https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtnvpgdfq9c
Once upon a time, in a land far away, your author was the Editor-in-Chief of a now-defunct print publication called, GM High-Tech Performance. You might have heard of it. One of the most exciting feature cars we’ve ran during my tenure was this all-wheel drive, LS2-powered, ProCharger D1SC-blown ’82 Cutlass done in H/O livery. You probably recognize it if you had read the publication during its final days.
A few months prior to that, the car owner’s homegrown YouTube video went viral and was seen all over the internet, including Facebook, where we first discovered this AWD Cutlass. We even did a quick writeup on the car for the GMHTP website. While most were satisfied with the 250-word article and the photos shot with a camera-phone by the owner, we wanted more. We craved more.
Images: The owner and GMHTP
Bogged down by loads of work that comes with being an Editor and wanting the feature as fast as humanly possible, I sent one of my best photographers who also happened to live about three hours away from the car’s owner, Brian King, to shoot the Olds for a full feature. I wanted it so badly, that I paid him more than double his normal rate to drop whatever he had planned that weekend to shoot the car.
Needless to say, the photos turned out great and I even put the car on the cover, despite some internal backlash. But I didn’t care. As common as an LS-swapped G-body is these days, what got me was the way the Olds was executed and the all-wheel drive system. It had never been done before, and as far as I know, hasn’t been replicated since.
While we were in the middle of launching our YouTube channel the other night, we ran across this brand new video hosted by Brian, depicting his AWD Cutlass performing a burnout in his driveway while attached to a pair of chains connected to his garage. Juvenile? Perhaps. Epically awesome? We think so. After all, when was the last time you’ve seen an AWD Cutlass do a burnout in a driveway? If you’re looking for specs, they’re depicted in the attached video above. Enjoy!
Rick Seitz is the owner and founder of GMEFI Magazine, and has a true love and passion for all vehicles. When he isn’t tuning, testing, or competing with the brand’s current crop of project vehicles, he’s busy tinkering and planning the next modifications for his own cars.
