[MikeNoun]

I agree, except that some Pontiacs that were sent through PMD engineering made it to a dealership and were sold, and is stated as such on the invoice. Of course these aren't prototypes, BUT some prototypes and engineering cars WERE saved from the crusher. People need to understand the difference is between a prototype, a test car, and an engineering car. It's not always clear, and sometimes an engineering car becomes a test car, and sometimes an engineering car becomes a prototype.

Back to this 68 442 FWD - obviously, this 68 442 FWD car was a engineering exercise by Hurst, and it's a one-off car. After evaluation, this car MAY have been sold at a dealership, but as a used car. It would not have had anything to do with Oldsmobile Engineering, and there would be no warranty. Now because of Hurst's ties to Oldsmobile, I'm sure the story that the fellow gave that his relative claimed he "bought it at a dealership" may be true, and it may have actually have been at an Oldsmobile dealership, but it was a modified car and would not have had a GM warranty. In essence, this 68 442 FWD is a hot rod. It's a slightly different scenario when a dealership (such as Royal) drops a 428 into a 1968 GTO, because those cars still had warranties and were serviced as such. Or the earlier Yenko cars that had engines swapped, they were still warrantied by a dealership. This 68 FWD 442 is something that came out of the Hurst factory as a one-off. It did its job, Hurst received some ink in the media, and that was it. I'm sure the car was driven by a Hurst employee for some time in 1969 or 1970, and it probably ended up being traded in at a dealership later, perhaps an Olds dealer, but there are no ties to Oldsmobile.

Now what people have ignored through all this controversy is why would Hurst make a 68 442 into FWD? The only purpose I can see is, like I stated above, to get a little publicity for Hurst, and exploit the Oldsmobile FWD arrangement. Also, since Hurst was famous at that time for their wild all wheel drive "Hurst Hairy Olds" exhibition drag car, they wanted to promote the Oldsmobile FWD transaxle.

Now if Hurst had gone the extra step and removed the trans tunnel, that would make for a very interesting A-body interior!