By Steve Temple

What muscle car fan can ever forget the famous Hemi Under Glass? While it’s known primarily for wheelstanding the entire length of a dragstrip, it’s also memorable for the Hurst gold-and-black paint scheme.

Celebrating this icon of the muscle car era is a modern-day, streetable 2017 Hurst Hemi Classic GSS Challenger. Instantly recognizable in Hurst livery, it proudly wears an updated version of the paint scheme inspired by the very first Hurst Hemi Under Glass that made its wheelstanding debut in 1965.

Since the Hurst Hemi Under Glass was a Cuda, and later E-Body versions of the Cuda were fraternal twins to the Challenger, the Hurst Hemi Classic GSS Challenger has been infused with Cuda DNA in the form of accents that proclaim its heritage. Examples include the Cuda Gills on the front fenders, the Cuda Gill rocker trim, a Super Stock-style hood scoop and functional hood pins and lanyards. 

Staying true to its Mopar heritage, the Hurst Hemi Classic GSS is powered by a big-bore 392 Hemi. Freer breathing on the inlet side is provided by a Hellcat air intake, while the Hemi heads exhale through an ultralow-restriction Flowmaster Outlaw cat-back dual exhaust system. And it’s capped off with a quartet of 4-inch, double-wall Hurst logo exhaust tips. With Hellcat-spec, 3-inch stainless steel mandrel bent tubes and resonance chambers, it’s the closest thing to running open headers on the street. For the six-speed manual transmission, shifting duties are man-handled by a genuine Hurst Billet Plus Shifter with a signature chrome arm and white cue ball shift knob.

For more downforce at speed, aero aids include a Mr. Norm’s GSS Super Speedway front splitter that mounts beneath the Hellcat front spoiler, and out back is a rear spoiler. Interestingly, the cost of this eye-catching update of a classic is more affordable ($22,000) when you start with the Hellcat, since it includes many of the components shown here, but just about any Challenger model can be used to create your own Hurst Hemi Classic GSS Challenger.