Car Of The Week: 1972 Indy 500 Hurst/olds Vista Cruiser Station Wagon

A Hemi Orange Dodge Challenger serving as the pace car for the 1971 Indianapolis 500 exited Turn 4, fishtailed down pit road and crashed into a photographers’ stand. Broadcast nationwide, the accident injured 29 people, two seriously, and left auto manufacturers reluctant to supply the following year’s pace car.

With car makers fearful to provide the next pace car, Hurst stepped into the void by supplying new 1972 Hurst/Olds convertibles as the official pace cars. The assignment brought the Hurst/Olds union back to national attention for the first time since 1969, the last year a Hurst/Olds was sold to the public. To further its commitment to the Indy 500, Hurst also supplied several other white-and-gold Oldsmobiles for speedway support — including Vista Cruiser station wagons!

Labeled “Medical Director,” “Press” or “Photographer,” the wagons were working vehicles dressed in unmistakable white-and-gold Hurst pace car livery. The example featured here later became a Hurst corporate limousine and is now cared for by Oldsmobile enthusiast Todd Harroun.

To Indy 500 fans, the Harroun name may sound familiar. Ray Harroun was the winner of the first Indianapolis 500, and he was a cousin of Todd’s grandfather. Ray Harroun drove the light, fuel-efficient six-cylinder Marmon Wasp to victory in the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. He also pioneered the use of a rearview mirror on a race car, later founded a carburetor company, served as Maxwell’s chief engineer and built automobiles under his own name. He died in 1968.

The number of Indy 500 Hurst/Olds Vista Cruisers built like Todd Harroun’s wagon remains uncertain; he has heard estimates ranging from one to six, while period photographs confirm at least two. His wagon, however, has an unusually well-documented history.

From Indy support car to limo

Oldsmobile assembled the wagon in Lansing, Mich., for Hurst’s operation in Warminster, Pa. Because Hurst planned to swap the engine, it ordered the least-expensive Rocket 350 V-8. The factory’s Special Car Order also documents its Cameo White paint, W-25 dual-intake “Force Air” fiberglass hood and deletion of the usual body-side moldings and woodgrain appliques.

Once the Vista Cruiser landed at Hurst, its 350-cid V-8 was plucked in favor of a fortified 455-cid. V-8 just like the pace car convertibles and coupes. The 455 was built from available performance parts including a 1972 FA block with earlier C-code cylinder heads, 10.5:1 pistons, a high-capacity Toronado oil pan and Corvette ignition points.

Hurst then applied fleet graphics reading “Official Pace Car,”  “Indianapolis Motor Speedway” and “Hurst/Olds” plus Hurst/Olds emblems. The gold stripes on the Cameo White paint were especially vivid under artificial light since they were made of reflective 3M Laser material. These markings matched the event’s official vehicles even though the Vista Cruiser itself served in a support role rather than in a pace car role. 

Arriving at Indianapolis in April 1972, the finished Vista Cruiser handled transportation and promotional duties in the days leading up to the May race. On race day, it served the track hospital with “Medical Director” decals on both front fenders.

After the race, the wagon returned to Pennsylvania. Hurst removed the Indianapolis 500 lettering and the large Hurst/Olds decals, but retained the gold stripes. Through 1976, the car transported visitors and company mail as a type of corporate limousine.

That continued service also helped preserve the wagon’s history. Its practical station wagon body type made it more useful to Hurst compared to the better-known Indy 500 Pace Car coupes and convertibles it built, while its distinctive appearance continued to promote Hurst. After the Indianapolis lettering disappeared and Hurst sold the station wagon, its unique configuration and remaining gold stripes and Hurst/Olds emblems ensured it would not be overlooked as something unique with ties back to the company.

From convertible to wagon 

Todd Harroun had owned Oldsmobiles since age 18 and restored several while searching for a convertible 1972 Hurst/Olds Indianapolis 500 Pace Car. He found a convertible in 1993 and completed its restoration within a year. Soon afterward, a friend alerted him to an unusual wagon parked outside an antique store in Indiana.

