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Hurst Performance
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Hurst Performance
Hurst Performance, Inc. was an American manufacturer and marketer of automobile performance parts, most notably for muscle cars.
Hurst Performance was originally named "Hurst-Campbell". The company was established in 1958 as an auto repair shop by George Hurst and Bill Campbell, both young men at the time. The original shop was located on Glenside Avenue 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 nylon hosiery), took 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, bolt-on tubular bumpers for pre-1958 Volkswagen Type 2 microbuses and trucks.
When Volkswagen began manufacturing its own bumper guards for the vehicles, 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 their line of gearshift mechanisms.
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. Automobile enthusiasts replaced the factory-standard floor or column-mounted gear sticks with custom Hurst floor shifters to obtain better control of gear selection, particularly for competitive driving.
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." General Motors' official policy up to that time had prohibited the use of the names of outside vendors on GM products. The 1964 Pontiac GTO included a Hurst shifter. Division manager Elliot "Pete" Estes convinced GM that having the Hurst name on its cars' shifters would be an effective sales tool. The cobranding began in 1965, and Hurst teamed up with each of the domestic automakers: General Motors (GM), Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors (AMC)).
George Hurst expanded into other specialty performance products during the 1960s by acquiring Schiefer Manufacturing, a manufacturer of clutches, and Airheart, which manufactured brake systems.
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Hurst Performance
Hurst Performance, Inc. was an American manufacturer and marketer of automobile performance parts, most notably for muscle cars.
Hurst Performance was originally named "Hurst-Campbell". The company was established in 1958 as an auto repair shop by George Hurst and Bill Campbell, both young men at the time. The original shop was located on Glenside Avenue 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 nylon hosiery), took 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, bolt-on tubular bumpers for pre-1958 Volkswagen Type 2 microbuses and trucks.
When Volkswagen began manufacturing its own bumper guards for the vehicles, 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 their line of gearshift mechanisms.
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. Automobile enthusiasts replaced the factory-standard floor or column-mounted gear sticks with custom Hurst floor shifters to obtain better control of gear selection, particularly for competitive driving.
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." General Motors' official policy up to that time had prohibited the use of the names of outside vendors on GM products. The 1964 Pontiac GTO included a Hurst shifter. Division manager Elliot "Pete" Estes convinced GM that having the Hurst name on its cars' shifters would be an effective sales tool. The cobranding began in 1965, and Hurst teamed up with each of the domestic automakers: General Motors (GM), Ford, Chrysler, and American Motors (AMC)).
George Hurst expanded into other specialty performance products during the 1960s by acquiring Schiefer Manufacturing, a manufacturer of clutches, and Airheart, which manufactured brake systems.