The Killer mIke series with Hemmings has been a staple on our site since the beginning. It has all of the right ingredients; a celebrity owner, a great team building it, a roster of awesome companies backing the project, and a mountain of things to do in a short amount of time. But the team pulled it off, and Killer Mike has since (famously) driven the car to the Grammys.
We covered each update in a standalone story, but in the case of our latest installment, we’ve decided to give you a double feature in the form of the final two installments of the series. In them, we see the struggle of ironing out the final details, which as is almost always the case, it’s the final details that usually trip up most car builders.
For the home stretch, the car got a set of 14-inch Baer brakes, new interior upholstery, corner markers, front grille, and headlight bezels from Classic Industries, and a set of Holley RetroBright headlights. The 650hp LT4 was backed by a 4L80E transmission, that seemingly only wanted to go into first gear.
Of course, this would happen only 24 hours before the big day, so the build crew invited a group of local Turbo Buick owners to the shop as a way to “distract” Mike from the bad news. He was cool about the whole thing, and was definitely on cloud nine with the Regal roll out.
A local friend helped the crew out with another transmission unit that was already built, getting the car wrapped up just in time to have Mike take it to the Grammys. It was an awesome experience for all of those involved, and we think Mike was happy with the outcome. Hopefully, we see more of Killer Mike, and his Grand National.
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.
