Viper, and the Hurst Camaro.[6][dead link]
George Hurst demonstrating his new shifter c. 1953
Hurst shifter from the 1960s
The "Hemi Under Glass", a Hurst-shifter equipped 1965
Plymouth Barracuda with a
426 Hemi mounted in the rear seat, a spectacular drag strip attraction in its day