Developed by hot rodder George Hurst and his partner Bill Campbell in the 1950's, the Hurst shifter appeared on the market circa 1960 and quickly became one of the most famous pieces of aftermarket equipment of all time. Immortalized by cars such as the special GTO Tiger Hurst Edition and the Hurst Olds, the chrome stalk with the big white ball became the only thing to have attached to your transmission.  The original GTO Tiger, shown below, is a one off Hurst promotion given away in a contest. It is now in a private collection. 

In 1967, Hurst sold the company to Mr. Gasket and went on to develop  the Jaws of Life. He also had developed a line of wheels, marketed from 1965 to 1969. More recognizable  than the owner was Linda Vaughn, anointed Miss Hurst Golden Shifter in 1966 after 
winning a national contest coordinated by Hot Rod Magazine.

Hurst was a great promoter, witness the Hurst Olds, Hemi Under Glass, and the GTO Tiger Hurst Edition. Along the way, Hurst had a hand in the development of the 1970 Chrysler 300 Hurst Edition. Not generally accepted as one of Chrysler's greatest achievements, the Hurst is recognized by the Chrysler 300 Club although it is not a letter car and does not enjoy that status.

In 1970, Hurst Company not only manufactured 
shifters but was also designing special sports car concepts based 
on regular production cars. Many of the concepts were never realized, 
but the 300 design drew the attention of  some brass at the 
Chrysler Division.

The Chrysler 300 Club states that 485 were built. The reason there were so few cars built was that manufacturing approval came well after the 1970 Chrysler line was already in 
production. There just wasn't enough time to get many Hursts made. 
Also, in a typical corporate clustercluck, Chrysler thought Hurst would promote the model and Hurst thought Chrysler would. As a result, most dealers didn't know much if anything at all about the new model  until one showed up in their lot. Few were actually ordered, and rumor has it that dealers had the cars forced on them. 

The cars were built at the Jefferson Avenue plant. They were all two door hardtops in Spinnaker White. There was no convertible officially offered, although two were said to have been built. One was definitely built, and was used by Hurst to use at racing events. All the better to view Linda Vaughn in, I suppose. The cars  had Imperial leather interiors in saddle tan installed as they went down the 
Chrysler line. They were then sent to Warminster, PA, where Hurst did 
the conversions. Originally, the cars were scheduled  to get deeper oil pans, 
special ignition systems, and  Hurst shifters. However, none 
of that was realized so against popular belief, the cars with the optional center console don't have Hurst shifters. 

Here's what Hurst eventually did. He cut off the sheet metal hood skin and 
replaced it with a fiberglass version.  Next was a custom  fiberglass trunk lid plus rear fender end caps. The body was then partially painted a gold color called  
Satin Tan; this color was used on the hood, trunk, and a beltline streak. Where Satin Tan and white met, a brown-orange-brown decal stripe was applied. This stripe was also applied to the lower body side.

The fiberglass hood had a non functional power bulge and scoop combination that featured 300-H emblems on either side,  and functional recessed hood locks. The 
trunk lid featured an incorporated rear spoiler and no lock. Instead, the cars had  
a vacuum remote control trunk lock located in the glove compartment. There  was also  a cable operated emergency unit under the dash. Some of the rear spoilers were 
misused as a trunk handle and sustained structural damage, 
so Chrysler dealers offered support blocks sandwiched between the spoiler 
and the lid. These can be seen on some of the existing models.

The completed package had a few options;  nearly all of the Hursts 
have power windows and one is known to have come with a sunroof. The 
steel road wheels were standard with H70 x 15 Goodyear Polyglas white letter tires.  The wheels  were painted Satin Tan and had  brown and orange decals. 
  The regular 300 grille with hidden headlights sported orange instead of red accent paint stripes. No vinyl tops could be ordered. In the rear, square bright  exhaust tips 
were optional. 

In the engine bay, the 440 CID TNT engine served up 375 horsepower. This engine was also optional in other Chryslers, and is not the legendary 440 Magnum although it has the same horsepower rating. It was equipped with a dual snorkel air cleaner, dual exhausts and required a heavy duty TorqueFlite transmission.  There were no optional engines, and certainly no 3 speed stick on the column! Ride was enhanced with a firm suspension due to tougher rear leaf springs and larger diameter torsion bars up front Power front disc brakes were standard, as was the ever popular 3.23:1 rear axle ratio. 

The interior came in  Saddle leather (that's the color, there were no stirrups unless you ordered the OB-GYN package).  This interior was optional in 1970 Imperial LeBaron two door hardtops, and was a very good choice. It kept the old 300 tradition. A second color would have been nice, maybe an off white shade. The front had power bucket seats with a center seat cushion, with the Chrysler console and gear selector optional. Otherwise you got a column shifter. Yuck, bad choice for a 300. The rest of the interior was standard Chrysler 300.  A Tilt and Telescope steering wheel was optional, as was air conditioning.

All in all the Hurst wasn't a bad car, but it wasn't really necessary, either. Had they wanted to, Chrysler could have produced  another letter car. Obviously they didn't want to; it seemed that in 1970, Chrysler couldn't figure out what it wanted to do with the full size line except make it bigger. The 300 had one more year to go as a regular production model. There would be no more Hurst cars or any other special edition 300s until 1979, when they would try again with the Cordoba based 300, another idea that wasn't properly executed.