Holley’s LS Fest is basically the fastest growing, multi-location event, and it’s one of the only one that specifically caters to all-things LS. Whether your vehicle is LS-implemented from the factory, our has been fortified by said engine platform after the fact, it’s one you don’t want to miss!
It typically brings out all kinds of vehicles from late-model Corvettes to LS swapped ’60s pickup, and everything in between. One car that caught the eye of Holley themselves is this 1987 Buick Grand National, owned by none other than Ray Lichtenberg of Virginia. If his name sounds familiar to you, you may recognize it as being the creator of one LSX-powered GMC Syclone, that we featured HERE a few years back. Ray really knows how to build a hot rod, and this Buick GN is certainly no different.
Now to get the obvious out of the way, it’s green. Very green. It may or may not be to your personal taste but it definitely stands out in a sea of black look-a-likes at the Turbo Buick shows we’ve attended in the past. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, either, seeing as how we have a Grand national in our own project car stable.
But Ray wanted to lend his own personal taste and style to the turbo G-body. First, was yanking out the original LC2 drivetrain and dropping in a LS7 engine from a C6Z. Next, was implementing some serious aftermarket hardware; Holley EFI, a NX nitrous system, and a Magnuson 2650-R supercharger. Sonnax components in the transmission are also present, and Baer Brakes sit at all four corners. Even more eye raising, is the AWD system and C6 Corvette suspension underneath the whole car.
The purists might not like it, seeing as how the only things that are really “Grand National” left are the frame and the body, but Ray doesn’t mind. He built the car to be an autocross and road race contender, in events such as the Optima Ultima Street Car Challenge, and to use it as a daily-driver to his day gig.
We think he nailed it.
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.