Todd expected “just another junk Vista Cruiser.” Photographs instead revealed an all-white wagon with a rare W-25 Force Air hood and Hurst-like gold stripes — a truly unique combination on a station wagon during that time — so he left his honeymoon to inspect it. After an hour with the car, the owner produced a 2-in.-thick stack of records tying it to Hurst. Included in the records was the original special-order build sheet confirming its identity as a Hurst/Olds Indy 500 support vehicle.

That paperwork was decisive, because the wagon’s unusual features could otherwise have been dismissed as later customizations. Ownership records traced it back to Hurst’s operation in Warminster, while the special-order build sheet matched the paint, hood and deleted trim. Together, the physical evidence and documentation established it as an authentic Hurst vehicle, not a replica assembled from period parts. 

Restoring a unique wagon

With that provenance established, Todd began restoring the only known surviving Hurst/Olds Vista Cruiser. The five-year project started with a rough-but-complete car whose Hurst and factory-installed equipment remained intact, a major advantage since replacement wagon parts were scarce.

Todd stripped the car to its shell, removing the front clip, engine, glass and interior. Steel panels were sandblasted to bare metal, while the fiberglass hood had to be chemically stripped by hand. “The bodywork was definitely the hardest part,” he says. Finding usable wagon trim proved nearly as difficult.

Todd applied R-M Diamont primer-surfacer in his Kalamazoo barn with a 5-hp Champion compressor and a DeVilbiss high-volume, low-pressure gun. Southern Michigan Auto Body in Climax then sprayed the Cameo White basecoat and three clear coats while the shell sat on a rotisserie.

After the final clear coat, the finish was wet-sanded with 2,000-grit paper and buffed smooth.

The interior required donor trim and new upholstery. Unlike popular coupes and convertibles, the wagon had few reproduction parts available. A local shop matched the original off-white vinyl and recreated the seats.

The unique white vinyl roof presented another challenge. Todd traced the original upholstery-grade material to the Ohio Chair Co. in Cleveland and bought the remainder of its roll — just enough to cover the wagon. Because standard pace-car decals did not fit the wagon’s shorter doors, he commissioned custom replacements based on period photographs.

Reproducing the reflective stripes delayed the project by two years. Because different dye lots changed appearance under light, Todd waited until every stripe could be cut from a single roll.

The wagon’s 455-cid V-8 had accumulated only about 25,000 miles since its previous rebuild, and its short block remained healthy, so Todd chose to leave it as-is. However, the cylinder heads received new valves and hardened seats for unleaded fuel.

Hurst had fitted W-30 performance hardware such as a Crane camshaft, heavy-duty torque converter, distributor, aluminum intake and carburetor. Todd preserved that combination rather than modernize it.

The Turbo Hydra-matic 400 transmission received a full rebuild that included a B&M Stage 2 shift kit  and a 2,500-rpm stall converter. Polyurethane bushings, new steering arms and stainless-steel brake and fuel lines completed the chassis restoration.

Parts orders revealed how freely Hurst had improvised. Several heavy-duty brake and chassis components came from Oldsmobile’s larger Series 88 and 98 models and even the Toronado, rather than the Cutlass catalog.

That mix made the restoration less predictable than a standard rebuild since a Cutlass-listed part could still be wrong. By comparing removed components with receipts and service information, Todd identified what Hurst had installed and preserved the car’s original engineering rather than substituting more available Cutlass parts.

Preservation versus 

Michigan road construction limited Todd’s early mileage after the restoration, and now its period bias-ply tires continue to restrict how he drives the wagon. “It’s a great car to drive when you’re going straight,” he says, “but in corners, it’s kind of like Bambi on ice.”

Originally, the wagon wore Goodyear Polysteel G60 x 14s, but Todd could not source that exact tire model. Instead, he found a new-old-stock set of Goodyear Polyglas H70 x 14s that provided the closest visual match. They preserve the stance and period appearance for shows, but they lack the grip of modern radials, and their age makes them a liability on the road. Modern radials would improve handling, but Todd values originality more — especially since his Vista Cruiser is likely the only remaining example from a unique period in Hurst and Indianapolis 500 history.

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