Fournado
Not your father’s 442—or his Toronado Story and photos by John Gunnell
Oldsmobile’s performance. That was despite the fact that the 455 engine’s exhaust manifolds couldn’t be used because of the smaller ever heard of the Fournado? Then you probably never browsed body. That held the maximum horsepower to a “mere” 390, which was through the March 1968 issue of Super Stock & Drag Illustrated, more than enough to make the car fast. A torsion bar suspension aided which headlined this car with a cover blurb that read: “455-INCH FWD its sure-footedness. OLDS 442.” The story about the car inside that magazine was about an unusual Oldsmobile that had been built by Hurst Performance Modifications had to be carried out to fit the Toronado drive line and sub frame into the 442: Hurst sectioned the front fenders, moved the wheel Research. openings toward the front and relocated the radiator further forward. The According to the magazine, the Fournado was put together as a plaything for George Hurst, who owned the muscle car making company. “This time Uncle George wanted his own toy, a fast, sure-footed road car,” wrote the author. “And (he) specified an Olds 442 with front-wheel drive.” Hurst had pull at GM and the car got the Toronado’s 455-cid V8 instead of the 442’s 400-cid job. It also had the Forced-Air induction system.
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The stock Olds 442 was about 1,000 lbs. lighter in weight than a Toronado, so the 55 extra cubic inches had a big effect on the mid-sized The restoration was a true body-off-frame operation. Toronado frame and 442 frame where joined together about halfway down the car’s wheelbase. Hurst ditched the transmission hump and gave it a flat floor. At the rear end was a solid beam axle sitting on the stock 442 coil-spring-and-trailing-arm rear suspension. The Fournado was fitted with Goodyear’s famous Blue Streak racing tires and was finished in special Hurst Gold paint.
This is how the car looked when Fred Mandrick took possession. 30 MUSCLE CAR PLUS MAGAZINE JUNE/JULY 2022
Although the Fournado retained much of the look of a stock 442, it had a 2-1/2-inch longer wheelbase than that model because the front wheels were moved forward. It also wore Toronado wheel covers. With the heavier engine, the weight distribution—on paper at least—was a big improvement over that of both the 442 and the Toronado.
