Kevin Hart has added a new car to his growing collection, a 1987 Buick Grand National—an icon of the 1980s.
However, like many of the classic muscle cars that dominate the comedian and actor’s collection, the Grand National has been extensively worked over, in this case by Wisconsin’s Salvaggio Design, the same company that built Hart’s 940-hp 1969 Plymouth Road Runner.
Salvaggio Design dialed things down for the Grand National, choosing to forgo the easy route of dropping a V-8 under the hood and instead stick with V-6 power. The selected engine was the twin-turbo 3.6-liter V-6 from a Cadillac ATS-V, tuned here to deliver 650 hp instead of the stock 464 hp.
Almost all of the engine’s accessories needed to be changed or relocated to fit in the Grand National. However, Salvaggio Design went a step further and swapped the twin-turbo setup for a custom single-turbo design as a homage to the engine in the Grand National GNX. A custom Magnaflow exhaust was also added.
Filled with 103-octane race fuel and running about 20 psi boost, the engine hit 650 hp during dyno testing. Salvaggio Design still plans to fit performance camshafts in a chase for 700 hp.
Underpinning the car is a custom chassis frame built by Salvaggio Design, and featuring Detroit Speed & Engineering X-Gen 595 front suspension package and a DSE four-link setup with Panhard bar for the rear. The wheels are a set of 19-inch HRE 501s, and they are wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888R tires measuring 265/30 at the front and 325/30 at the rear.
Salvaggio Design presented the car for the first time during last week’s SEMA show in Las Vegas.
Keyword: Kevin Hart adds 1987 Buick Grand National to collection