| Hurst Performance, Inc. | |
| Fate: | Buyout |
| Successor: | Purchased by Sunbeam Products in 1970 |
| Foundation: | 1958 |
| Location: | Warminster Township, Pennsylvania, United States |
| Industry: | Automobile OEM Automotive aftermarket parts |
| Key People: | George Hurst / William Campbell |
| Products: | automobile transmission shifters Jaws of Life |
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 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 nylon hosiery), 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 VW buses, 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 Hurst 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.) 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.
In 2007, B&M Racing and Performance Products bought the Hurst brand.[5]
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]
Hurst produced aftermarket replacement manual transmission shifters and other automobile performance enhancing parts.
Hurst was also an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) supplier for automakers and provided services or components for numerous muscle car models by American Motors (AMC), Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors. Their products were included as standard equipment in specialty models such as AMC's The Machine (also known as the Rebel Machine), and in optional performance versions of AMC AMXs and Javelins, Chevrolet Camaros, Pontiac Firebirds, Pontiac GTOs and Oldsmobile 442s, Boss Mustang 302 and the Boss 429, as well as Dodge Chargers, Plymouth Barracudas, and Plymouth Superbirds, among others.
Specialty automobile models produced in cooperation with automakers that incorporated the Hurst logo or name, included:
Hurst Performance was also the inventor of the "Jaws of Life—a hydraulic rescue tool. It designed a complete Hurst Rescue System in the early 1970s, a specialty Emergency Medical Services (EMS) apparatus.[7] Based on the AMC Gremlin, it served as a quicker and more compact emergency vehicle compared to the traditional heavy rescue vehicles used at motorsport race tracks[8] and as a companion vehicle to highway emergency systems.[9]