In the quest to bring you guys something different from a classic muscle car standpoint can be tough; traditional engines have been done countless times. Restored, Pro-Street, and at this point, pro-touring style builds have nearly run its course.
Surely, there has to be a new trend on the rise, or at least, a new way of building something cool, but different than anything that has already been done. While scouring through various sections of the internet, including YouTube, we stumbled upon tis awesome video of an even more awesome Firebird.
At first glance, it looks like some Mad Max-style rat road, which is interesting enough, but once you see the blower sticking out of the hood and notice that “all wheel drive” is in the description, we knew we had to take a closer look at the thing. In short, it’s probably the raddest early second-gen cars out there, and we’ve featured some impressive ones ourselves before.
Under (and through)_ the hood, is a used 5.3L LS based power plant form a Tahoe, fitting with a traditional Roots-type blower. It’s backed by a manual 5-speed gearbox and is connected, rather usually, to two differential, one in the rear liked you’d expect, and another in the front.
What makes this thing really unique, is the “budget build” approach. Obviously, there’s probably quite a few pricey bits mixed int, but every part of the drivetrain, aesthetics, and so on, were pirated from the junkyard. The party piece, of many there are, is the aforementioned front axle beneath the boosted 5.3L. The car’s owner, Greg, who works as a mechanic for Ken Block’s drift cars, tells our friends at Hoonigan that there’s some Nissan GT-R, and Infiniti Q45 sedan bits inside.
Frankly, there’s just too much here too unpack in a 300=word article, but Greg is no stranger to these pages or to 2nd-generation Firebirds, and his Smokey and the Bandit inspired Trans Am graced this site not too long ago. Enjoy!
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of AutoCentric Media, the parent company to Timeless Muscle Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the magazine’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next round modifications for his own cars.
