B&M buys Hurst: Giant shifter conglomerate created
Hurst has long been known as America's number one shifter company. Playing the industrial version of "if you can't beat em, join em," perennial runners up B&M Racing and Performance Products decided that they weren't going to beat them, so they bought them. B&M Chairman Nate Shelton said they bought Hurst Shifter Division from Mr. Gasket Inc., who has owned Hurst since 1987.
Perhaps best known for its OEM shifters available in '60s muscle cars (remember the Hurst Olds or Linda Vaughan, aka Miss Hurst Shifter?), Hurst has recently gotten into broader marketing of the brand. B&M is actually older than Hurst, and has found more of a market in the racing world. Since 1953, Chatsworth, California-based B&M has been well-known for its performance automatic and manual shifters, as well. This new shifter empire will now include B&M Racing and Performance Products, McLeod Industries and Hurst Performance Products. McLeod generally makes products below the shifter, mainly clutch and linkage parts.
Thanks for the tip, Drew.
[Source: B&M]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
pierre valade 3:33PM (1/27/2008)
i bought a hot rod and it came with a hurst shifter need some instruction on how to install and assemble this shifter it is a hurst lightning rods 538 0145 staging stick it has 4 sticks hope you can be of help thanks pete
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J Finz 9:27PM (1/25/2007)
Interesting, I guess i didn't technically know B&M made manual shifters. I've always heard if you want a manual get a Hurst and for an auto go B&M. Kinda cool that they're coming tho, I love both companies' shifters.
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Richard 5:36PM (1/26/2007)
same here, always a fan of Hurst.
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