Why were Hurst Hatches chosen instead of a powered sunroof?
Powered sunroofs were available at the time the Century was made, but the pace car was outfitted with Hurst Hatches instead. The Century for 1975 was an A-body car that did not have a convertible version. For those interested, yes, Buick did have a convertible in 1975 but it was a LeSabre, one of only 6 convertible models built in the USA at the time. However being that the Century was chosen as the model for the pace car, the hatches were the next best thing to a convertible top. The majority of Indy 500 pace cars were convertibles or had some kind of open-air option. The first to break this tradition was the 1947 Nash Ambassador. From there all pace cars continued to be convertibles until 1974 when the Hurst Hatches made their appearance on an Oldsmobile. It was, oddly enough, Buick who brought back the convertible as a pace car in 1983. Since that time we have seen removable roof panels, convertibles and powered sunroofs. The consistency of convertible-only pace cars is long gone. S
